Back in 2011 Black Sabbath announced the reunion of their original line-up to make a new record and tour around the world. However, things didn’t went as planned since the original drummer ended up deciding not to be part of it later, saying that he received an “unsignable contract”, with the band’s management saying that he wouldn’t be able to physically do the tour.
However, the bassist Geezer Butler also almost wasn’t part of that reunion as he revealed in his recently released autobiography “Into The Void – From Birth to Black Sabbath”, shared by Rolling Stone.
Geezer Butler reveals he almost wasn’t part of the Sabbath reunion
“In November 2011, the four original members of Sabbath held a press conference at the Whisky a Go Go and announced we were getting back together to record our first studio album since 1978, followed by a world tour. We’d been discussing it since Ronnie’s death and thought it would be a good way of wrapping the whole Sabbath story up, before walking into the sunset.”
“As you’ve probably guessed, the reunion didn’t go as planned. It all seemed to be working when we gathered at Ozzy’s house to record some demos. But then there was a big row about the Sabbath name, all over again. I was under the impression that since the original members were back together, writing and recording a new album, the name would revert to all four of us, whatever had happened between Tony and Ozzy a couple of years earlier.”
Geezer continued:
“But when the name was discussed, it became clear that Tony and Ozzy had no intention of sharing the Sabbath name with me or Bill. I felt cheated, so I left the band again. They got someone in to replace me, but a couple of weeks later I got a call from Tony, begging me to come back.”
“In the end, I got my lawyers on the case and they managed to sort everything out. I was assured that despite not part-owning the Sabbath name, everything would be split equally, and the band wouldn’t be able to tour as Sabbath without my approval, if needed,” Geezer Butler said.
Geezer was a member of the group from 1968 to 1984, 1987, 1990 to 1994, 1997 to 2006 and was part of their final reunion from 2011 to 2017. Their final concert happened in their hometown Birmingham back in 2017.
The only member of the group who was part of all the recordings was the guitarist Tony Iommi. Sabbath released 19 studio albums and are one of the best-selling albums of all time with an estimated amount of more than 70 records sold worldwide.