The metal gods blessed us with Terence Michael Joseph Butler today in 1949, when he ascended from the depths of rock and roll hell to Birmingham, England. Better known to world as Geezer (an English slang term for a dude or a man), Butler was the bassist and lyricist for Black Sabbath and is an immensely influential musician. All those cool things that Ozzy Osbourne sang about were written by Butler.
Butler teamed with Ozzy in 1967 in a band called Rare Breed. He was introduced to guitarist Tony Iommi because Butler's girlfriend lived in the same neighborhood as Iommi. Iommi and drummer Bill Ward would join Ozzy and Butler in a band called Polka Tulk, which would soon rename themselves Earth, and then rename themselves Black Sabbath after a horror movie of the same name. Originally a rhythm guitarist, Butler learned to play bass live on stage after Iommi refused to play with another guitar player.
Butler grew up as a Catholic but as he got older strayed from the faith and developed an interest in the occult, particularly the writings of Aleister Crowley and his book "Magick in Theory and Practise". Despite this there are many Christian themes and references in his lyrics throughout his Black Sabbath career.
A big user of LSD, he was more into the peace and love movement than the rest of his Sabbath peers, but that didn't necessarily make him a gentle giant. Depending on which story you believe, he once tried to stab Malcolm Young while AC/DC was touring with Sabbath.
The Malcolm Young version:
“We were staying at the same hotel, and Geezer was in the hotel bar crying into his beer. He was complaining about being in the band for ten years and told me, ‘wait ‘til you guys are around ten years. You’ll feel like us.’ I said, ‘I don’t think so.’ I was giving him no sympathy. He’d had many too many (drinks), and he pulled out this silly flick knife. As luck would have it, Ozzy walked in and says to Geezer, ‘You fuckin’ idiot, Butler—GO TO BED!’ Ozzy saved the day, and we sat up all night with him.”
The Geezer Butler version:
“No, I didn’t pull a knife. I always had flick-knives when I was growing up because everybody used to go around stabbing each other in Aston (Butler’s birthplace in Birmingham, England). Flick-knives were banned in England, but when we were playing Switzerland, I bought one. I was just flicking it when Malcolm Young came up to me and started slagging Sabbath. I was just playing with the knife. I was really excited to get one again. I was having a drink and flicking my knife—like you do—and he came over and said: ‘You must think you’re big, having a flick-knife.’ I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ And that was it. Nobody got hurt.”
https://dangerousminds.net/comments/knives_out_when_ozzy_maybe_stopped_g...
Regardless of the mayhem, Butler and Ward remain one of the most potent rhythm sections in rock and roll history.
