Forbidden - Black Sabbath

A much maligned Sabbath album. Most people think it's by far the worst in Sabbath history, and I can understand why they think this. However, I was enamored with this album. Most of the songs have an emotional tie for me, as a bad relationship I had that year - and the lyrics from this album spoke volumes to me. I've even written Tony Martin and told him that - I really enjoyed the work on this album, even if most people did not.

Even my local record store had no respect for this release. The day it came out, I was there when the doors opened. No copies on the shelf. I then went and asked about it, they looked in their computer, and apparently the store had only ordered a single copy. According to inventory it hadn't sold, so I made them find it. It was still sealed in a box waiting to be stocked. I had them retrieve it, and I bought it.

In the summer of 2004, I wrote an essay as to why I like this album and what it means to me emotionally. Here it is:

I like the Forbidden album. Now before you start laughing at me, I wanted to say why I like this album. Back in 1995 I was "dating" a woman, who was living with me at the time. Long story short, but a lot of the lyrics on the Forbidden album (in particular the songs Can't Get Close Enough & Shaking off the Chains) really spoke to me a lot on a personal level. The lyrics speak of relationships, and endings and troubles, and my life was a big mess in 1995 emotionally.

I recognize that most people don't like the album, and that's fair enough - I'm not here to make everyone like it. I know it's reputation, and most people consider it the weakest/worst studio album of the 18 they've put out over time. Nor do I think it's the best. But I've always maintained that in the darkest hour of anything, you can find a gem or two. I don't think this is Sabbath's worst album - I don't know if they have a truly "bad" album, just ones that are better than others.

As I write this I'm listening to Forbidden, and at the moment I'm listening to "I Won't Cry For You", and I have to say that I truly enjoy the album. To my ears, the album isn't as bad as it's reputation is. Outside of the emotional attachment of the songs, I have to say that the songs themselves are actually quite good. I think part of the perception problem people have with Forbidden is that everyone always hears "Ah, it's their shittiest album", and slag it off. Again, that's fine, but I'm here to say WHY I like the Forbidden album - song by song.

There's been plenty of stories about the production of the album - from Ernie C's (mis)production, to IceT's guest apperance, to the cover art, to bla, bla, bla. I'm not here to talk about that stuff. I'm here to talk about Forbidden as a positive album, and something you should check out.

Keep in mind, I'm not a musician, and I know some folks tend to analyze songs based on whether the drum fills are in the right place, or the song has 3/4 timing, or the bridge is proper between this verse and that verse. I don't give a [censored] about any of that. Something Ozzy said in an interview back in the mid 80's has stuck with me ever since. And that's "All that should matter to you is whether a song makes you want to get up and stomp your feet." He's right. All that should care is whether YOU like the song - nothing else. I realize that most people don't like Forbidden - but [censored] IT. I do, and here's why:

01) The Illusion of Power - This is the only song on the album that doesn't really do a whole lot for me. It's not exactly "bad", but this song strikes me as the one most heavily influenced by IceT & ErnieC. It's also the answer to a trivia question; being "What is the only song in Sabbath's history with a guest vocalist"? IceT's "rap" in the middle of the song is interesting from a novelty standpoint, but not much else. I honestly wish they had picked a different song as the first one on the album.

02) Get a Grip - This song had commercial potential, and was the only song from the album that had a video made of it, and it was cartoon, no less. The song isn't the most inventive musically in the band's history, but for me, the simple riff works. Having said that I really enjoy the last minute of the song, as it goes into a kind of riff that I really like - it's a hard driving simple one, but is really effective in conveying "power" and speaks to the mastery of Iommi's licks, in that something so simple can be so damn effective. The song is about anti violence if I understand the lyrics properly, although I still don't know what "Get a grip & shake the can" means lyrically.

03) Can't Get Close Enough - This is the first of the super emotional songs for me. At the time, I was trying to get close to this woman, and it didn't seem like anything I could do worked. Tried and tried (although Lord knows why, she was all wrong for me), and eventually broke through briefly, but I spent most of my time trying to convince her that she was worthy mostly of herself (as she had no self esteem, was not totally a very "with it" person). The music in this song is mostly pedestrian as Sabbath goes, but for me, it's the lyrics of this song. It could be Iommi farting in tune with this one, and I'd love it because of the lyrics. This song *REALLY* hits home with me.

04) Shaking off the Chains - The flipside of the last song. This too speaks to me about my relationship in 1995, but on the back end of it. Without boring you with my entire life story, when the relationship ended, it ended in a way that I couldn't find anything left of my feelings for her (turned out she was pregnant by someone else when she left me). This song speaks more towards my anger and disappointment at what didn't happen between us. Musically, it has a nice churning riff which I think goes well with the negative emotions displayed in the lyrics.

