Black Sabbath were never scared to insert drug references within their work. Substances played a considerable role in the lives of each band member and subconsciously influenced their music. While cocaine is the drug most commonly associated with the group, Black Sabbath were also partial to smoking marijuana and wrote ‘Sweet Leaf’ as a tribute to cannabis.
Sabbath notoriously spent more money on cocaine while making their fourth album, Vol. 4, than on the album itself. By the end of the recording process, the bill for the white substance had racked up to an estimated $75,000, a sum equivalent to over $500,000 in modern money. Sabbath even tried to name the album after the track ‘Snowblind’, but their label intervened, and Black Sabbath were forced to compromise on Vol. 4.
On their third album, weed was their drug of choice, and it’s audible on Master of Reality, a stoner rock masterpiece. ‘Sweet Leaf’ is the opening track to the record and sets a precedent for the rest of the record. Fittingly, the first block of sound which fans hear on the album is guitarist Tony Iommi coughing after taking a hit of marijuana from the bong.
In a later conversation with the weed publication, High Times, Ozzy was asked about the track and explained why the title is self-explanatory. He said: “Well, what do you think? We used to smoke pounds of the shit man. We used to buy it by the fuckin’ sackful. We used to be so fucked up all the time. Wake up in the morning,…
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