Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.I was nine years old when I first heard "War Pigs", so it would've been 1972. My older brother was a big influence on me in terms of musical taste; he played me a lot of wild stuff at an early age - I was listening to A Hard Day's Night when I was five. "War Pigs" had a particular impact on me because he turned out all the lights and played it to me, and started making all these weird noises. It scared the crap out of me. I was his kid brother, so I guess he felt he had a duty to bust my chops. Like I said, it terrified me, but it had an immediate effect because I went to school the next day and wrote Black Sabbath all over my notebooks and everyone else was like, "Huh? Who are they?" I was very innovative in that respect.
The song made another impact on me the second time around, when I was 16 or 17 and just starting to get involved with bands of my own. There had been other influences - I got into everyone from Kiss to Earth, Wind and Fire - but Sabbath were the main ones. The lyrics to "War Pigs" are about Vietnam, and they're incredible: "Politicians hide themselves away/ They only started the war/ Why should they go out and fight?/ Leave that to the poor". The part that really freaked me out was the last line: "Satan laughing spreads his wings". It was about how the politicians will all have to face this day of judgement, though at nine I didn't know that. I just heard the bit about Satan and went running for mommy.
The audience at Anthrax shows are young, so maybe they discovered us the way I discovered Sabbath - someone using our music to scare the hell out of them.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments