Black Sabbath’s founding member Geezer Butler recently talked about the period Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan joined Sabbath in an interview with Metal Edge. Butler claimed that Gillan didn’t put much effort into Black Sabbath records because he had a secret agenda with Deep Purple.
Ian Gillan found himself in an interesting situation back in the day. After Deep Purple disbanded, he joined Black Sabbath in 1983 and released the album ‘Born Again.’ However, this venture wasn’t as successful as it could have been, primarily because Ian’s heart was still set on Deep Purple. Even though he was with Black Sabbath, his energy and focus were aimed at a possible Deep Purple reunion.
In a recent interview, Geezer Butler shared his thoughts on the ‘Born Again’ album and the subsequent tour. He mentioned that the tour wasn’t very successful, in part because Ian Gillan didn’t bother learning the lyrics to the old Sabbath tunes. Instead of giving it his all, it seemed like Gillan was holding back, waiting for something else – like a Deep Purple reunion, perhaps?
Geezer Butler recalled:
“I have to say, I actually liked most of the songs on the ‘Born Again’ album. I didn’t particularly like a couple of lyrics, but I thought there was some good stuff on there. And I recently listened to it a couple of years ago, and after not hearing it for some time, I had forgotten how good of an album it was. The issue was, once again, once we got out on tour with Ian [Gillan], we found that he didn’t bother to learn any of the lyrics to the old Sabbath tunes. I thought that was ridiculous.
I mean, if you’re gonna go out on tour with us, give it your all, or maybe get a monitor or something. But again, it was obvious that Ian wasn’t 100% into it, and then in the middle of the American tour, he finally revealed to us that Deep Purple was getting back together, which screwed us.”
Rock and roll history is full of twists and turns, and we witness this with new revelations every day. Ian Gillan’s half-hearted effort during his time with Black Sabbath was a clear sign that his loyalties lay elsewhere. Sure enough, right after leaving Black Sabbath, he reunited with Deep Purple, confirming Geezer Butler’s suspicions. In the end, Gillan’s heart belonged to Deep Purple, and that’s where he chose to focus his energy – a decision that has gone down in rock history.
