RN Blog

Black Sabbath has been so influential in the development of heavy metal rock music as to be a defining force in the style. The group took the blues-rock sound of late-'60s acts like Cream, Blue Cheer, and Vanilla Fudge to its logical conclusion, slowing the tempo, accentuating the bass, and emphasizing screaming guitar solos and howled vocals full of lyrics expressing mental anguish and macabre fantasies.

If their predecessors clearly came...

Sound City Studios camouflaged itself amidst a row of warehouses in the San Fernando Valley. For 42 years, it sat there almost hidden — important to the peoplewho knew about its existence, irrelevant to those who didn’t. But appearance and reputation never mattered. The sound. That’s what mattered. You’ve probably never heard of Sound City Studios, but you’ve sure as hell heard the music recorded there: After the Gold Rush, Fleetwood Mac,...