The Black Sabbath Song Recorded at John Lennon’s Home

Ozzy Osbourne once said The Beatles had turned his world from black-and-white to color.

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Though Osbourne was only 13 years old when The Beatles released their first single in 1962, he said the Fab Four had “broke the f—ing doors down.” The freedom The Beatles offered in their music created a path for his own pioneering band, Black Sabbath.

However, when Black Sabbath gathered at John Lennon’s home to record, Osbourne was no longer their singer. Following a difficult firing from the band, he’d begun what would be a Hall of Fame solo career. Meanwhile, Black Sabbath had also moved on with a new singer, Ronnie James Dio.

Within a month in 1981, Osbourne released his second solo LP (Diary of a Madman), and Black Sabbath released its second with Dio, Mob Rules. A version of the title track to Mob Rules was recorded at Lennon’s home studio.

Two Versions

Guitarist Tony Iommi said Black Sabbath recorded “The Mob Rules” at the ex-Beatle’s house, though it’s not the version that made the record. The initial recording at Lennon’s place in Tittenhurst Park appeared on the soundtrack to the 1981 film Heavy Metal.

The band recorded the song again in Los Angeles. This version appears on Mob Rules, Black Sabbath’s 10th studio album. It follows the success of Dio’s first with the group, Heaven and Hell.

Iommi said the band wrote “The Mob Rules” in the same room where Lennon had filmed the music video for “Imagine.” They used Lennon’s studio engineer on the original but Mob Rules producer Martin Birch wanted to rerecord the title track.

Though the second version sounds more hi-fi, there’s a looseness to the original. Perhaps it’s the freshness of recording so soon after writing it. Bands often struggle with trying to recapture the elusive magic of previous recordings.

“The Mob Rules” is also notable for Iommi’s use of a tremolo bar on his Gibson SG. “[The use of a tremolo bar in the riff] was very unusual for me—because I never used to use them. Obviously, nowadays, everybody uses them. I’m not really good with them—it was just a divebomb. That was it. I think I had [an] SG with a tremolo at that time,” he told Guitar World in 2021.

‘Holy Diver’

Dio exited the band after Mob Rules and formed a new band under his own name featuring drummer Vinny Appice, guitarist Vivian Campbell, and bassist Jimmy Bain. (Appice also played on Mob Rules and left Black Sabbath when tensions rose between Dio and the band.)

The band’s 1983 debut, Holy Diver, became their most successful. However, Dio and Appice did return to Black Sabbath in 1992 for Dehumanizer.

Come Together

Both the Dio and Osbourne chapters define Black Sabbath’s long career. They offer intrigue to a band that helped establish heavy metal.

Still, Osbourne’s bluesy singing style and instinct for melody have more in common with The Beatles than the operatic quality of Dio’s voice. But Dio gave Osbourne’s former band a new life. And “The Mob Rules” remains one of his finest moments with Black Sabbath.

You’ve nothing to say
They’re breaking away
If you listen to fools
The mob rules

Photo by Fin Costello/Redferns