Why Nobody Can Copy Black Sabbath’s Guitar Sound

At 17, on his last day at a sheet-metal factory, Tony Iommi lost the tips of two fingers on his fretting hand. Doctors said he’d never play guitar again. Instead, he melted down a plastic soap bottle, made himself new fingertips, covered them in leather, and switched to banjo strings he could actually bend. Then he tuned his guitar down to make it easier to play, and the sound that came out was the heaviest anyone had ever heard. With Iommi’s new solo album “From The Dark” out now, here’s the real story of how an accident gave Black Sabbath its sound, and why nobody has been able to copy it. Explained from the perspective of someone who’s spent 50 years as a working musician. Sources: Wikipedia (Tony Iommi), The Rockpit.