Ian Gillan suggested that Black Sabbath was the most influential band from the “Unholy Trinity” of British rock bands, arguing that there would be no heavy metal, nor grunge, were it not for Tony Iommi’s menacing riffwork.
Most labels you come across in rock and metal music — from the names of various subgenres to groupings of related bands within one (sub)genre, such as the Big Four of Thrash — aren’t created by the musicians themselves, but rather than the journalists writing about them. It’s no different with the “Unholy Trinity” of British Rock, which consisted of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and Black Sabbath, Ian Gillan tells The Sun in a new
“We knew them, drank with them and they put into words what everyone was doing — something distinctive and identifiable.”
Each of these three bands, however, deserves to be a part of a special pantheon, as they all inspired a new generation of heavy music in their own ways — ask any metal guitarist from the past 50 years or so, and chances are they’ll name hearing “Smoke on the Water”, “Immigrant Song”, or “Iron Man” as a formative, eye-opening moment in their youth. In the new interview, Gillan reflected on the massive impact of the “Unholy Trinity”:
The three bands did something that had never been done before. They were putting into action all the things that had been building up over the previous ten years.”
Even so, Gillan believes that Black Sabbath deserves the most praise of those three bands, as their influence could be traced the farthest from its origins:
“To a certain extent, Sabbath were the most important because without them there would have been no Seattle [grunge scene] or heavy metal. What Tony was delivering in those early days was just awesome. It was so powerful.”
Of course, Gillan himself was a member of Black Sabbath for a short while, lending his voice and creative juices to 1983’s “Born Again”, an era which resulted in many an underrated gem,
The three bands did something that had never been done before. They were putting into action all the things that had been building up over the previous ten years.”
Even so, Gillan believes that Black Sabbath deserves the most praise of those three bands, as their influence could be traced the farthest from its origins:
“To a certain extent, Sabbath were the most important because without them there would have been no Seattle [grunge scene] or heavy metal. What Tony was delivering in those early days was just awesome. It was so powerful.”
Of course, Gillan himself was a member of Black Sabbath for a short while, lending his voice and creative juices to 1983’s “Born Again”, an era which resulted in many an underrated gem, but also anecdotes that later inspired the 1984 cult classic mockumentary “Spinal Tap”.
Back in 2022, Gillan noted that even though he loved working with Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward, the final mix of the album got on his nerves so much that he “threw it out of the window of [his] car”:
“I was disappointed in the final production mix. I don’t know what happened between the studio and the factory. But something happened, so that was a disappointment. Having said that, I loved some of the songs on there, and ‘Trashed’ is one of my favorite rock ‘n’ roll songs of all time. Even more so because it’s a completely true story [laughs]”.