05) I Won't Cry For You - Another moody mostly slower song. It's not a true "slow song", but the understated but effective use of Tony Iommi's guitars on here coupled with Tony Martin's vocals make for a nice tapestry of emotion for me. This didn't directly tie in to my emotional attachment to the songs on the Forbidden album, but it's in the neighbhorhood. "Can't Get Close" & "Chains" are the closest for me, but this sorta feels that way, but I think it's more the music in this one than the lyrics.

06) Guilty as Hell - This is one of the weaker songs on the album for me. Nothing terribly special goes on lyrically for me here, and the song is just kind of "there". Most people would probably call it a filler song; I don't know if I'd go that far. I do like Cozy's drumming in it for some reason. It's not his best moment either, but it's cool, and I do like the last thing you hear, the guitar "outro" thing at the absolute end of the song. Guilty as Hell does have one novel moment - it's one of the two songs that I'm aware of in Sabbath's back catalog that has the word "[censored]" in the lyrics.

07) Sick & Tired - This song starts off with probably the only true "Cozy Powell" moment on the album, a nice drum intro before anything else gets going. There were interviews I read where Cozy said that he didn't feel like this album was his best work, and I'd probably agree with that, but the opening of this song had a moment that said "Hey, Cozy Powell is on this album!". However, what makes this song really great for me is Tony Iommi's guitar solo. For me, this is the most unique guitar solo he's ever done in all the years I've been listening to him. Again, I'm no musician, so I can't tell you technically what it is about it, but the playing - the texture just feels radically different to me, and I really liked it - I also loved the end of the song again, had a similar guitar "ending" like the last song did. At the time this song was new, I wondered if this song was lyrically about the situation Sabbath was in at the time insofar as not getting any attention. I realize that's just me, but that's what I thought.

08) Rusty Angels - Probably the most commercial song on the album - has a great hook. I really wish THIS was released as single instead of Get a Grip. Get a Grip was more simplistic, I feel this is a bit more complex in construction, and the main guitar riff here is very catchy, and I think would have worked better. Probably wouldn't have gotten 'em a lot more attention, but I as a fan think this would have made a better single. I also think if this would have been released on one of the more popular albums, it would be a classic tune - if this song apperaed on Headless Cross, I bet it would be one of the most popular songs to this day. A very overlooked gem in Sabbath's catalog.

09) Forbidden - The title track of the album usually is a song that stands out for some reason. When this album was not yet released, the working title was "The Illusion of Power", and then it was changed to "Forbidden". That indicated to me that the band liked the song for some reason, or at the very least the title. In listening to the song, it's not the best on the album. It's by far not the worst, but I wonder what the attraction is here. It does have a nice sound, especially in the choruses, it's pretty enjoyable. Not my favorite, but when it's on, I like it.

10) Kiss of Death - Oh my god! BY FAR AND AWAY the best song on the album. This is absolutely perfect. It's moody, has a [censored] awesome guitars, great lyrics, and is just for me perfect in every way. There is no comparison to anything else on this album. And for me, this may be the best track in the entire Tony Martin era. I simply cannot say how strongly I love this song - I'd put it up with the all time best of Sabbath's entire catalog. This is a song that in the slow opening and closing parts I can sit there with my eyes closed, and really be into this song. It has a wonderful power to it, that I wish more people could have seen, but it has the misfourtune on being on an album that most people think is total crap. Again, I don't know if I'm reading too much into this, but I always felt the song was big ol' middle finger to those who counted Sabbath out and dead. I really was filled with a pride that I thought was felt by the band members about themselves. Again, that is likely myself imposing my own feelings about the song and the band upon lyrics that may fit that feeling. But dammit, that's what the song means to me, so I'm sticking with it. I was disappointed they didn't play it in the US legs of the Forbidden tour (which I was lucky enough to see). It was added for the European dates, but it wasn't played. If anyone has the Philadelphia bootleg from 1995, I can be heard screaming "Kiss of Death!" a few times on it.

11) Loser Gets it All - To me, this is the weakest song on the album. Nothing terribly excites me here. The only novelty I suppose is that it's a track that most everyone hasn't heard. It was available only on the Japanese version of Forbidden - and it did also turn up on 1996's "Sabbath Stones" (which most people don't even KNOW about). Again, it's not like it's a crappy song, but I don't know if I've ever gone out of my way to say "Yeah - now that's the song I want to listen to". I'm sure some like it, but it doesn't do anything for me. I also feel that as originally constructed Kiss of Death should have ended the album. Loser Gets it All doesn't feel right as the last song on the album - I wish they had stuck it in the middle or something. In fact, as I listen to it now, it's not actually all that bad, I think my irritation comes from the fact that I think Kiss of Death is SO perfect as an end of album song, that having this tacked onto the end annoys me - which means my irritation isn't so much with the song, but with it's placement. I might have to rethink my opinion on this one here.

So that ends my what turned out to be mini-novel length essay on Black Sabbath's (at the moment anyway) final studio album from 1995, "Forbidden". I didn't write this to change the world's opinion here, but hopefully what I've said might make at least a couple people here and there give it a spin when they wouldn't have done so anyway - and maybe see it in a different light.