Black Sabbath

Released: November 4, 1981

Songwriter: Dio Geezer Butler Tony Iommi

Producer: Martin Birch

[Verse 1]
Close the city and tell the people that
Something's coming to call
Death and darkness are rushing forward to
Take a bite from the wall, oh
You've nothing to say
They're breaking away

[Hook]
If you listen to fools
The mob rules
The mob rules

[Verse 2]
Kill the spirit and you'll be blinded
The end is always the same
Play with fire, you burn your fingers and
Lose your hold of the flame, oh
It's over, it's done
The end is begun

[Hook]
If you listen to fools
The mob rules

[Guitar Solo]

[Bridge]
You've nothing to say
Oh, they're breaking away
If you listen to fools

[Verse 3]
Break the circle and stop the movement
The wheel is thrown to the ground
Just remember it might start rolling and
Take you right back around

[Outro]
You're all fools
The mob rules

From their start as a heavy blues-rock band called Earth in 1968, Black Sabbath survived over four decades with a total of 19 studio albums and numerous hits, but only “Paranoid” reached the top 10 UK Singles Chart, putting together one of the greatest rock bands of all time and setting the standards for music in their genre.

Virtually every single heavy metal band has cited the early Black Sabbath albums as a major musical influence and Black Sabbath have at least played some part in laying the foundations for most of heavy metal’s sub-genres, including thrash metal (“Symptom of the Universe” and “Into the Void”), doom metal (“Black Sabbath”) and stoner metal (“Sweet Leaf”). The band also explored many rock sub-genres, including hard rock (“Paranoid”), blues rock (“N.I.B.”), psychedelic rock (“Planet Caravan”) and, of course, the traditional heavy metal, being one of the precursors of this genre.

They were ranked by MTV as the “Greatest Metal Band” of all time and placed second in VH1’s “100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock” list. Rolling Stone magazine ranked them number 85 in their “100 Greatest Artists of All Time.” They have sold over 70 million records worldwide. Black Sabbath were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. They have also won two Grammy Awards for Best Metal Performance.

more tracks from the album

The Rules of Hell

From the albums

Heavy Metal (Music From The Motion Picture) (1981)
Mob Rules (1981)
Between Heaven & Hell: 1970 - 1983 (1995)
The Dio Years (2007)
The Rules of Hell (2008)

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The Mob RulesBlack Sabbath

Black Sabbath

The Rules of Hell