20 Most Important Hard Rock Albums Of All Time

Once the 60's turned a corner, the rock landscape was still deep into the counterculture movements of psychedelia. Though the idea of Flower Power changing the world was a noble effort, it was only a matter of time before rockers were brought back to reality. Coming from the mean streets of Birmingham, Black Sabbath's debut brought the era of peace and love back down to Earth in one fell swoop.

Originally conceived as a blues-influenced outfit, Sabbath started to hit on much more interesting material once they started turning up the volume. Armed with Tony Iommi's petrifying guitar riffs, the band had a sound that could make the hardest metal fans tremble with fear. Across tracks like "NIB" and "The Wizard," the band tells macabre tales of Satanism and mysticism were far more disturbing than the existential questions of years past.

Sabbath may have fashioned themselves as a hard rock act in the beginning, but they couldn't have never imagined building an entirely new genre with this one album. Within a few years, kids started to come out of the woodwork playing a more intense style of rock that would become known as heavy metal. Sabbath may not have been the first to adopt the heavy metal moniker, but the genre would be a shell of what it is today if they hadn't laid the foundation.