Friday, May 18, 2012

Black Sabbath Erase Bill Ward From History

This is such bullshit. For anyone not following the latest parade of insanity in the Black Sabbath camp, here is a re-cap:

--Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward announce that the original lineup of Sabbath is re-forming to record a new album and do a world tour
--Tony Iommi diagnosed with cancer
--Band moves recording sessions to the UK to accommodate Iommi's treatment
--Drummer Bill Ward makes a statement to fans that his bags are packed but that he is not going to the UK until he is presented with a 'signable' contract
--No comment from Black Sabbath except to say they wish he was there but they are carrying on without him
--Sabbath tour re-named Ozzy Osbourne and friends
--Handful of actual Sabbath dates announced
--Bill Ward this week verifying he is not taking part in any of the Sabbath dates and the door is closed - he is not in the Sabbath reunion at all, nor will he be in the future

Today's bullet point? Sabbath has removed all images of Ward from every single photo on the band's website.

OK up to this point, I can chalk it up as a classic contractual dispute, where Ward wanted a certain amount of cash but Sharon Osb...I mean the band did not agree to the figure. Ward went rogue by taking it to the fans.

But Sabbath retaliating by taking his photo off the Sabbath website? That is utter bullshit. This is exactly like when Sharon Osbourne replaced the original drum and bass tracks from Ozzy's first two solo albums because those musicians had sued Ozzy for royalties.

Or like when Van Halen airbrushed Michael Anthony off of its website.

You can't fuck with history, people. The fans don't like it and it will do nothing but tarnish your legacy. This is a dark, dark moment in Sabbath's history. You'd think that with Iommi fighting cancer, they'd grow up and work this shit out.

Here is a screen capture of the website gallery page this morning:
















Pathetic.

3 comments:

Sean Coleman said...

It is absolutely a case of junior high school tactics. Sharon Osbourne offers a shitty deal, Ward wisely turned it down in the hope that cooler heads would prevail.

Nope.

Pretty sad end to such a needless situation. Like father/like daughter. Don Arden was a crook, too.

Chris said...

Inexcusable. Sabbath died with Dio.

Isorski said...

OK, interesting. Seems like this was done at Bill Ward's request. Weird shit. http://www.classicrockmagazine.com/news/black-sabbath-wipe-bill-ward-from-photo-history/