How Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne honed their craft in Zurich

In 1969, Black Sabbath spent six weeks in Zurich – a formative time for the young band, who fine-tuned their groundbreaking style in marathon sessions. On November 11, 1969, Black Sabbath nailed down their first album in a mere 12 hours. Called Black Sabbath, the album was recorded practically live. A day later, the four young musicians were crossing the English Channel on a journey that would take them to Switzerland, where they were booked to play in Zurich. It was November and the autumn wind was blowing leaves through the streets. In Zurich’s old town, coat-collars were up, hats were pulled down over dour faces and the smell of roasted chestnuts was announcing the approach of winter. An island of sin in a bourgeois city At the time, the Hotel Hirschen in Niederdorf, central Zurich, was a colourful melting pot, filled with a spirit of optimism and drunk on desire for change. It was also an outlier: an island of debauchery in a staid and bourgeois city, populated by hungover sex ...