Rhino Factoids: Black Sabbath’s Lucky 13

July 13 has been a pretty good day for Black Sabbath on two notable occasions during their career, the first time because of a breakup and the second time because of a reunion.

If you know anything about the history of Black Sabbath, then you know that the band officially began their career under that particular name in 1969. The process of the band coming to fruition, however, began in earnest on July 13, 1968. For the majority of that particular year, Tony Iommi and Bill Ward had been serving as members of a band called Mythology, gigging around the UK and finding a certain amount of regional success. Unfortunately, their career momentum came to a grinding halt for the group when Iommi, Ward, and the rest of their bandmates were arrested and fined for possession of cannabis resin, resulting in their opportunities for gigs suddenly slipping away from them. Frustrated, the band played their final show on – you guessed it – July 13, 1968, after which Iommi and Ward started a new band with these guys named Ozzy Osbourne and Geezer Butler, and…well, you know the rest of that story.

What you may not recall, however, is what happened on July 13, 1985…or if you do, you may not recall how it relates to Black Sabbath. If the date sounds suspiciously familiar, though, that’s because it’s the date that the global jukebox came alive for a little show called Live Aid. You never fail to hear about how Queen kicked ass and U2 officially became superstars at the concert, but what’s sometimes forgotten is that it was also at Live Aid that the original lineup of Black Sabbath agreed to perform for the first time since 1978. It wasn’t a long set, mind you – they played all of three songs: “Children of the Grave,” “Iron Man,” and “Paranoid” – but it was plenty long enough to give the band’s fans the biggest thrill than they’d had in years.