Black Sabbath’s eponymously titled debut album from 1970 has topped a poll of best British rock albums of all time, as voted for by readers of Kerrang! The band also take fifth place with ‘Paranoid’ and appear two other times on the list - with frontman Ozzy Osbourne scoring two solo entries too.
Other albums in the top ten of the survey include two from Iron Maiden
- ‘Number of the Beast’ and ‘Iron Maiden’, plus the Sex Pistols’ ‘Never Mind the Bollocks’,
Led Zeppelin’s ‘IV’, The Clash’s ‘London
Calling’, Queen’s ‘Sheer Heart Attack’ and the Manic Street Preachers’ ‘The Holy Bible’.
The newest of the albums in the top ten is Muse’s ‘Absolution’.
Commenting on the survey Kerrang! editor Ashley Bird told reporters: "It's amazing to see so many incredible homegrown albums in one list, and without any of the abysmal fashion bands that currently clog up the music scene. These are the real opinions of proper rock fans."
Commenting on Black Sabbath’s success in the poll, Osbourne said it was a triumph for British rock, adding: "Back then [when they recorded ‘Black Sabbath] you'd hear: 'If you go to
San Francisco, be sure to wear a flower in your hair'. We lived in Aston, Birmingham. The only flowers I ever saw were on a gravestone in our local cemetery."