Contrary to popular belief, Black Sabbath are not devil worshippers. According to Geezer Butler, they’re closer to the opposite.
In a recent interview, the bassist opened up about the band’s early years and explained that he was surprised when the band faced accusations of Satanism from U.S. audiences because he has always been a Christian. And many of the band’s lyrics are based on his faith.
“A lot of the stuff was misinterpreted, I think, just because of the name of the band, Black Sabbath,” Butler told Lifeminute, as transcribed by Ultimate Guitar. “The song ‘After Forever’ was purely… It’s like the most Christian thing you could ever listen to.”
Butler went on to explain, “It’s about losing your faith. People think that they’ve lost the faith, and then on the deathbed, what are they going to do on the deathbed? Are they going to get the faith and suddenly believe in the whole thing again or not?”
It doesn’t stop there, either, as Butler clarified, “The song ‘Black Sabbath’ was against… Because there was a big black magic thing going on in England at the end of the ’60s — everybody was getting into black magic and Satanism and all that kind of stuff. So the song ‘Black Sabbath’ was actually warning people about getting into black magic and Satanism.”
Finally, offering his take on why the band faced Satanism claims, Butler indicated that it was the difference in approach to Christian faith between Europeans and Americans. “Nobody really cared about it in Europe and England. So when I got to America, I couldn’t believe how big Christianity still was,” he said. “And all these people that were trying to turn pro-Christianity lyrics. They were trying to make it against us. And they completely misinterpreted us.”
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The post Black Sabbath’s Geezer Butler Addresses Those ‘Satanism’ Accusations appeared first on VICE.
