End of the Beginning

Album: 13 (2013)
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Songfacts®:

  • This song was premiered on the season finale of the TV show CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, which was broadcast on May 15 2013. The band performed the tune when actors Ted Danson and Marc Vann went to a Black Sabbath concert to investigate a trail of murders that relate to the sins in Dante's Inferno. "I'm not an actor," said Ozzy Osbourne. "It's like a hurry-up-and-wait. When you see it on TV, it's all done, but when you're filming, there's a lot of stuff going on."
  • The song was first performed live on 20 April 2013, on the first of the band's two Auckland shows in New Zealand. The studio version was premiered on May 31, 2013 on the Chilean radio station Futuro 88.9 FM.
  • This song, along with the rest of 13, was helmed by Rick Rubin (Beastie Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, Johnny Cash). Guitarist Tony Iommi recalled to Guitar World magazine the strange experience of working with the legendary producer Rick Rubin: "I didn't quite know what to make of Rick at first," he admitted. "His whole idea was, 'Write the song. Call me when you think it's ready.' So I would. Actually, I'd email him, because I couldn't phone him – nobody phones him. So I'd email him: 'Do you want to come down tonight?' And he'd pop in, have a listen, go, 'Yeah, I like that,' or, 'I don't like it.'

    "We wanted him to be more involved but he was this elusive guy that we never really saw," Iommi added. "But when we started recording, he was there all the time, lying on the bed with the microphone. Blimey, what a strange guy!"

Comments: 1

  • Tameron from Taft , CaThat was amazing... sounds like the old guys never missed a step. Already a classic in my eyes. Bravo.
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