Back in October of 1970, Black Sabbath’s sophomore album, Paranoid, reached #1 on the UK charts. Strangely enough, that was their only record to reach the top of the album charts in their native country – until now. Billboard.biz reports that with UK charts out, 13 debuts at #1, shattering the record for the longest gap between #1 album that was previously held by Bob Dylan. It’s also expected to top the charts here as well, which will be the band’s first #1-debuting album in the United States.
Meanwhile, the situation with the album’s drummer continues to be a topic of discussion. Ozzy has already mentioned that he’s not exactly sure why his current drummer Tommy Clufetos wasn’t chosen to play on the album, with Brad Wilk playing instead. He expanded on that a bit to Billboard.
“The way it was dealt with wasn’t very fair on Tommy. Rick Rubin just didn’t want to work with him for reasons I don’t know. He’s a great drummer, and he’s been with me for awhile now and I just felt that nobody discussed the decision about Brad to me, and it’s not fair to Tommy. Tommy was promised the album… It’s not because he was my drummer and my ego wanted him. It was just the fact the way it was dealt with. It just got me a bit, it got me pissed off about it. It’s alright now. He’s a great drummer. I don’t know what the problem was.”
Rubin responded to the magazine via e-mail, and essentially dismissed Clufetos, who’s played with Rob Zombie, Alice Cooper and Ted Nugent, as a metal drummer:
“Brad is a muscular drummer with great feel and understands the groovy nature of their music — Rage Against the Machine is a groovy rock band, not a metal band — so it was worth a try. When they played together the first time, it was obvious he would do a great job in the seat Bill left vacated. Bill’s a great drummer and I’m sure it would have been an amazing album with him. We all wanted him to participate.”
The article also goes on to suggest that the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith would have like to have played on 13. And if you remember, Rick Rubin’s first choice to play on the album once it was decided that original drummer Bill Ward wouldn’t be playing on the album was Cream’s Ginger Baker.
And in personal news related to Sabbath, ripped straight from the pages of TMZ, it appears that Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne are living together again. It was reported earlier this year that she’d moved out after he’d relapsed. According to the gossip mongers, Sharon said that she wouldn’t take him back unless he cleaned himself up. Apparently he’s drug and alcohol free now. It’s not going as well for other performers on 13, however, as TMZ also reports that Brad Wilk’s wife, Selene Vigil-Wilk, is filing for divorce after eight years of marriage. The pair have two children together, and the Rage Against the Machine drummer’s wife is seeking joint legal custody, with primary physical.
