HueyRamone wrote: ↑Thu Oct 12, 2023 11:06 am
The story is that he sent a tape in for Sabbath and Tony loved it, and contacted him, and then they realized that it was a different singer's tape he liked.
I'd love to see a source on this, hilarious if true.
Ask and ye shall receive. From Iommi himself:
“We still needed a new singer, so out in LA me and Geezer listened to tapes again, boxes and boxes of them, sent to us by all these young guys who were dreaming about joining Black Sabbath. This one guy called Ron Keel sent a tape in and I said to Geezer: ‘This lad’s pretty good. Have a listen to him.’
He played it and said: ‘Oh, yeah!’
We went out for dinner and drinks with him. In the course of the evening I said to Ron: ‘I really like the stuff you sent.’
‘Oh, thanks.’
I said: ‘I like that third track, so-and-so . . .’
And he went: ‘That’s not me.’
‘What do you mean it’s not you? It’s on your tape!’
He said: ‘I’m on the other side.’
He’d sent the tape with him on one side and another, different singer on the other. So we made a right boo-boo there. Ron actually did have a career later, because he’s a good singer as well. He just wasn’t what we were looking for at the time. We never figured out who the other guy was, but after this happened we’d had enough, “ so we got a producer to try out the singers who had sent in good tapes.”
Don't Damn Me wrote: ↑Tue Sep 12, 2023 7:21 pm
Dummy, are you aware that hydroxy-chloroqin and Ivermectin have since been proven effective?
I had a CD by a band called Cold Sweat. The guitar player was Marc Ferrari who was in Keel so just based on that alone I checked out a Keel record. It picked up Final Frontier since I saw it was produced by Gene Simmons and had a version of Because the Night (Springsteen) on it. Nothing really special about them to be honest but good enough to listen to every now and then. I think the self titled record is my favorite. That's the most glam/pop metal sounding one.
"You want Don Juan DeMarco, the world's greatest lover, to talk to you? What do you know of great love?"
I'm not saying ol'cokehead Iommi is full of shite but here's mr Keel's side of the story and it doesn't involve him sending a tape of any sorts to anyone. Spencer Proffer knew exactly who was on the demo he played to Tony and Geezer as he recorded it himself:
""It was an amazing experience. I was in the studio recording the Keel demos at Pasha Studios where producer Spencer Proffer had recorded the Quiet Riot Metal Health Album. Spencer was hot in Hollywood at the time and was signed on to produce the new Black Sabbath album after Ian Gillan left. So Spencer had chosen me for the vocal position in Sabbath and we cut a demo of some songs. Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler heard the demo, I signed a contract, I met with their management I spent days with Tony and Geezer. Spencer for whatever reason, ego probably was trying to turn Black Sabbath into an 80's Hair band. He was trying to push outside songs on them and make them into an MTV type band. That is not Sabbath, Sabbath is who they are they iconic founding fathers of Heavy Metal, you don't take Sabbath and turn them into 80's metal band like Ratt or Motley Crue. Spencer wanted to do this with Sabbath at the time, not necessarily with me but I would have been a good fit. My time with the band was very short."
HueyRamone wrote: ↑Thu Oct 12, 2023 11:06 am
The story is that he sent a tape in for Sabbath and Tony loved it, and contacted him, and then they realized that it was a different singer's tape he liked.
I'd love to see a source on this, hilarious if true.
Ask and ye shall receive. From Iommi himself:
“We still needed a new singer, so out in LA me and Geezer listened to tapes again, boxes and boxes of them, sent to us by all these young guys who were dreaming about joining Black Sabbath. This one guy called Ron Keel sent a tape in and I said to Geezer: ‘This lad’s pretty good. Have a listen to him.’
He played it and said: ‘Oh, yeah!’
We went out for dinner and drinks with him. In the course of the evening I said to Ron: ‘I really like the stuff you sent.’
‘Oh, thanks.’
I said: ‘I like that third track, so-and-so . . .’
And he went: ‘That’s not me.’
‘What do you mean it’s not you? It’s on your tape!’
He said: ‘I’m on the other side.’
He’d sent the tape with him on one side and another, different singer on the other. So we made a right boo-boo there. Ron actually did have a career later, because he’s a good singer as well. He just wasn’t what we were looking for at the time. We never figured out who the other guy was, but after this happened we’d had enough, “ so we got a producer to try out the singers who had sent in good tapes.”
Thanks, that's fucking amazing. Here's pretty much what Ron has always said:
"It was an amazing experience. I was in the studio recording the Keel demos at Pasha Studios where producer Spencer Proffer had recorded the Quiet Riot Metal Health Album. Spencer was hot in Hollywood at the time and was signed on to produce the new Black Sabbath album after Ian Gillan left. So Spencer had chosen me for the vocal position in Sabbath and we cut a demo of some songs. Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler heard the demo, I signed a contract, I met with their management I spent days with Tony and Geezer. Spencer for whatever reason, ego probably was trying to turn Black Sabbath into an 80's Hair band. He was trying to push outside songs on them and make them into an MTV type band. That is not Sabbath, Sabbath is who they are they iconic founding fathers of Heavy Metal, you don't take Sabbath and turn them into 80's metal band like Ratt or Motley Crue. Spencer wanted to do this with Sabbath at the time, not necessarily with me but I would have been a good fit. My time with the band was very short. I am very thankful Keel survived cause that was when we first put Keel together and I had to tell the guys in the band I was joining Black Sabbath and I can't turn this opportunity down. So the Black Sabbath Deal fell apart, Spencer Proffer was fired, Sabbath said screw you we are not having any of this musical outlook and I got caught in the crossfire.
If Iommi's story is true, I don't know who has the bigger burn, Ron, or the mystery singer. Imagine that guy is out there somewhere and still to this day has no idea Black Sabbath wanted to audition him.
When I first saw the video for "Somebody's Waiting" I instantly became a fan. I then went and bought the album, popped it in the tape deck in my car, and discovered that the rest of the album sucked and was no longer a fan.
Wild Obsession wrote: ↑Fri Oct 13, 2023 6:06 pm
Most of the first generation hair bands were pretty mediocre........Keel, Black n Blue, Rough Cutt, Helix, Krokus, etc.....
Don't forget Quiet Riot and Twisted Sister.
No wonder Mötley and Ratt were the only ones from that batch to have a successful career longer than a year or two. Bon Jovi too if you count them.
There's a clear survivor bias in play here. Even more so for NWOBHM. Motörhead and Priest weren't part of it, no more than VH and Kiss were hair metal, and most bands not named Maiden, Leppard and Saxon sucked. But who even remembers Witchfynde, Savage or Hellanbach?
