On February 13, 1970 BLACK SABBATH released their first album - the self-titled Black Sabbath - changing the face of heavy music forever. Joe Siegler from Black-sabbath.com has received the following notes from bassist Geezer Butler, guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward:

Geezer Butler: "It was 40 years ago today. I'd like to thank you the fans for your support over the years. Without you there would be no us."

Tony Iommi: "Forty years then, what a journey! The support from our fans has always been fantastic, that's what made us successful, having believers. Many thanks to all of them, and you for your help, the spirit of Black Sabbath continues in everything I write and play."

Bill Ward: "Today is Sabbath's 40th Anniversary for the release of the first album, titled Black Sabbath. For those of you who were there ­ thank you, and how's your health these days?! For those of you who have passed on ­rest in peace. I bow my head to you with the deepest respect. For those of you who have heard Sabbath and have swelled Sabbath¹s listening population - thank you ­ you're all incredible. I hope we've brought something to you that is positive. For all here today, I wish you strength, laughter, great experiences and peace in hard times, and forever rock-filled days."

More of Siegler's Black Sabbath celebration can be found here.

In August 1969, the band - featuring singer Ozzy Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward - changed their name from EARTH to Black Sabbath, an homage to a 1963 classic Mario Bava terror film protagonized by Boris Karloff. In December 1969 they recorded and released their debut single, 'Evil Woman'. In January 1970, the band recorded and mixed the remaining seven songs that would appear on their debut album.

Guitarist Tony Iommi tells Wikipedia, "We just went in the studio and did it in a day, we played our live set and that was it. We actually thought a whole day was quite a long time, then off we went the next day to play for £20 in Switzerland."

Iommi recalls recording live: "We thought 'We have two days to do it and one of the days is mixing.' So we played live. Ozzy was singing at the same time, we just put him in a separate booth and off we went. We never had a second run of most of the stuff."

Black Sabbath reached number eight on the UK Album Chart. Following its US release in May 1970 by Warner Bros. Records, the album reached number 23 on the Billboard 200, where it remained for over a year, selling a million copies.