Black Sabbath Receiving Lifetime Achievement Award
Black Sabbath may be done playing live, but it’s not done being honored.
The group will receive the Golden Gods lifetime achievement award on June 12 at the 15th annual Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards at the O2 Arena in London. Guitarist Tony Iommi is slated to attend to accept the award, and bassist Geezer Butler issued a statement thanking Metal Hammer for the honor:
“It’s good to know that after almost 50 years Sabbath is still relevant, and has its importance in the history of music. I want to thank our fans who have been with us along the way, without them there would be no Sabbath.”
Black Sabbath finished its worldwide “The End” tour on February 4 in its home town of Birmingham, England and posted a subsequent message on its Facebook page confirming that the group was indeed finished.
Though Iommi has said he’d be up to do more, frontman Ozzy Osbourne — who’s returned to his solo career with several festival appearances this summer — tells us that “The End” really was the end for Black Sabbath:
“Believe me, as far as I know it’s not gonna go back together in three years when we all run out of cash or whatever. I have no intention…This is really the end…I think it’s run its course, Black Sabbath, and it’s been up and down and all over the place with different combinations of different people, and it’s good that we’ve come back together at the end more or less to finish it on a high note. It’s a good way to do it. We started it in 1968; I think that’s plenty of time for one thing.”
Gary Graff is an award-winning music journalist who not only covers music but has written books on Bob Seger, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen.
