RT Article
T1 Christian Themes in the Heavy Metal Music of Black Sabbath?
JF Implicit religion
VO 17
IS 3
SP 321
OP 335
A1 Johnson, John J.
LA English
PB Equinox
YR 2014
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1690206098
AB This article looks at the music and lyrics of heavy-metal, rock-music pioneers Black Sabbath. Though often labeled a ''satanic'' band, for their eerie sounds and dark lyrics, a closer look reveals that the band actually penned many songs with Christian themes, which range from outright endorsement of the fa ith to questioning explorations of it. This is remarkable for two reasons. One, Sabbath was the first major rock band to explore Christian themes so thoroughly. Two, the band's members are not practising Christians, although bassist and lyricist Geezer Butler did have a strong Roman Catholic upbringing. It is perhaps this background of Butler's that comes to the fore in the band's music, infusing the songs with Christian topics that are all the more remarkable, given the atheism, or at least agnosticism, apparently manifested in the personal lives of the band's members.
K1 BUTLER, Geezer, 1949-
K1 Bible
K1 Black Sabbath
K1 Christian Life
K1 Christianity
K1 Christian
K1 Heavy Metal
K1 Implicit Religion
K1 Jesus
K1 Rock music
K1 Satan
K1 Tritone
K1 Lyrics
K1 Theology
DO 10.1558/imre.v17i3.321