Black Sabbath, early 1970s

In 1969 while Black Sabbath was still sort of transitioning from their original name “Earth” (the band had booked gigs late into the summer of 1969 as “Earth,” and continued to billed as such for a few months), they recorded a few demos of songs written by fellow Birmingham musician, Norman Haines. Haines was the keyboard and organist in the Brummy band, Locomotive who scored a hit with their version of Dandy Livingstone’s ska-smash, “A Message To You Rudy”.

In August of 1969, and according to Tony Iommi in his book, My Journey Through Heaven and Hell with Black Sabbath, the band stepped into the same studio that The Beatles recorded much of The White Album in during the summer of 1968, the opulent eight-track room at Trident Studios in Soho, London. Iommi had never set foot in a studio before and had no idea how to mic his own guitar properly. The band recorded “The Rebel” and then a couple of months later a second track that was also written by Haines, “When I Came Down” at Zella Studios, Birmingham in October of 1969 .
 

Acetate of “When I Came Down” an early Black Sabbath demo from 1969
 
Engineer Roger Bain, (who had at time had never worked with Sabbath, but would go on to produce the band’s next three records) tried to reduce the amount of distortion in the band’s sound which resulted in Iommi’s very metal response “Fucking leave it! It’s a part of our sound!” If you haven’t heard “The Rebel” before, prepare to have your mind blown as the rousing, anthemic track is devoid of Ozzy’s usual high-pitch vocals, but not without Iommi’s instantly recognizable, licky as fuck riffs. I’ve also included the very Sabbath-y sounding “When I Came Down” for your headbanging pleasure. “The Rebel” appears on Walpurgis - The Peel Session 1970, along with “Walpurgis,” “Fairies Wear Boots,” and “Behind The Wall of Sleep” that were recorded for a session on John Peel’s radio show in April of 1970.
 

“The Rebel,” 1969
 

“When I Came Down,” 1969

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Did Black Sabbath lift the opening riff from ‘Paranoid’?