Hey, guess what? Tony Iommi bought himself a new Lamborghini Urus. Yes, that Tony Iommi. The guitarist from Black Sabbath. The guitarist that chopped off the tips of two fingers (by mistake) and kept playing anyway. The not that crazy guy in Black Sabbath. The one with the mustache. Him. It turns out he’s into Lambos in a big way.
Six-String Samurai
First off, and just generally speaking here, anybody who plays guitar or bass – since about 1970 – and lives in the Western world has an enormous debt to Tony Iommi. Why? His riffs are super easy to pick up. Everything is in a box on the fretboard; play the riff, move up two frets, play it again, move down two frets, play it again, move over one string. Repeat. Repeat again. Play the bridge. Repeat. End of song. Django Reinhardt the guy ain’t, but Mr. Iommi is a gateway to bigger and better songs. You start off learning Paranoid and Sweet Leaf, and next thing you know, you can play other, more complex stuff.
And of course, since the guy is a musician, he’s going to have an interesting taste in cars, just like Billy Gibbons and James Hetfield do. You might not think about it, but being a musician and a gearhead puts you in a bit of a bind. Like the new Corvette? Of course, you do. Now try fitting a Marshall stack and a Fender Strat in a hard case in there. Go ahead. You can’t, can you? See, you’re forced into making vehicular compromises that can be particularly grating. You might have to get a station wagon or a (shudder) minivan. But hey, it could be worse. You could play drums.
Technical Ecstasy
This brings us to the Lamborghini that Tony Iommi just bought. A Urus. Hey, that makes sense! There’s a lot more room in there than, say, an Aventador. I bet you could fit a full-stack (that’s the amp, and two 4 x 12 speaker cabs) and a couple of guitar cases into the back of a Urus. And that’s without (maybe) folding the rear seats down.
“I started off with two Espadas in the ’70s, one after the other, then I bought a Miura SV,” Iommi recalled. “When the Urus came out, I fell in love with it. It drives well, and it’s comfortable; I was impressed the first time I tried it during a track day. When I put my foot down I couldn’t believe it: it didn’t seem right, with a car of that size going that fast.”
It’s at this point where the Lambo PR department drifts into the unintentionally funny: “Automobili Lamborghini and Black Sabbath also share an ability to remain true to their unmistakable values. While many bands were adapting and adjusting their musical approach to the trends of the moment, Black Sabbath maintained a potent and consistent identity throughout the course of their epic career.”
What Are You Smoking?
Yeah, guys, Sabbath did that not as a way to “remain true to their unmistakable values” but because that’s all they could play. It’s not like they were all sitting around one day in Birmingham in 1973 after the release of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and Ozzy said, “Right. I’ve got this 14 hour epic jazz fusion cycle I’ve been wanting to do for a while now. It’ll put Coltrane to shame. What’a you guys say?” They’re good players, and it’s suitable for what they do, but, c’mon, I’ve seen high school bands that could play rings around them.
Anyway, Iommi continued, “For us it was all about sticking to what we do, what we believe in and what we like, from day one and all the way through. I’ve never changed my style because it’s the fashion. We’ve been in and out of fashion ourselves as things around us were constantly changing. But we never compromised and came back as big as ever, until we filled stadiums again. It was brilliant!”
“Mad On Blue”
At any rate, if you happen to be in the town of Sandbanks, by the sea in Dorset, and see a nice blue Urus drive by, that’s probably Tony Iommi. Give him a wave, compliment his Lamborghini. “I’ve gone mad on blue all of a sudden, so it had to be blue,” Iommi said. “I had to own it.”
Tony Borroz has spent his entire life racing antique and sports cars. He is the author of Bricks & Bones: The Endearing Legacy and Nitty-Gritty Phenomenon of The Indy 500, available in paperback or Kindle format. Follow his work on Twitter: @TonyBorroz.
Photos & Source: Automobili Lamborghini.
Original article: Tony Iommi Bought a Lamborghini Urus & He Went “Mad On Blue”
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