John Darnielle - Black Sabbaths Master of Reality

Master of Reality

Praise for the series:

It was only a matter of time before a clever publisher realized that there is an audience for whom Exile on Main Street or Electric Ladyland are as significant and worthy of study as The Catcher in the Rye or Middlemarch.... The series... is freewheeling and eclectic, ranging from minute rock-geek analysis to idiosyncratic personal celebra-tion The New York Times Book Review

Ideal for the rock geek who thinks liner notes just arent enough

Rolling Stone

One of the coolest publishing imprints on the planet Bookslut These are for the insane collectors out there who appreciate fantastic design, well-executed thinking, and things that make your house look cool. Each volume in this series takes a seminal album and breaks it down in startling minutiae. We love these. We are huge nerds Vice

A brilliant serieseach one a work of real love NME (UK) Passionate, obsessive, and smart Nylon

Religious tracts for the rock n roll faithful Boldtype

[A] consistently excellent series Uncut (UK) We... arent naive enough to think that were your only source for reading about music (but if we had our way... watch out). For those of you who really like to know everything there is to know about an album, youd do well to check out Continuums 33 1/3 series of books Pitchfork

For reviews of individual titles in the series, please visit our web-

site at www.continuumbooks.com and 33third.blogspot.com

Also available in this series:

Dusty in Memphis by Warren Zanes

Music from Big Pink by John Niven

Forever Changes by Andrew Hultkrans

Pauls Boutique by Dan LeRoy

Harvest by Sam Inglis

Doolittle by Ben Sisario

The Kinks Are The Village Green

Theres a Riot Goin On by Miles

Preservation Society by Andy Miller

Marshall Lewis

Meat Is Murder by Joe Pernice

Stone Roses by Alex Green

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn by John Bee Thousand by Marc Woodworth Cavanagh

The Who Sell Out by John Dougan

Abba Gold by Elisabeth Vincentelli

Highway 61 Revisited by Mark

Polizzotti

Electric Ladyland by John Perry

Loveless by Mike McGonigal

Unknown Pleasures by Chris Ott

The Notorious Byrd Brothers by Ric Menck Sign O the Times by Michaelangelo Matos Court and Spark by Sean Nelson The Velvet Underground and Nico by Joe 69 Love Songs by LD Beghtol Harvard

Songs in the Key of Life by Zeth Lundy

Let It Be by Steve Matteo

Use Your Illusion I and II by Eric

Live at the Apollo by Douglas Wolk

Weisbard

Aqualung by Allan Moore

Daydream Nation by Matthew

Stearns

OK Computer by Dai Griffiths

Trout Mask Replica by Kevin

Let It Be by Colin Meloy

Courrier

Led Zeppelin IV by Erik Davis

Double Nickels on the Dime by

Armed Forces by Franklin Bruno

Michael T. Fournier

Exile on Main Street by Bill Janovitz

Peoples Instinctive Travels and

the Paths of Rhythm by

Grace by Daphne Brooks

Shawn Taylor

Murmur by J. Niimi

Aja by Don Breithaupt

Pet Sounds by Jim Fusilli

Rid of Me by Kate Schatz

Ramones by Nicholas Rombes

Achtung Baby by Stephen Catanzarite

Endtroducing... by Eliot Wilder

If Youre Feeling Sinister by Scott

Plagenhoef

Kick Out the Jams by Don McLeese

Lets Talk About Love by Carl Wilson

Low by Hugo Wilcken

Swordfishtrombones by David

I n the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Kim

Smay

Cooper

20 Jazz Funk Greats by Drew Daniel

Master of Reality

John Darnielle

2011

Continuum International Publishing Group

80 Maiden Lane, Suite 704, New York NY 10038

The Tower Building, 11 York Road, London SE1 7NX

www.continuumbooks.com

33third.blogspot.com

Master of Reality is a work of fiction. Its characters and events are products of the authors imagination.

Any resemblance to actual people or events is coincidental.

2008 by John Darnielle

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publishers or their agents.

Lyrics to Sweet Leaf, After Forever, Children of the Sea, Lord of This World, Solitude, Into the Void, and Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath from Master of Reality, written by John Osbourne, Tony Iommi, William Ward, and Terence Butler. Reprinted by permission of Essex Music International, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Darnielle, John.

Master of reality / John Darnielle.

p. cm. -- (33 1/3)

eISBN-13: 978-1-4411-2194-3

1. Black Sabbath (Musical group). Master of reality.

2. Black Sabbath (Musical group). 3. Heavy metal (Music)-

History and criticism. I. Title. II. Series.

ML421.B57D37 2008

782.42166092'2--dc22

2007051279

Printed and bound in the United States of America to all the children to whom I ever provided care, in the earnest hope that your later lives have brought you the joy, and love, and freedom that was always yours by right This page intentionally left blank

Douglas Wolk; Jess Harvell; Tim Kirk; Jonathan Lethem; David Barker; Lalitree Darnielle: THANK YOU

This page intentionally left blank

October 11, 1985

FUCK YOU ALL GO TO HELL

October 12, 1985

FUCK YOU ALL GO TO HELL

_________

October 13, 1985

EVEN IF YOU MAKE ME WRITE IN THIS EVERY

DAY TIL THEY LET ME OUT OF HERE IT IS ONLY

GOING TO SAY ONE THING, GET USED TO IT

I HATE ALL STAFF, ALL DOCTORS, ALL RTS, AND

ANYONE WHO READS THIS

FUCK YOU ALL GO TO HELL FUCK YOU ALL GO

TO HELL

_________

October 14, 1985

IF YOU DO NOT LET ME OUT OF HERE FOR MY

SISTERS BIRTHDAY (TOMORROW) I WILL NEVER,

EVER FORGIVE YOU STUPID SORRY FUCKERS

They took me to the doctor tonight and gave me back all my clothes except my shoes. Why cant I have my shoes, fuck you guys! ALL OF YOU, FUCK OFF AND DIE!!! GO TO

HELL!!!

_________

October 15, 1985

I am sitting here writing this, it is 10:30 at night and lights out was half an hour ago (which is stupid by the way) and I am angry I want to kill somebody and that is not a threat so if you write that on my chart all it will do is make me want to kill MYSELF!!! EVEN MORE!!!

As you know because you read this every day,* my sisters birthday was yesterday. My family had to bring her onto the unit with a cake and no candles because oh no we cant have any fire in here because the stupid adolescents would probably burn everything down, well actually we probably would because you DESERVE IT, but they came with a cake and we sat and ate it until I started to cry because I felt so STUPID sitting around a hospital table in my STUPID