‘He Was Like a Second Guitarist’: One Thing That Makes Geezer Butler So Great, Ex-Whitesnake Bassist Explains

From 2010 through 2021, the bassist who provided the low-end in Whitesnake was a chap by the name of Michael Devin, who over the years has also played with the likes of Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Lynch Mob, and Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience. And like all musicians, he has a select number of players before him that served as an early inspiration.

And one such bassist is Black Sabbath’s Geezer Butler, whose memorable bass lines also served as an obvious influence on the likes of Cliff Burton, while Butler is also responsible for writing the majority of the group’s lyrics throughout the ’70s. During a recent interview with No Treble, Devin explained what made Butler so gosh darn special.

“I loved Geezer Butler when I was cutting my teeth because he was the first guy who played counterpoint to a lot of what Tony [Iommi] was playing,” Devin said (transcribed by Ultimate Guitar). “And it’s so subtle that if you’re not tuning into it, you just think he’s following the riff. But because he’s playing a slight variation on this riff, it widened the sound of Black Sabbath to such degree that it just sounded like powder kegs falling every time the bass came in.”

“And I’m like, ‘How is he doing that?’ And as I dug into him, I’m like, ‘Oh, he’s not quite playing that exactly how Tony is.’ He was like a second guitarist. He really was, absolutely. And again, playing for the song, where he played *for* the song. I appreciate the players that can do that.”

During a recent chat with Songfacts, Butler himself discussed what made his bass-playing style unique and why his approach was almost like that of a lead guitarist at times.

“It’s just the way it developed because I was a rhythm guitarist,” Geezer offered. “When I was a kid, my very first guitar was an acoustic guitar with two strings on it because I couldn’t afford a full set of strings. For two years, I used to play all Beatles songs on two strings – the melodies. And when I got a bass, it sort of translated over to that.”

The Birmingham quartet would go on to create a rock ‘n’ roll sound far removed from their earliest influences, but without them, some members of the band don’t think Black Sabbath would have existed at all.

A Fellow Group Of Brits Inspired Black Sabbath
Sonically and aesthetically speaking, Black Sabbath and the Beatles couldn’t be more different. Nevertheless, the Fab Four served as a crucial inspiration to the heavy metal band when they were finding their footing in the late 1960s. As bassist Geezer Butler explained to Michigan radio station WRKR, “They were a massive influence because there was nobody else like them at the time” (via Blabbermouth).

“Up until then, it was, like, my brothers were into Elvis and Eddie Cochran and Buddy Holly, that kind of thing,” Butler continued. “There was no real English [rock bands]. All the English rock and rollers were trying to sound American and copy of an American [band], and they never succeeded. And then when the Beatles came along, they had a completely original sound.”

Butler said the fact that the Beatles were from Liverpool, roughly 90 miles from Black Sabbath’s hometown of Birmingham, was another important source of inspiration. “It just gave us some hope that British musicians could actually become successful. As soon as the Beatles were successful, then you had The Rolling Stones and the Kinks and The Who, Herman’s Hermits, a whole explosion of British pop music.”

Black Sabbath Frontman Ozzy Osbourne Loved This Pop Rock Group
While the Beatles had their fair share of rock ‘n’ roll debauchery, the tales of their time fall short of the wild antics Ozzy Osbourne became famous for, from biting the head off a bat to lapping up urine while touring with Mötley Crüe. Still, Osbourne is of the same mind as Butler: the Beatles changed the world and, in turn, changed the Birmingham natives’ lives forever.

 

“I knew I wasn’t built to do a 9-to-5 job,” Osbourne said in a 2019 Blabbermouth interview. “When I heard the Beatles, I knew what I wanted to do. I remember it like it was yesterday; I was walking around with a transistor radio on my shoulder, and “She Loves You” came on. And, I don’t know, it just went, ‘Bang!’”

“It was like going to bed in a black and white world and waking up, and it turned to color,” Osbourne recalled a few years later in a 2024 episode of The Osbournes Podcast (via RadioX). “You don’t forget, we came out of World War II and the whole thing. We had strict rules to live by. And it was that [the Beatles] broke the f***ing doors down for so many people, and they gave freedom to the world.”

Black Sabbath’s career began as the Beatles’ career was ending, releasing their eponymous debut in 1970, the same year as ‘Let It Be.’ However, Osbourne was able to meet his idols even after their band’s famous break-up. “When I met Paul McCartney, it was the highlight of my life,” he said (via Express). “I also met Ringo Starr, what a great bloke. They always had the best melodies. All I’ve tried to do in my career is put a melody to a dark riff.”