He truly went all-in demonic for his Black Sabbath stint. Tony Martin did too, they're on the verge of overdoing it, but what the hell - let there be no limits!
Any time the subject of great rock singers comes up, Ian Gilan should always be in the conversation. As much as I like Zeppelin, Gillan could sing circles around Robert Plant.
I love the story. Rock and roll is a theatrical production. Life is strange especially when what happens is different than what you could have possibly imagined. Thanks for all you do.
Ha ha, classic stuff. Ian recounts a bit of this story in the superb 1995 BBC Deep Purple Rockumentary Rock Family Trees. I remember he said of his time in Sabbath in his own 2007 docu dvd that it was the best year long party he'd ever been on. TOP MAN. Cheers for posting.
Great story from Ian Gillan. Saw #BalckSabbath with Ian when they hit #SudburyOnatrio on October 24th, 1983. Nazareth opened. One of the best rock shows I ever saw.
I saw the born again concert at the cow palace in san francisco, still have the concert ticket to prove it!Ian Gillan really did kick ass as a lead singer for them!
Oh man ..that´s was so funny. Love so much this album. Most crazy vocals, nothing less than amazing. Great riffs.. great everything. thank you for this video..laughed so much.
I'm a hard core Deep Purple fan, and I've always loved the Born Again album - never saw the tour, though. I blame Born Again for blowing out Gillan's voice - he could never scream like that again afterwards. His voice is still good, but he can't scream at all anymore.
Ritchie often alluded to drinking as being one of the key factors in the vocal troubles and behavioral issues with Ian. It seems like Gillan eventually embraced a calmer lifestyle and seems happy and healthy. Those screams were mindblowing! So glad he found his talent and had a vehicle to exploit it while it he could.
I absolutely love Born Again...I would love to hear a remixed/remastered version, but as barryjgillis said, just turn your stereo up to 11 and let 'er rip. The whole first side just tears your head off.
"And that was the end of the dwarf" haha did he actually die? No seriosly, this interview is hilarious! Both the dwarf story and the "That´s Ronnie Dio" is great
+Adriana yuni fitzgerald ..Adriana...yes..he seems like a good dude..and bet he could tell fantastic stories all night..it is great to see and listen to legends who dn't think they are..just great and relaxed manner he has..
Born Again was my first cassette, I was a young kid, going to a catholic school, and it scared the hell out of me. I almost asked my mom to return it, but then I listened to it again, Black Sabbath to me is Ian Gillan, and I take heat for that, and I dont care.
The Born Again stories and how Gillan joined Sabbath is the stuff legends are made of, wish there was more live recorded footage of this stone henge set with the dwarf lol
Brother Geoff fenholt. Is awesome I have heard a lot of his testimonies in different churches over the years I’m glad to see that you’re one of the ones that made it God bless you.
Mixing members between Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Whitesnake and Rainbow (did I miss any band?). Was brilliant ideas.. now it's much easier for younger fans to find other great bands and learn to accept them fast.
Whenever I'm thinking of " BORN AGAIN" album, only two concept come to my mind. 1. Cruelty of this music world. 2. Prejudiced mentality about something that is unique! It is painful for me after saw people had treated Black Sabbath's album Born Again . Intentionally the whole world kept this album underrated. Seeing this I'm now is sick, frustrated, dejected, anguished one. My love& enthusiasm of music now is totally disrupted. Ian Gillan's vocals particularly on 'BORN AGAIN' & 'Disturbing the priest' song is simply outstanding, unexplainable, and Divine one. All the Metal God's IOMMI, GILLAN, GEEZER, WARD came together to create a classic, an impeccable, pure heavy metal album.
I can't relate to what they mean : Ian, being very honest, tells the story of all the singers, not matter the genre you're into. As a singer, you have to believe the words you sing, you have to relate...otherwise you're doomed...
I understand what he means, but I find it pretty unprofessional. You're paid good money to do a job, and you can't do it even if your fans know the lyrics word by word. Come on Ian, it's not rocket science.
Okay, Okay ... lol ... I'd seen this before, but I finally got the joke. He was bobbing his head up & down through the fog while kneeling and it prompted somebody to shout out ... " It's Ronnie Dio " ( The Mighty Midget ) because he appeared to be short because of the fog. Too funny.
I LOVE the Stonehenge story! Especially considering that Spinal Tap filmed a demo version of their Stonehenge scene in '82 to get funding for the movie. The Spinal Tap set was ridicu.ously small, the Sabbath ridiculously big.
I saw them on this tour in... 1985? I forget lol. I was around 5 rows from the stage on the floor. It was great. He pointed at me when he sang the "finger in black, that points at me" line, which I thought was the coolest thing that could possibly happen at the time haha.
"Machine Head" was recorded using the Rolling Stones' mobile recording truck outside of the hotel they were recording in. Hence, "Rolling truck stones thing just outside."
Great clip, that is hilarious!! I like Born Again - it's definitely a 1983 Metal record! SCREAMIIIIING VOOOCALLLLS!!! Can't beat Zero The Hero - what a freaky ass tune!
This is one of the coolest and funniest rock and roll interviews, I've ever heard or seen, I will remember it, totally awesome, totally funny", Rock on Mr.. Gillian definitely definitely, 1 of the top greatest vocalists of the whole world,. And the world will ever see in, And I thought Ozzy was the only funny guy"! Absolutely Comical, nearly fell out of my chair.
born again is actually a great album. the concert was great too. the album mix is awful but the songs are great. ian gets into more of it in his autobiography "child in time" read it, great book.
Ian is the best vocalist Sabbath ever had since the original line up.... Dio... Martin... great as well but the Born Again album was just amazing.... Totally a different sound... Wish they would have done another!
For my birthday in the late 90s, my girlfriend who worked at the BBC gave me an audio tape of Ian Gillian being interviewed for the "Rock Family Trees" episode they made about Deep Purple. It was about 90 minutes of him talking about being in Purple but the funniest stories were his ones about being in Sabbath. So, imagine about another 20 minutes of stories like this that were fucking hilarious. I got a Jon Lord one too. I lost the tapes in a house move which I'm really annoyed about. One thing I do remember though was he called Geezer Butler a twat.
Gillan wrote 'Digital Bitch' about Sharon Osbourne, Don Arden's (Sabbath's manager at the time) daughter, and Don. Gillan has said that everything in the song is true, apart from that neiher Don or Sharon had anything to do with computers. Brilliant lyrics!
Black Sabbath is a Legend and we love them. Everyone should listen to them. They are one of our biggest influences. Our band Amaggot Bordir owes alot to them. We just added a new video today on my profile if anyone wants to hear something new and heavily influenced by Sabbath.
A very brave front man.......at the time.......maybe the bravest......one of the most divided concert Experiance of my life!......the boys played very serious,blew me away.....of course I knew the album.....most there didn't......WOW!
Gillan joining Sabbath was perceived as a sensation back then - of course, one is tempted to say. As far as public(ity) buzz went, it was, with hindsight, the preliminary stage, or should I say pre-ignition to that of Purple getting back together.
I bought the cassette as soon a s it was released and loved it !! I took it with me when i enlisted in the Army. While living in the barracks I would crank out Digital Bitch to drowned out the sound of run dmc playing in the room next to mine. Black Sabbath always won that battle !!
I remember how I found out about the Born Again album. I was in a hospital bed and the tv was on. This Christian right-wing channel was on--this was in the American midwest--and they were talking about it, showing the cover and expressing their dismay over use of the term "born again." Then they played some of it to criticize the lyrics, and I heard this familiar voice! I thought, "It can't be!" Then they showed a photo of the band. I was floored.
