Black Sabbath guitar legend, Tony Iommi, is featured in a new interview with Guitarist, in which he talks about Gibson's Tony Iommi “Monkey” 1964 SG Special Replica, a limited edition of his beloved 1964 Special SG, and much more.

Asked if there was a decision for Black Sabbath to "go that dark route", and if they "wanted to be scary", Iommi responds: “Well, I was always interested, and so was Geezer (Butler), in horror movies and stuff like that. So we had this interest in the supernatural. We said, ‘Imagine how people get frightened, get that excitement from a horror movie, that fear. It would be nice to do that in music.’

"And that’s how it took hold. Trying to make something in music that would give it the light and shade. Something a bit frightening. Which Black Sabbath, according to a lot of people, was. For a while we couldn’t get anybody to talk to us, because they thought we were going to turn them into a fish or something. The reputation built up and up and up.”

Read the full interview at Guitarist.

The Tony Iommi “Monkey” 1964 SG Special Replica is available worldwide at Authorized Gibson Dealers. Find purchase information here.

The Tony Iommi ‘Monkey’ 1964 SG Special Replica is a heavily-modified 1964 SG Special that was used extensively with the original lineup of Black Sabbath and heard on every album and tour of the 1970s. Thanks to the meticulous reverse-engineering and painstaking attention to detail employed by Gibson Custom Shop, 50 exact replicas have been created, 25 right-handed and 25 left-handed like the original, each guitar is signed and numbered by Tony Iommi himself. No detail was overlooked in the construction and aging, telling the complete story of the “Monkey” from the zero fret to the stop tailpiece bushings to the legendary pickups, which were hand-made in the U.K. by the apprentice of the late John Birch. Each Tony Iommi ‘Monkey’ 1964 SG Special Replica includes an exclusive replica of Tony's silver cross necklace with a coffin case, a replica of Tony's leather touring guitar strap and a 1960s replica case and a Certificate of Authenticity.

Iommi sat down with Gibson TV for the ICONS series for a deep dive into his early years in Birmingham, England, the accident that almost ended his career as a guitarist and his 55-year musical journey with Black Sabbath. Tony Iommi’s career, like the man himself, is universally loved and revered. And while his innovative tuning and playing styles were a major part of his monstrous tones, a Gibson SG named "Monkey" was at the center of it all.