Time isn’t always kind to people, things or opinions. Just ask Roger Waters and Paul Rodgers.
Classic Rock recently resurfaced comments from the former Pink Floyd member and Free/Bad Company singer about Black Sabbath. In 1970, both Waters and Rodgers took part in a weekly feature from British music outlet Melody Maker called “Blind Date.” The feature presented a number of songs to various musicians and asked them for their opinion. The catch was the guest musician was never told the artist behind these songs.
When Waters was the guest musician for “Blind Date” in the January 10, 1970 issue of Melody Maker, one of the songs he had to review was Black Sabbath’s cover of Crow’s “Evil Woman.”
As expected, Waters didn’t hold back. He said, in part, of the recording, “It’s got that kind of ‘Dragnet,’ ‘Peter Gunn,’ American detective series beginning. You keep thinking it’s going to start. You think that for the first minute but then, if you are really perceptive, you realize it isn’t going to start, and that’s all there is.”
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When Rodgers took part in the feature in the August 1, 1970 issue of Melody Maker, he was presented with the now iconic Sabbath song “Paranoid.” Believe it or not, Rodgers wasn’t over the moon about the track.
He said, “This is a heavy sound, but I don’t know who it is. It’s very well recorded, but I feel like I have heard so many things like this before. The bass and the drummer don’t seem very together, and neither does the guitarist really. Maybe they are better on stage. I like things to sound heavy but melodic at the same time, as well as tight together.”
Sadly, Sabbath was not favorably received by a number of people when they first arrived with their self-titled debut in 1970. In fact, they’re part of a very unique club of iconic bands whose debut albums were panned by Rolling Stone. Keep scrolling to read some of those reviews!