All language subtitles for ppaplay

- [Narrator] Metallica and Lou
Reed, Elton John and Eminem,

Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus.

Those are weird musical
pairings you know about,

but here's one you might not:

Frank Zappa and black Sabbath.

(melancholy piano)

In June, 1975, Frank Zappa

picked Black Sabbath's "Supernaut"

as his favorite song of the moment,

beating out Neil Young's
"After the Gold Rush".

(upbeat heavy rock music)

He said at the time, "I like it,

I think it's prototypical
of a certain musical style,

and I think it's well done.

Also, I like the guitar
lick that's being played

in the background."

(upbeat heavy rock music)

A couple of years later,
Zappa had a new favorite song.

(ominous heavy metal music)

♪ I am iron man ♪

He told Hugh Fielder, "Are you kidding me?

'Iron Man'!

That's a work of art.

I used to like 'Supernaut',

but I think 'Iron Man' is the one now."

But in the mid seventies,
Zappa's favorite track

was 'Supernaut', and Sabbath benefited

from Zappa's enthusiasm.

Sabbath's bassist and
lyricist, Geezer Butler,

a Zappa fanatic who says his musical life

completely changed when
he first heard Zappa's

'Mothers of Inventions' at the age of 15,

and credits Zappa's
endorsement of 'Supernaut'

with changing critics'
attitudes towards the band.

Zappa said it was the
best rift he'd ever heard.

A lot of critics started
to reconsider Sabbath.

The feeling was, "Well, if
Zappa likes Black Sabbath,

maybe we should give them another listen."

(moody heavy rock music)
♪ The way I feel ♪

♪ is the way I am ♪

♪ I wish I'd walked before
I started to run to you ♪

♪ Just to you ♪

A year prior to this in 1974,

Zappa had invited Sabbath
members to dinner.

Ozzy recounted the meeting.

- [Ozzy Osbourne] Frank Zappa,
who was a very techno guy,

invited to a restaurant once
where he was having a party.

He said, "The song, 'Supernaut'

is my favorite track of all time."

I couldn't believe it.

I thought, "This guy's taking the piss.

There's gotta be a camera here somewhere."

All of us looked up to
Zappa, especially Geezer,

because he seemed like he
was from another planet.

At the time, he just released
this quadraphonic album

called 'Apostrophe', which he had a track

on it called 'Don't Eat the Yellow Snow'.

Fucking classic.

- Frank Z, it's 'Apostrophe'.

- [Narrator] In November,
1976, Zappa invited Ozzy

and Geezer to his third
annual Thanksgiving dinner.

Kerry Baker of Triad Magazine,
who picks up the story.

The telephone rang in Zappa's room.

(telephone ringing)

"Hey, I got a news flash for you.

Last night at the third
annual Thanksgiving banquet,

I saw Ozzy and Geezer from Black Sabbath.

We had a great time and
discussed the possibilities

of teaming up at Madison Square Garden."

(chilled piano and drums)

"Of course it sounds absurd.

We thought it would be real funny

if I got up there for their encore

and did 'Paranoid' and 'Iron Man'.

I was planning to attend their show

after ours tonight,

'cause I've never been
to their kind of concert.

They're at the Hyatt house in town.

See if you can't set something up."

Meanwhile, Zappa told
Baker why he likes Sabbath.

"Black Sabbath moves people," he said.

"They're in the same boat as Grand Funk

in terms of what critics say about them.

But critics' bands like a Aerosmith

just don't compare to Black Sabbath.

I prefer their modality.

Black Sabbath is the archetype
of that style, the hardcore.

(mysterious creepy heavy metal music)

On December 6th, 1976, the
night Zappa and Sabbath

were supposed to play together,

Sabbath and opening act, Ted Nugent

had sold out Madison Square Garden

with 20,000 fans in attendance.

Zappa told Hugh Rider
Field what happened next.

"I was gonna jam with them,

and they were supposed to call me up

and tell me what time
their sound check was,

but I guess I didn't have one.

So, I went down there to the show,

and they said 'What are you gonna play?'

And they had set up a mini
wall of Marshalls for me,

and I said, 'Shit.

I'm not gonna go out there

without knowing what it's
going to sound like.'

So, I just watched the show.

What happened was, Tony
Iommi had some trouble

with his guitar, and decided
to change his strings

at the last minute.

The audience had already
been sitting there,

waiting for an hour or
so since Ted Nugent,

and they wanted me to go out there

and make an announcement
and calm them down.

So, I did.

- [Frank Zappa] An important
public service announcement.

The members of the rocking teenage combo

known to the universe as Black Sabbath

are currently in the dressing room.

They're having a little bit of a problem.

You see the tension has mounted up,

and will continue to mount up.

And they broke some strings or something.

They're gonna be a couple of
minutes late getting out here.

So, just be patient for
a couple more minutes,

they'll be with you, and we'll get it.

(crowd cheering)

It is my pleasure to introduce
you to Black Sabbath!

(aggressive heavy metal music)

- [Narrator] "I just sat
there and marveled at it.

I think it's great.

Especially in a place like
Madison Square Garden,

with 20,000 people grunting, wheezing

and shoving each other."

(aggressive heavy metal music)

Iommi recalled the
night a bit differently.

"Frank was introducing the
band and he wanted to play.

So, we put his stuff up on stage,

but we were really having a bad night.

Frank was waiting to walk on,

and I thought, "He can't, it's disastrous,

everything is going wrong.

My guitar is going out of tune,

there's noise, crackles,
and god knows what.

So I said to him, 'It would be best

if you don't play, really.'"

- [Audience] Aw!

- [Narrator] Sadly for us,
Zappa only enjoyed the show

from the sidelines rather than on stage.

And now, some 45 years later,

we can only dream of
what might have happened

the night Zappa was supposed
to play with Black Sabbath.

(strange xylophone and synth music)

(heavy guitar and drums)

(cheerful lighthearted music)

(heavy guitar and drums)

- Great googley moogley!