Ozzy Osbourne has admitted to being influenced by The Beatles growing up — so is it any surprise that his band, Black Sabbath, would follow the Fab Four when it comes to dealing with iTunes?
While much of Ozzy’s solo material has been available on iTunes for ages, Black Sabbath’s first eight studio albums — including classics like 1970’s Paranoid and 1971’s Master of Reality — >have only just landed in the online store, along with three compilations.
Ozzy commented that it was “about [expletive deleted] time” that the albums were released digitally, while guitarist Tony Iommi said it had “been a long time trying to explain to fans why the music wasn’t available.”
The delay is thought to have been the result of disagreements between Black Sabbath and the Warner label.
The availability of Blue Sabbath’s classic albums represents another iTunes holdout succumbing to the digital model. The few remaining holdouts include Garth Brooks, Tool, and a number of Bob Seger’s albums.
Black Sabbath’s 1970s albums can be purchased in the iTunes Store for $9.99 each.
Source: The New York Times
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
