âI really like the sound youâre getting, I love the guitar.â
He looked and found me a Gibson that was the same as his. He came over to England and gave it to me. But it was stolen. You have a break for a while and your guitars go into storage somewhere. I had about four guitars go from storage once, and that was one of them. Leslieâs guitar going: that broke my heart.
It was on this tour that we first stayed at the Los Angeles Hyatt, better known as the âRiotâ, where we met our first groupies. We didnât really know about that. In Europe the women werenât as forward as in America. As soon as we walked into reception at the Hyatt these girls came up to us, saying: âHow are you? Are you from England?â
Before we knew it, everybody had a girl. We couldnât believe it. âBlimey! Is this what America is like?â
And then, later, youâd see them again, with somebody else. We were like: âSo, thatâs what they call a groupie!â
In Seattle we stayed at the infamous Edgewater hotel, where you could fish out of the window. The hotel was built on stilts and leaned over the water. You could get a fishing line at reception, so that you could fish out of the window. And thatâs what we used to do. I donât know why really. Ozzy was fishing out of the window once and caught a shark, which he put in the bath while we did the gig. Of course it died, because the thing was as long as the bath and sharks have to move to breathe. Ozzy then proceeded to cut it up. Blood and shit were everywhere. He tried to . . . I donât know what he was doing.
Bill was below my room and he had his window open. I caught this shark, it dangled on my line and I swung it into Billâs room. He was very surprised. Not pleasantly, but very surprised! To have a bloody shark come flying through your window: âAhhhh!â
He threw it out of the window back into the sea, but the room smelled of fish from then on. Actually, all the rooms smelled of fish. You couldnât wash the floor down or anything, it was all carpeted. I donât know what they expected their guests to do with the fish they caught.
Another time we tied the line to one of the standard lamps there. We left, came back later and the standard lamp was gone. Gone out the window! So we picked up the bill for that one.
During the last tour we did with Sabbath, when we were in Seattle me and Bill went down to the Edgewater again, just for old timeâs sake. They showed us around: there was a Zeppelin room and they were doing a Sabbath room as well.
In the early days there were only certain hotels that allowed bands in, because of the reputation that everybody had. But now we stay all the time at the Ritz-Carltons and Four Seasons, the top hotels. And at sixty-plus years old we donât throw televisions out of windows any more.
Canât pick âem up now.
25
Number 3, Master of Reality
Paranoid went to No. 1 in the UK album charts and, although it hadnât even been released in America yet, we did feel pressure when we had to come up with our next album, Master of Reality . Because once youâve had a No. 1 album, where do you go? If you donât go to No. 1 again, youâre not doing as good, so youâve got to come up with songs that are going to make the next album at least equally as popular.
Management had us out on the road all the time, with weird schedules. Sometimes we did two shows a day, in different cities. We hardly had any breaks at all. Because of this, and because we didnât have any songs lying around from previous studio sessions, we went into a rehearsal room and started writing them. Iâd come up with riffs and once we got started we came up with songs quite easily. Sometimes it was a bit of a struggle to get enough for an album, because you needed some time to think about them and live with them. And we didnât have that time. Especially after
He looked and found me a Gibson that was the same as his. He came over to England and gave it to me. But it was stolen. You have a break for a while and your guitars go into storage somewhere. I had about four guitars go from storage once, and that was one of them. Leslieâs guitar going: that broke my heart.
It was on this tour that we first stayed at the Los Angeles Hyatt, better known as the âRiotâ, where we met our first groupies. We didnât really know about that. In Europe the women werenât as forward as in America. As soon as we walked into reception at the Hyatt these girls came up to us, saying: âHow are you? Are you from England?â
Before we knew it, everybody had a girl. We couldnât believe it. âBlimey! Is this what America is like?â
And then, later, youâd see them again, with somebody else. We were like: âSo, thatâs what they call a groupie!â
In Seattle we stayed at the infamous Edgewater hotel, where you could fish out of the window. The hotel was built on stilts and leaned over the water. You could get a fishing line at reception, so that you could fish out of the window. And thatâs what we used to do. I donât know why really. Ozzy was fishing out of the window once and caught a shark, which he put in the bath while we did the gig. Of course it died, because the thing was as long as the bath and sharks have to move to breathe. Ozzy then proceeded to cut it up. Blood and shit were everywhere. He tried to . . . I donât know what he was doing.
Bill was below my room and he had his window open. I caught this shark, it dangled on my line and I swung it into Billâs room. He was very surprised. Not pleasantly, but very surprised! To have a bloody shark come flying through your window: âAhhhh!â
He threw it out of the window back into the sea, but the room smelled of fish from then on. Actually, all the rooms smelled of fish. You couldnât wash the floor down or anything, it was all carpeted. I donât know what they expected their guests to do with the fish they caught.
Another time we tied the line to one of the standard lamps there. We left, came back later and the standard lamp was gone. Gone out the window! So we picked up the bill for that one.
During the last tour we did with Sabbath, when we were in Seattle me and Bill went down to the Edgewater again, just for old timeâs sake. They showed us around: there was a Zeppelin room and they were doing a Sabbath room as well.
In the early days there were only certain hotels that allowed bands in, because of the reputation that everybody had. But now we stay all the time at the Ritz-Carltons and Four Seasons, the top hotels. And at sixty-plus years old we donât throw televisions out of windows any more.
Canât pick âem up now.
25
Number 3, Master of Reality
Paranoid went to No. 1 in the UK album charts and, although it hadnât even been released in America yet, we did feel pressure when we had to come up with our next album, Master of Reality . Because once youâve had a No. 1 album, where do you go? If you donât go to No. 1 again, youâre not doing as good, so youâve got to come up with songs that are going to make the next album at least equally as popular.
Management had us out on the road all the time, with weird schedules. Sometimes we did two shows a day, in different cities. We hardly had any breaks at all. Because of this, and because we didnât have any songs lying around from previous studio sessions, we went into a rehearsal room and started writing them. Iâd come up with riffs and once we got started we came up with songs quite easily. Sometimes it was a bit of a struggle to get enough for an album, because you needed some time to think about them and live with them. And we didnât have that time. Especially after
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