Sweet Leaf

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"Sweet Leaf"
Bsabbath sweet leaf single.png
Song by Black Sabbath
from the album Master of Reality
B-side "After Forever" [1]
Released6 August 1971 (1971-08-06)
Recorded1971
Studio Record Plant, Los Angeles
Genre
Length5:05
Label Vertigo (UK)
Warner Bros. Records (US)
Philips (PH)
Songwriters Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward
Producer Rodger Bain

"Sweet Leaf" is a song by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath from their third studio album Master of Reality , released in August 1971. [4] The song was released as a single in the Philippines [1] and was later included on their 1976 greatest hits compilation We Sold Our Soul for Rock 'n' Roll . [5] A Rolling Stone reader's poll listed it as one of the band's best songs. [6]

Contents

Background and recording

The song begins with a tape loop of guitarist Tony Iommi coughing from a joint he was smoking with bandmate Ozzy Osbourne, which Revolver called "maybe the most epic smoke sesh in the history of epic metal smoke seshes." [7] [8] The song's subject is cannabis, which the band was using frequently at that time; [9] the band was under the influence of marijuana while recording the track. [8] Bassist Geezer Butler recalls coming up with the song title while opening a pack of Sweet Afton cigarettes he got from Dublin and seeing "The Sweetest Leaf You Can Buy!" on the lid. [10]

Legacy

"Sweet Leaf" and the Master of Reality album as a whole are a primary influence on the emergence of stoner rock and stoner metal. [8] [11] A compilation album of covers of Black Sabbath songs by stoner rock bands, also titled Sweet Leaf, was released by Deadline Music in 2015. [12]

Billy Corgan has cited the significance of 'Sweet Leaf' as an influence on the sound of The Smashing Pumpkins, noting that he first heard the song from his uncle's copy of Master of Reality when he was 8 years old and thought "this is what God sounds like". [13]

Samples and covers

The main guitar riff, paired with a loop of a drum sample from Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks", [14] is the instrumental basis of the Beastie Boys' song "Rhymin & Stealin", the first track on their 1986 debut album Licensed to Ill . [15]

The Butthole Surfers reworked the song as "Sweat Loaf" on Locust Abortion Technician . [16]

The Red Hot Chili Peppers play the riff as the outro to their hit song "Give It Away" (1991). [17]

References

  1. 1 2 "Black Sabbath Phillipines[sic] 7″Discography". Platesamleren. 10 June 2024. Retrieved 14 June 2024.
  2. ↑ Steve Huey. "Master of Reality - Black Sabbath". AllMusic.com . Retrieved December 28, 2021. Classic opener "Sweet Leaf" certainly ranks as a defining stoner metal song, making its drug references far more overt (and adoring) than the preceding album's "Fairies Wear Boots."
  3. ↑ The Music Sound, Nicolae Sfetcu 2014
  4. ↑ "Black Sabbath - Master Of Reality". Discogs. 1971. Retrieved 2021-11-05.
  5. ↑ "Black Sabbath - We Sold Our Soul For Rock 'N' Roll". Discogs. 1975. Retrieved 2021-11-05.
  6. ↑ "Readers' Poll: The 10 Greatest Black Sabbath Songs". Rolling Stone. 2013-05-01. Retrieved 2021-11-05.
  7. ↑ Songfacts. "Sweet Leaf by Black Sabbath - Songfacts". www.songfacts.com. Retrieved 2021-11-05.
  8. 1 2 3 Staff, Revolver. "10 Essential Stoner-Metal Albums". Revolver. Retrieved 2025-06-06.
  9. ↑ ByComplex. "The Best Songs About Weed". Complex. Retrieved 2020-03-29.
  10. ↑ Epstein, Dan (2011-12-23). "From the Archive: Original Members of Black Sabbath Look Back on 30-Plus Years of Demonic Riffing in 2001". Guitar World. Archived from the original on February 16, 2025. Retrieved 2025-10-18.
  11. ↑ "Black Sabbath tweak the formula on Master Of Reality, invent even more genres". Louder. 2025-08-04. Archived from the original on August 5, 2025. Retrieved 2025-10-18.
  12. ↑ "ZAKK WYLDE, MIKE INEZ, PENTAGRAM Featured On 'Sweet Leaf - A Stoner Rock Salute To Black Sabbath'". BLABBERMOUTH.NET. 2015-11-06. Archived from the original on January 14, 2016. Retrieved 2025-10-18.
  13. ↑ "Billy Corgan on Black Sabbath: 'This is What God Sounds Like'". 30 November 2022.
  14. ↑ "When Beastie Boys Stole Led Zeppelin Samples for 'Licensed to Ill". 15 November 2016.
  15. ↑ Lifton, Dave (4 May 2012). "Top 10 Beastie Boys Songs With Classic Rock Samples". Ultimate Classic Rock. Archived from the original on 7 March 2021. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  16. ↑ Huey, Steve. "Locust Abortion Technician - Butthole Surfers". AllMusic.com . Archived from the original on 13 January 2022. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  17. ↑ Huey, Steve. "Give It Away - Red Hot Chili Peppers". AllMusic.com . Archived from the original on 30 January 2022. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
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