Birmingham is the home of Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne. The band was founded in the city, with the four original members: Terence "Geezer" Butler, Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne and Bill Ward. Ozzy passed away in 2025.
The band were part of a wave of heavy metal bands at the end of the 1960s and early 1970s.
Here's 'Paranoid'.
In June 2025, they were given the freedom of the city.
This was ahead of their last ever concert with lots of special guests in July 2025.
It was expected to give a boost of £20 million to the local economy and also raised millions for charity.
There are a number of murals and other shrines to Sabbath around the city.
It includes a new one in Navigation Street and a bridge with bench for your selfie. There is also Ozzy the bull from the Commonwealth Games at New Street Station.
Black Sabbath Bridge, Birmingham - image copyright: Jon Hird
The band were closely linked with the origins of heavy metal, allegedly because of the noise of industry inspiring their music.
Birmingham is also the home of the NEC: a venue that I visited many times over the years, always with a bit of trepidation about the traffic and parking and route finding. This was a bit of a barn and filled by larger bands such as Genesis, Yes and Rush.
I haven't been back for some years.
I have a signed print of Birmingham which was printed by Cold War Steve.
It's called Benny's Babbies, and you can see a key on the link above. This shows some musicians and other cultural people associated with the city.
How many can you recognise before you check the key?
Along with Sabbath, other bands associated with Birmingham include Judas Priest (another heavy metal band), UB40, the Moody Blues and Duran Duran, plus the Fine Young Cannibals.
Its culture of popular music started in the 1950s.
Ozzy died in July 2025, just a few weeks after the final reunion performance of the band at Aston Villa Football Club's stadium.
Other bands in what has been called the Iron Triangle include Led Zeppelin and Judas Priest.
Which bands have I missed?
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