Black Sabbath was a rock band.
Black Sabbath . Originally formed as a blues rock band , the group soon adopted the Black Sabbath moniker and began incorporating occult themes with horror-inspired lyrics and tuned-down guitars . The band helped define the genre with releases such as Black Sabbath ( 1970 ) , Paranoid ( 1970 ) and Master of Reality ( 1971 ) . 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 .