"Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" is a song by British heavy metal

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 band Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...

. It is the title track of the band's fifth album Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath is the fifth studio album by the British heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released in December 1973. With this album, the band expanded upon their slow, crunching style of music by strings, keyboards and more complex orchestral arrangements.-Recording:Following the 1972–1973...

. It was released on the album in 1973. The song is the opening track on the album.

The main riff in the song has been recognized as "the riff that saved Black Sabbath" because Tony Iommi was suffering from writer's block

Writer's block

Writer's block is a condition, primarily associated with writing as a profession, in which an author loses the ability to produce new work. The condition varies widely in intensity. It can be trivial, a temporary difficulty in dealing with the task at hand. At the other extreme, some "blocked"...

 at the time. The band's music was based around his writing, and they resorted to drastic measures (including renting out the supposedly haunted Clearwell Castle

Clearwell Castle

Clearwell Castle is a mock Gothic mansion located in Clearwell, Gloucestershire. First known as Clearwell Court, it was built for Thomas Wyndham in 1728 to replace an older house which occupied same site. Its name was changed to Clearwell Castle in 1908....

 to live in) to inspire him.

The song has been dropped from Black Sabbath's sets. It was rarely played live in the '70s, and when the band reunited they only performed the first half in completion, with Ozzy dropping out of the song and not singing the final two verses. By the year 2000, it was dropped from their set entirely, until it emerged a few years later when the band played the riff a few times as an introduction to "Paranoid

Paranoid (song)

"Paranoid" is a song by the British heavy metal band Black Sabbath, featured on their second album Paranoid . It is the first single from the album, while the B-side is the song "The Wizard". It reached number 4 on the UK Singles Chart and number 61 on the Billboard Hot 100...

".

"Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" was covered

Cover version

In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 by Bruce Dickinson

Bruce Dickinson

Paul Bruce Dickinson is an English singer, songwriter, airline pilot, fencer, broadcaster, author, screenwriter, actor and marketing director, best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden....

 with Godspeed

Godspeed (band)

Godspeed were an American heavy metal band formed in 1994. Following the release of their debut album Ride, produced by Rachel Bolan of Skid Row, the band embarked on two high-profile tours as the opening act for Black Sabbath, Dio, and Cathedral...

 for the 1994 tribute album

Tribute album

A tribute album is a recorded collection of cover versions of songs or instrumental compositions. Its concept may be either various artists making a tribute to a single artist, a single artist making a tribute to various artists, or a single artist making a tribute to another single artist.There...

 Nativity in Black. It was also covered by Anthrax

Anthrax (band)

Anthrax is an American heavy metal band from New York City, formed in 1981. Founded by guitarists Scott Ian and Danny Lilker, the band has since released ten studio albums and 20 singles, and an EP featuring Public Enemy. The band was one of the most popular of the 1980s thrash metal scene...

 and their version originally appeared on the band's I'm the Man EP. The song was also covered and recorded by The Cardigans

The Cardigans

The Cardigans are a Swedish rock band formed in the town of Jönköping in October 1992.Their debut album Emmerdale gave them a solid base in their home country and enjoyed some success abroad, especially in Japan. It was not until their second album Life that an international reputation was secured...

 in 1994 for their album Emmerdale, and by the Austrian blackened death metal group Belphegor

Belphegor (band)

Belphegor is a blackened death metal band from Salzburg, Austria. They originally formed in 1991 under the name Betrayer before changing their name in 1993. They are named after the demon Belphegor.-Early years :...

 for their debut album the Last Supper. The song was also covered by the Swedish melodic death metal

Melodic death metal

Melodic death metal is a heavy metal music style that combines elements from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal with elements of death metal. The style was developed during the early and mid-1990s, primarily in England and Scandinavia...

 band Amon Amarth

Amon Amarth

Amon Amarth is a Swedish viking metal band from Tumba, Sweden founded in 1992, and takes its name from the Sindarin translation of Mount Doom, a location in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth. The band comprises vocalist Johan Hegg, guitarists Olavi Mikkonen and Johan Söderberg, bassist Ted Lundström...

.