Tony Iommi says Rick Rubin would only talk to him during 'awkward' Black Sabbath '13' sessions
"Rick wouldn't talk to the others," Tony tells us
Last updated 22nd Oct 2026
Tony Iommi has exclusively revealed to Planet Rock that producer Rick Rubin would only talk to him and not his Black Sabbath band mates Geezer Butler and Ozzy Osbourne during the “awkward” recording sessions for the band’s 2013 album ‘13’.
Speaking to Planet Rock’s Ian Danter ahead of the release of his first solo album in 21 years ‘From The Dark’ on Friday (23rd October), Tony Iommi reflected on how making the album with Mike Exeter was a much smoother experience than Black Sabbath’s last long-player with Rick Rubin.
Tony told us: “On our last album, (Black) Sabbath album we did with Rick Rubin, we didn't have time to absorb what we'd done. Because Rick wouldn't talk to the others - he talked to me and I'd have to tell them! I don't know what happened there.”
Giving an example, Tony continued: “We were in Los Angeles and I came back for the weekend off. Rick phoned me on the Friday and said, ‘Oh could you come up with a song like ‘Planet Caravan’ to record on Monday?’ I went, ‘What?!’ (He said) ‘You come up with a song.’ (I went) ‘Blimey!’”
“So, I worked on this idea and he said, ‘We can record it Monday.’ But nobody else (in Black Sabbath) knew. So, we got in there Monday, and Rick said, ‘We’re going to put this song down.’
“Geezer (Butler) went, ‘What song?!’ (Rubin replied), ‘Well, Tony's done a song here. We're going to put that down.’
“(Geezer) went, ‘I don't even know what it is! I don't know what key is.’ And that's sort of what happened and we ended up putting it down. But it was it was such an awkward situation.”
Sabbath bassist and lyricist Geezer Butler was previously critical of Rick Rubin’s involvement in ‘13’, telling Eddie Trunk four years ago: “It was a weird experience, especially with being told to forget that you're a heavy metal band.
“That was the first thing (Rick) said to us, he played us our very first album and said, 'Cast your mind back to then when there was no such thing as heavy metal or anything like that, and pretend it's the follow-up album to that,' which is a ridiculous thing to think."
Geezer went on: "I still don't know what he did. It's, like, 'Yeah, that's good.' 'No, don't do that.' And you go, 'Why?' (And he'd say), 'Just don't do it.' I think Ozzy one day went nuts because he'd done, like, 10 different vocals, and Rick kept saying, 'Yeah, that's great, but do another one.' And Ozzy was, like, 'If it's great, why am I doing another one?!' He just lost it. And that's the way it was.
“Tony wasn't happy with some of the stuff he was trying to make him play. He was making Tony get 1968 amps — as if that's gonna make it sound like back in 1968. It's mad. But it's good for publicity and it's good for the record company. If you've got Rick Rubin involved, then it must be good, kind of thing."
Featuring the Planet Rock playlist singles 'Stormwatcher' and 'World Alone', Tony Iommi’s ‘From The Dark’ is available to order HERE.
Don’t forget, Tony is hosting Friday Night Rocks on Planet Rock every Friday from 7pm to 10pm throughout October.