Black Sabbath’s Black Lives Matter Shirt Is Great
In 1971, Black Sabbath released Master Of Reality, their third album. It fucking rules. It’s so good. Master Of Reality isn’t Sabbath’s biggest album, and it doesn’t include any of their classic-rock-radio staples, though tracks like “Sweet Leaf” and “After Forever” and “Children Of The Grave” certainly get their due respect. But taken as a whole, Master Of Reality works as a half-hour symphony of thundering, ecstatic dread. It’s impossible to imagine at least half-dozen metal subgenres existing in their present form without Master Of Reality. And now you can express your love of Master Of Reality and your solidarity with the protest movement currently sweeping the planet at the same damn time.
A week and a half ago, Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello tweeted a picture of himself and his 96-year-old mother. In the photo, Morello wore a shirt with “Black Lives Matter” written in the same font as Sabbath had used on the Master Of Reality cover. A whole lot of people saw that shirt and thought, “Holy shit, I want one.” Black Sabbath have now made that possible.
On Instagram yesterday, Black Sabbath unveiled their official Black Lives Matter shirt, and they announced that they would donate 100% of the proceeds from the shirt to the Black Lives Matter Global Network. The shirts are supposed to ship in mid-July, and they cost $25, which seems pretty reasonable. You can pre-order one here.