Black Sabbath enter the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Black Sabbath, the band formed in Aston in 1968, have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the United States.

Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward were honoured at a ceremony at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York on 13 March. The band were inducted by members of Metallica, who then played two Sabbath songs in tribute.

A long wait

The honour has been a long time coming. Bands become eligible for the Hall of Fame 25 years after their first record, which meant Sabbath could have been inducted in the mid-1990s. The band were overlooked for years, and when they were finally nominated in 1999, Osbourne asked for their name to be removed, calling the nomination "meaningless" because the band had been ignored for so long.

This time the band accepted. It comes just months after they were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in November last year.

From Aston to the world

The four members grew up in Aston and the surrounding areas in the 1950s and 1960s. They first played together as the Polka Tulk Blues Band and then as Earth, before changing their name to Black Sabbath, after a horror film starring Boris Karloff.

Their first album, Black Sabbath, was released in February 1970 and was followed later that year by Paranoid, which reached number one in the UK album chart. The title track became a hit single, and songs such as Iron Man and War Pigs are still played on rock radio around the world.

The band are widely regarded as the founders of heavy metal. Iommi's heavy, slow guitar riffs, which he developed after losing the tips of two fingers in an accident at a sheet metal factory, have influenced generations of musicians. Many of the biggest rock bands of the last 30 years, including Metallica, have named Sabbath as a key influence.

A proud city

Sabbath's success has made them one of Birmingham's best known exports. Fans travel to the city from all over the world to see where the band grew up, and there have been calls for the city to do more to celebrate its heavy metal history, including a memorial or museum.

Osbourne has become a household name in a new way in recent years, through the MTV reality show The Osbournes, which followed his family's life in Los Angeles. He continues to tour as a solo artist and runs the Ozzfest festival.

The original line-up reunited for a series of concerts in the late 1990s and have played together at Ozzfest since. There has been talk of new recordings, but no firm plans have been announced.

For now, the band and their fans in Birmingham can enjoy the recognition that many felt was overdue.