If You Listen To Fools…The Mob Rules

It’s over, it’s done. The end is begun. If you listen to fools….The mob rules.The 10th Black Sabbath studio album and the final, until 1992’s Dehumanizer, to feature vocalist Ronnie James Dio was relesed on this day in 1981. Mob Rules is also the first Black Sabbath album to not feature original drummer Bill Ward. Ward was replaced by Vinnie Appice in the middle of the Heaven and Hell Tour. The first song recorded for Mob Rules was the title track which was recorded for and featured on the soundtrack of the film Heavy Metal. The album was initially slated to be recorded in the bands own studio, but after not being able to acheive the guitar sound they were looking for, production would be moved to The Record Plant in Los Angeles. In the U.S. Mob Rules was certified gold and in the UK it reached the Top 20, spawning two charting singles, the title track and “Turn Up the Night”.