GMD Poll: Black Sabbath’s Discography Ranked

[crimsonfloyd]

We’ve debated it for years, so it’s time to "settle" the debate: how do Black Sabbath’s albums rank? Which is their greatest? Their worst?

Directions: Rank Black Sabbath’s 19 studio albums plus Heaven and Hell’s “The Devil You Know” (which is a Sabbath album in everything but name). Order and number each album 1-20. Ties are not allowed. Your first place album earns 20 points, your second place album earns 19 points, etc. Lists with less than 10 albums will not be counted. If you list less than 20 albums, the points will be distributed proportionately so that your first place album still gets 20 points and your last album gets 1 point.

At the end, the albums will be ranked based on their average points per vote. (Therefore, if someone doesn't rank an album it neither hurts or helps that album).

You have until May 5th to finalize your list, re-familiarize yourself albums you haven’t heard in a while, familiarize yourself with albums you haven’t heard at all, lobby for any albums you think are underrated, and lobby against any albums you think are overrated.

And please, no pseudo-Machiavelli shit. Just rank them as you see them.

List of albums:
Black Sabbath (1970)
Paranoid (1970)
Master of Reality (1971)
Vol. 4 (1972)
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973)
Sabotage (1975)
Technical Ecstasy (1976)
Never Say Die! (1978)
Heaven and Hell (1980)
Mob Rules (1981)
Born Again (1983)
Seventh Star (1986)
The Eternal Idol (1987)
Headless Cross (1989)
Tyr (1990)
Dehumanizer (1992)
Cross Purposes (1994)
Forbidden (1995)
The Devil You Know (2009)
13 (2013)

 

[Phylactery]

How many people here have even heard Sabbath's full discovery to even vote on this? I certainly haven't listened to every album.

It's not like those later albums I've not heard have a chance of winning anyway, so why not narrow it down to 7-10 of what's considered Sabbath's most essential? And then we can rank those.

 

[Baroque]

Yeah I'll probably just rank the top 10-12 or so, some of those are so bad I don't want to revisit them

 

[The Ozzman]

The only one I haven't heard is Technical Ecstasy (who cares about 13?) but the Dio and Martin era albums will be hard to rank

 

[Baroque]

The only one I haven't heard is Technical Ecstasy but the Dio and Martin era albums will be hard to rank

TE is worth listening to, not their best but it'd make my top 10-12, better than the Martin stuff

 

[The Ozzman]

better than the Martin stuff

I doubt that

 

[The Ozzman]

Lists with less than 15 albums will not be counted.

Yeah I'll probably just rank the top 10-12

 

[J.]

Sabbath are the greatest band this planet has ever seen/heard so of course I've heard and have them all, plus the Heaven & Hell (band) album.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

How many people here have even heard Sabbath's full discovery to even vote on this? I certainly haven't listened to every album.

It's not like those later albums I've not heard have a chance of winning anyway, so why not narrow it down to 7-10 of what's considered Sabbath's most essential? And then we can rank those.

I'll wait and see what more people think. I could adjust the minimum to 10-12 if that's what the majority feel capable of ranking. However, at the end, all the albums will be listed.

 

[Krow]

Probably wont participate tbh.I own all but three (The Devil You Know, Forbidden, and Sabotage) but my opinion of BS albums veers so far from the norm my votes wont actually do anything, so I'll just watch you guys battle out which of the top 6 are the best. All I know for sure is Never Say Die! and Technical Ecstasy are easily the worst and would be awful even if they werent Black Sabbath albums.

 

[J.]

