The home-made invention that led to the sound of Black Sabbath, and the birth of a new genre - 'heavy metal'

Birmingham has a rich musical heritage. For those hailing from the city (including myself), one venue in particular is a source of pride. ‘The Crown’ pub, tucked behind New Street train station, was well known as being the ‘birthplace of heavy metal’, notably hosting the first gig of Black Sabbath, as well as a raft of other rock legends including Marc Bolan (T.Rex), Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin) & Thin Lizzy. The rich heritage of The Crown led to it recently being awarded listed status by Historic England, saving it from the wrecking ball off the back of a huge campaign spearheaded by locals. 

The recent death of Black Sabbath's lead singer, Ozzy Osbourne, stirred distant memories of being told (by my music & Sabbath-mad Brummie uncle) how lead guitarist, Tony Iommi, lost the ends of his fingers in an accident at metal pressing factory when he was a teenager. At the time, he was told he would never play guitar again, but went on to define a genre.

Incredibly, faced with the problem of getting himself some new fingertips that would allow him to hold the fretboard (essential for playing guitar), Tony devised some home-made and bespoke prostheses for his fingers. The story goes that the young and innovative Tony melted down a washing up bottle, pushed his finger tips into soft balls of the melted plastic, and then filed them down to create plastic prostheses. He then wrapped these prostheses in strips of leather to improve his grip on the strings whilst playing, having experimented with several other materials.

It's amazing to think that had Tony Iommi not sat down, and painstakingly devised the prostheses that allowed him to continue to play guitar, then musical history would look very different. The fact Tony had to improvise with his playing led to his distinct sound, and hence opened the door to a new genre. Tony Iommi's story puts a spotlight on what it means to invent - he was faced with a seemingly insurmountable problem (as far as the doctors were concerned!), but he went away and devised a solution that allowed him to play. Not all inventors are faced with such personal or significant problems, but it does highlight that anyone can be an inventor, and that an invention may not be immediately apparent - sadly from a quick search, it seems Tony failed to get his patent application for a method of making home-made finger prostheses filed!