Geezer said the word electric was never part of the name, it was originally “The Polka Tulk Blues Band”.
I also had been under the impression that the formal name of the band was “The Polka Tulk Electric Blues Band”. It was apparently the name of a Pakistani/Indian shop that they had passed on the way to their first EVER gig. He responded back by saying that Earth was Bill Ward’s idea, and that Polka Tulk was Ozzy’s idea. So I asked Geezer once where the names Polka Tulk & Earth came from.
#Black sabbath band members movie
That is a well known story – the band saw the movie name “Black Sabbath” on a marquee, and Geezer said “What about Black Sabbath” when they were talking about what to change the band’s name to from Earth. Speaking of band names, it’s pretty well known that Geezer came up with the name Black Sabbath. It was from that gig that led the band to change their name to something that would definitely NOT be confused with something else, hence the name Black Sabbath was born. Led to a very confused band and audience. That led to one of the most well known stories from this era.Īpparently, there was another band touring England with the name of Earth as well, and that led to a club booking Earth (the Black Sabbath one) when they meant to book the other band, which played music that was NOTHING like our lads play. Sabbath played a lot of blues back then, and did the club circuit thing while touring as Earth.
They were known as the Polka Tulk Blues Band, then just Polka Tulk, and the name that most people tend to associate them with in the 60’s, Earth. Also for shits and giggles above is a picture of Tony Iommi from a mid 60’s band he was in called “The Rockin’ Chevrolets”.Īnyway, during this time of the band’s history, they had a few names before Black Sabbath. During his time in Tull, he did “play live” once, and a recording of this exists on the Archangel bootleg, and on the Rolling Stones “Rock & Roll Circus” video (however, it really wasn’t Tony “playing”, he was just miming). He only lasted 2 weeks, and came back to Sabbath. Shortly after that, Tony Iommi went and had a stint in Jethro Tull (pictured above). This variant didn’t last long, something like 2-3 gigs only. There was also a short period where the band was a six piece in August 1968, with two other guys in the group playing a slide guitar (Jimmy Phillips), and another playing a saxophone (Alan “Aker” Clarke). Long story short, these groups broke up and the lads hooked up in 1968 to form a new band called The Polka Tulk Blues Band. Tony Iommi & Bill Ward were in a band called Mythology (which played it’s last gig on Sat Jul 13, 1968, and whose picture is above to the left), and Geezer Butler with Ozzy were in a band called Rare Breed.