"Neon Knights" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Black Sabbath | ||||
from the album Heaven and Hell | ||||
B-side | "Children of the Sea (live)" | |||
Released | June 1980 [1] | |||
Recorded | January 1980 at Studio Ferber (Paris, France) | |||
Genre | Heavy metal | |||
Length | 3:49 | |||
Label | Vertigo | |||
Songwriter(s) | Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward | |||
Producer(s) | Martin Birch | |||
Black Sabbath singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Audio sample | ||||
"Neon Knights" is a song by English rock band Black Sabbath from 1980's Heaven and Hell , their first album with American vocalist Ronnie James Dio.
"Neon Knights" was the last song written by the band for the Heaven and Hell album. [2] It was quickly written and recorded at Studio Ferber in Paris during January 1980 simply to fill time on the album's first side. [2] The lyrics were written by Ronnie James Dio. It is the only song on Heaven and Hell to definitely feature songwriting input from bassist Geezer Butler, the band's main lyricist during the Ozzy Osbourne era. Butler was absent for most of the songwriting process due personal issues as well as his own uncertainty as to whether he wanted to remain in the band. Dio occasionally performed the song during their live shows in later years.
The B-side of the 1980 single release features a live version of "Children of the Sea" from an unspecified date. The song reached number 22 on the UK charts, but failed to chart anywhere else.
In the UK, the first 25,000 copies had a picture-bag.
7" single
Chart (1980) | Position |
---|---|
UK Singles Chart [3] | 22 |
Black Sabbath were an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy metal music. The band helped define the genre with their first three albums Black Sabbath, Paranoid, and Master of Reality (1971). Following Osbourne's departure in 1979, the band underwent multiple lineup changes, with Iommi being the only constant member throughout its history.
Ronald James Padavona, known professionally as Ronnie James Dio, was an American heavy metal singer. He fronted numerous bands throughout his career, including Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio and Heaven & Hell.
Dehumanizer is the sixteenth studio album by English rock band Black Sabbath. It was first released on 22 June 1992 in the UK by I.R.S. Records and on 30 June 1992 in the US by Reprise Records.
Mob Rules is the tenth studio album by English rock band Black Sabbath, released in November 1981. It followed 1980's Heaven and Hell, and was the second album to feature lead singer Ronnie James Dio and the first with drummer Vinny Appice. Neither musician would appear on a Black Sabbath studio album again until the 1992 album Dehumanizer.
Live Evil is the first official live album by English rock band Black Sabbath. The previously released Live at Last (1980) was not sanctioned by the band. Live Evil peaked at number 37 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart.
Heaven and Hell is the ninth studio album by English rock band Black Sabbath, released on 18 April 1980. It is the first Black Sabbath album to feature vocalist Ronnie James Dio, who replaced original vocalist Ozzy Osbourne in 1979.
Vincent Samson Appice is an American rock and metal drummer best known for his work with the bands Dio, Black Sabbath, and Heaven & Hell. Of Italian descent, he is the younger brother of drummer Carmine Appice.
"Heaven and Hell" is the title track of Black Sabbath's ninth studio album. The music was primarily written by guitarist Tony Iommi, but as with almost all Sabbath albums, credit is given to the entire band. The lyrics were entirely written by newcomer Ronnie James Dio.
The Best of Black Sabbath is a double CD compilation album by Black Sabbath released in 2000 on the Sanctuary Records label. Its 32 songs are presented chronologically from the band's first 11 albums, spanning the years 1970 to 1983. Black Sabbath's classic six-album run, from 1970s debut Black Sabbath through 1975's Sabotage is celebrated with three to six songs from each album. Original vocalist Ozzy Osbourne's subsequent final two albums with the band, 1976's Technical Ecstasy and 1978's Never Say Die!, are represented by one and two songs, respectively. Replacement Ronnie James Dio's early 80's stint fronting the band on two albums is acknowledged with the title track of 1980's Heaven and Hell and a track from 1981's The Mob Rules. The compilation closes with a song from 1983's attempted rebirth, Born Again, former Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan's sole album with the band. The Best of Black Sabbath does not include any later material with vocalists Glenn Hughes, Tony Martin (1986–96) or the returning Dio.
Heaven & Hell was a British-American heavy metal supergroup active from 2006 to 2010, featuring guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler, vocalist Ronnie James Dio and drummer Vinny Appice.
Black Sabbath: The Dio Years is a 2007 compilation CD of material recorded by Black Sabbath during vocalist Ronnie James Dio's tenure in the band. The CD contains remastered tracks taken from the studio albums Heaven and Hell (1980), Mob Rules (1981), and Dehumanizer (1992), as well as a live version of the song "Children of the Sea" taken from the live album Live Evil (1982). It also contains three songs that were recorded in 2007: "The Devil Cried", "Shadow of the Wind", and "Ear in the Wall".
Holy Dio: A Tribute to Ronnie James Dio is a compilation album, released on July 12, 1999. It is a tribute album to Ronnie James Dio, featuring covers of several songs he had sung during his time with Rainbow, Black Sabbath and his own band Dio. The covers done on this tribute album were recorded by mostly power metal bands.
The Heaven and Hell 2007 Tour was a global concert tour by Heaven & Hell in support of Black Sabbath's The Dio Years compilation CD.
Black and Blue is a live video by hard rock bands Black Sabbath and Blue Öyster Cult filmed during their 1980 co-headlining tour of the United States, known as the "Black and Blue Tour". The film was originally released to theaters in 1981 as a concert film. It was later released on VHS, Betamax and laserdisc video format, but has not been officially released on DVD.
"Children of the Sea" is a song by heavy metal band Black Sabbath, from their ninth studio album, Heaven and Hell (1980).
The Devil You Know is the only studio album by heavy metal band Heaven & Hell; the members had previously recorded as a group in an earlier line-up of Black Sabbath. The Devil You Know was Ronnie James Dio's final studio album prior to his death in May 2010.
"Bible Black" is a song by British-American heavy metal band Heaven & Hell from their 2009 album, The Devil You Know. It was released on March 20, 2009, on WAXQ.
Neon Nights: 30 Years of Heaven & Hell is a live album by Heaven & Hell. Recorded at the Wacken Open Air Festival in Germany on 30 July 2009, it was released in the U.S. on 16 November 2010 and in Japan on October 27, 2010 and November 10, 2010. It includes songs from the three official Dio-era Black Sabbath albums, as well as songs from The Devil You Know. The album was released in both CD and DVD formats, and the DVD also includes interviews regarding the 30th anniversary of the release of Heaven and Hell and a tribute to Ronnie James Dio, in addition to the concert recording.
13 is the nineteenth and final studio album by English rock band Black Sabbath. It was released on 10 June 2013 through Vertigo Records, acting as their first studio album in 18 years following Forbidden (1995). It was the band's first studio recording with original singer Ozzy Osbourne and bassist Geezer Butler since the live album Reunion (1998), which contained two new studio tracks. It was also the first studio album with Osbourne since Never Say Die! (1978), and with Butler since Cross Purposes (1994).