GMD Poll: Black Sabbath’s Discography Ranked

[Phylactery]

How is that superficial? I analyze the quality of each song both within and outside the context of its respective album.

I was mainly referring to the last point. It didn't seem to me that you did consider its quality within the context of an album. Obviously some albums are not just intended to be a collection of songs and so the placing of the track matters and its relation to the other tracks. It seemed to me you just take each song in a vacuum and rate it on its own merits.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

In general I try to have my first and second listens with as few expectations as possible and take the album as a whole, and then depending on various factors I may focus on individual songs more closely on a third listen. Sometimes if an album seems really mediocre on first listen I'll go straight for the song-by-song on the second and shelf it, just so that if I finally get around to listening to it years later I can see what I thought of it at the time and see how my opinion changed if at all.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

I edited the rules to allow for lists of 10 or more to be included. 9 or less still don't count. However, be aware that your first place album still gets 20 points and your last album still gets one point. The other scores are proportionate. For example, if you list 10 albums, your point distribution would like so:

1st: 20
2nd: 17.9
3rd: 15.8
4th: 13.7
5th: 11.6
6th: 9.5
7th: 7.4
8th: 5.3
9th: 3.2
10th: 1

Still two weeks to vote or finalize your votes.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

A:
1. Sabotage
2. Mob Rules
3. Paranoid
4. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

A-:
5. Master of Reality
6. Heaven and Hell

B+:
7. Dehumanizer
8. Headless Cross
9. Black Sabbath
10. The Devil You Know

B:
11. Born Again
12. Vol. 4

B-:
13. Tyr

C+:
14. Cross Purposes
15. Forbidden
16. Never Say Die!

C:
17. Seventh Star
18. Eternal Idol
19. Technical Ecstacy
20. 13

Still might shift around a few albums near the bottom and in the middle after another listen. The top 6 is a lock.

 

[The Ozzman]

I edited the rules to allow for lists of 10 or more to be included. 9 or less still don't count. However, be aware that your first place album still gets 20 points and your last album still gets one point. The other scores are proportionate. For example, if you list 10 albums, your point distribution would like so:

1st: 20
2nd: 17.9
3rd: 15.8
4th: 13.7
5th: 11.6
6th: 9.5
7th: 7.4
8th: 5.3
9th: 3.2
10th: 1

Still two weeks to vote or finalize your votes.

How did you come up with those scores based on a list of 10? I'm trying to figure it out. Did you use an aggregate score or something?

 

[alex76]

1. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
2. Paranoid
3. Black Sabbath
4. Vol. 4
5. Master of Reality
6. Mob Rules <--- An amazing album to put out so late in their careers. Some really underrated gems in there!
7. Technical Ecstasy <--- Above Sabotage because of "Gypsy" and "Dirty Women".
8. Sabotage
9. Heaven and Hell
10. Born Again
Meh... sort the rest how you wish.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

How did you come up with those scores based on a list of 10? I'm trying to figure it out. Did you use an aggregate score or something?

20-1=19
The difference between first and last place)

19/9=2.111
Now you have an even amount that when subtracted 8 times will leave you with 1 for the last place. (I rounded to 2.1, which is why the difference between spots 9 and 10 is disproportionate by .1, but this should have a negligible impact).

 

[The Ozzman]

20-1=19
The difference between first and last place)

19/9=2.111
Now you have an even amount that when subtracted 8 times will leave you with 1 for the last place. (I rounded to 2.1, which is why the difference between spots 9 and 10 is disproportionate by .1, but this should have a negligible impact).

Thanks!

 

[J.]

Eternal Idol at the bottom? Really?

Man, i think that is one of the better Martin albums

 

[crimsonfloyd]

Eternal Idol at the bottom? Really?

Man, i think that is one of the better Martin albums

I'm re-listening to it right now and my main gripe is it has a tacky AOR sound to it that makes me feel like I'm kicking it in a mechanic's waiting room during the 80s. There aren't any straight up bad songs, just a lot of vanilla stuff. I'll take the quasi-grunge sound of Cross Purposes and Forbidden (Dollar Tree production quality and all) over this, simply because its a better aesthetic and tone. The only song that really stands out is the title track, which is gritty, dark, and cynical.

Still, I could see moving up a few spots as I re-listen to the bottom of the barrel.

 

[Talos of Atmora]

@crimsonfloyd Ever thought about doing this with other bands?

 

[crimsonfloyd]

@crimsonfloyd Ever thought about doing this with other bands?

Yup. I'm thinking start with Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Slayer, Metallica, etc. and then move on to extreme bands with well-known discographies like Burzum, Death, etc. But I'm open to suggestions.

 

[Oblivious Maximus]

The Eternal Idol is a great album but if I had to rank the Martin albums I'd still put it fourth behind Cross Purposes, Tyr and Headless Cross. "The Shining" and the title track are some of the best Martin-era songs.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

I'm with you on the title track, but "The Shining" is nothing special.

 

[The Ozzman]

Yeah Eternal Idol and Cross Purposes are amazing slabs of metal imo

 

[J.]

Im loving the love for the Martin albums. Its nice to see folks arent just "only ozzy and dio sabbath are real"

 

[Talos of Atmora]

Im loving the love for the Martin albums. Its nice to see folks arent just "only ozzy and dio sabbath are real"

Anyone who thinks Tyr, Headless Cross and The Eternal Idol are bad albums doesn't know what a bad album sounds like.

Headless Cross is definitely my favorite Martin-era album though.

 

[The Butt]

Anyone who thinks Tyr, Headless Cross and The Eternal Idol are bad albums doesn't know what a bad album sounds like.

Headless Cross is definitely my favorite Martin-era album though.

They're not even BAD just so pedestrian, which I'd argue is worse. At least bad albums evoke some form of reaction.

 

[J.]

they usually do evoke a reaction: "dur, its not ozzy or dio, screw it", which is retarded and wrong

They are easily better than, or at least on par with, NSD, TS, SS, Mob Rules, Born Again, and The Devil You Know. To some, that might not mean much.

And these days, they hold the most replay value for me.

 

[The Butt]

They are easily better than, or at least on par with, NSD, TS, SS, Mob Rules, Born Again