Black Sabbath and Philosophy
Black Sabbath and Philosophy
14/05/2013
Black Sabbath and Philosophy, edited by William Irwin and part of Wiley-Blackwell’s Philosophy and Pop Culture series, came out in late 2012, and contains a chapter by Søren R. Frimodt-Møller, entitled “Black Sabbath and the Problem of Defining Metal”.
The chapter was both fun and challenging to write, given that I had to (well, I made myself) listen to all Black Sabbath’s albums (yes, every official studio release, including the ones with Dio, Glenn Hughes and Tony Martin) and boil down my quite detailed review of how influential all of these albums were to a popular article that should also teach the readers some basic philosophy of concepts, definitions and conditions. I am quite proud of how the chapter turned out, and also proud that Irwin thanks me in the acknowledgment section (I read and commented on a few of the other chapters in the book).
Given my personal involvement in the publication, I am somewhat biased, but still, I honestly think that this is a very good anthology. It manages to deal with both the lyrical, cultural and musical impact of Black Sabbath put into a philosophical perspective - and put philosophy into a perspective by using examples from the world of Black Sabbath.
I can warmly recommend the volume to people who would like to dive in to philosophical discussions of music and lyrics, and want to read something that doesn’t use 19th Century librettos and Lieder as its main examples. (No offence to the larger part of the music philosophy community.)
The book is also wildly relevant right now, given that three thirds of the original Black Sabbath line-up are releasing the studio album 13 this June. The first single, “God Is Dead?” (with a picture of Nietzsche on the cover) virtually plays like a theme song for Irwin’s anthology.