Into the Void: From Birth to Black SabbathAnd Beyond

A rollicking, effusive, and candid memoir by the heavy metal musician and founding member of Black Sabbath, covering his years as the bands bassist and main lyricist through his later-career projects, and detailing how one of rocks most influential bands formed and prevailed. With over 70 million records sold, Black Sabbath, dubbed by Rolling Stone the Beatles of heavy metal, helped create the genre itself, with their distinctive heavy riffs, tuned down guitars, and apocalyptic lyrics. Bassist and primary lyricist Geezer Butler played a gigantic part in the bands renown, from suggesting the band name to using his fascination with horror, religion, and the occult to compose the lyrics and build the foundation of heavy metal as we know it. In Into the Void, Butler tells his side of the story, from the bands beginnings as a scrappy blues quartet in Birmingham through the struggles leading to the many well-documented lineup changes while touring around Londons gritty clubs (Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, and The Who makes notable appearances!), and the bands important later years. He writes honestly of his childhood in a working-class family of seven in Luftwaffe-battered Birmingham, his almost-life as an accountant, and how his disillusionment with organized religion and class systems would spawn the lyrics and artistic themes that would resonate so powerfully with fans around the world. Into the Void reveals the softer side of the heavy metal legend and the formation of one of rocks most exciting bands, while holding nothing back. Like Geezers bass lines, it is both original, dramatic, and forever surprising.