1. Sabotage
2. Master of Reality
3. Vol. 4
4. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
5. Black Sabbath
6. Paranoid
7. Heaven and Hell
8. Dehumanizer
9. Cross Purposes
10. The Eternal Idol
11. Tyr
12. Mob Rules
13. Born Again
14. Headless Cross
15. Forbidden
16. Never Say Die!
17. The Devil You Know
18. 13
19. Technical Ecstasy
20. Seventh Star

 

[The Ozzman]

I forget about Seventh Star existing all the time

 

[J.]

thats reasonable since its shit

 

[Oblivious Maximus]

Ranking the albums by singer/era has always came rather easy actually but it gets tricky when your doing their discography as a whole. I'm sure I'll look at this later and want to re-arrange the entire thing but looking at their output, this is how I see it at this particular moment in time.

1. Black Sabbath
2. Sabotage
3. Master of Reality
4. Volume 4
5. Paranoid
6. Dehumanizer
7. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
8. Cross Purposes
9. The Devil You Know
10. Heaven and Hell
11. Mob Rules
12. Tyr
13. Headless Cross
14. Born Again
15. Technical Ecstasy
16. The Eternal Idol
17. 13
18. Never Say Die!
19. Forbidden
20. Seventh Star

 

[H.P. Lovecraft]

1. Sabotage
2. Master of Reality
3. Vol. 4
4. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
5. Black Sabbath
6. Paranoid
7. Heaven and Hell
8. Dehumanizer
9. Cross Purposes
10. The Eternal Idol
11. Tyr
12. Mob Rules
13. Born Again
14. Headless Cross
15. Forbidden
16. Never Say Die!
17. The Devil You Know
18. 13
19. Technical Ecstasy
20. Seventh Star

Seventh Star under Forbidden? You're joking, right?

 

[Bloopy]

Conveniently I'd already done this on another website (minus The Devil You Know) to work out my top 10 & worst. It's a shame about the songs on Seventh Star as I think Glenn's voice has great character and was a better fit than Gillan or Martin. Even the worst with Ozzy appeals to me more, though his solo stuff is a different story.

1. Black Sabbath
2. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
3. Paranoid
4. Master of Reality
5. 13
6. Heaven and Hell
7. Mob Rules
8. Vol 4
9. The Devil You Know
10. Sabotage
11. Never Say Die!
12. Dehumanizer
13. Technical Ecstasy
14. Born Again
15. The Eternal Idol
16. Headless Cross
17. Tyr
18. Seventh Star
19. Forbidden
20. Cross Purposes

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Haven't heard 13 at all, and some of these others not in several years, preliminary list is...

Born Again
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Paranoid
Master of Reality
Headless Cross
Dehumanizer
Black Sabbath
Vol. 4
Sabotage
Heaven and Hell
Mob Rules
Never Say Die!
Tyr
The Eternal Idol
Forbidden
Seventh Star
Cross Purposes
Technical Ecstasy

To listen/relisten:

The Devil You Know (2009)
13 (2013)

 

[no country for old wainds]

i've heard everything from '81 through '95 at some point with the possible exception of SEVENTH STAR, but i can't remember much of it. didn't exactly grab me for the most part but maybe some of it would nowadays.

feel free not to count this, but of the first 9 i'd go:
1) vol. 4
2) paranoid
3) black sabbath
4) master of reality
5) heaven and hell
6) sabbath bloody sabbath
7) sabotage
8) technical ecstasy
9) never say die

it's obviously minor but i quite like technical ecstasy relative to how much it's shat on.

 

[CiG]

1. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973)
2. Heaven and Hell (1980)
3. Vol. 4 (1972)
4. Master of Reality (1971)
5. Mob Rules (1981)
6. Paranoid (1970)
7. Tyr (1990)
8. Sabotage (1975)
9. Black Sabbath (1970)
10. Born Again (1983)
11. Technical Ecstasy (1976)
12. Never Say Die! (1978)
13. Headless Cross (1989)
14. The Eternal Idol (1987)
15. Dehumanizer (1992)
16. The Devil You Know (2009)
17. 13 (2013)
18. Seventh Star (1986)
19. Cross Purposes (1994)
20. Forbidden (1995)

 

[H.P. Lovecraft]

1) Everything else
2) Forbidden

Just kidding. Not really though.