Tony Iommi opens up on working with Rick Rubin on final Sabbath record

Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi discussed the creation of the band’s last album, “13,” in a recent interview with Ian Danter of Planet Rock. When it was released in 2013, Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler, and singer Ozzy Osbourne appeared on Sabbath’s first album in thirty-five years.

On our last album, Sabbath album we did with [producer] Rick Rubin, we didn’t have time to absorb what we’d done. Because Rick wouldn’t talk to the others. He talked to me and I’d have to tell them. I don’t know what happened there.

We were in Los Angeles and I came back for the weekend off. Rick phoned me on the Friday and said, ‘Oh, could you come up with a song like ‘Planet Caravan’ to record on Monday?’ I went, ‘What?!’ [He said] ‘You come up with a song. [I went], ‘Blimey!’ So, I worked on this idea and he said, ‘We can record it Monday.’ But nobody else [in Black Sabbath] knew. So, we got in there Monday, and Rick said, ‘We’re going to put this song down.’ Geezer went, ‘What song?!’ [Rubin replied], ‘Well, Tony’s done a song here. We’re going to put that down.’ [Geezer] went, ‘I don’t even know what it is. I don’t know what key is.’ And that’s sort of what happened, and we ended up putting it down. But it was it was such an awkward situation.

Tony Iommi is a musician from England. He co-founded the groundbreaking heavy metal group Black Sabbath in 1968. For more than 50 years, he served as the band’s guitarist, leader, primary composer, and only consistent member, contributing to every release. He’s been called the “Godfather of Heavy Metal” by some. Iommi’s unique playing style was shaped by an accident at a sheet metal factory when he was a teenager that caused him to lose the tips of his right-hand ring and middle fingers.