Editing Technical Ecstasy (section)

==Composition and recording==
After frustrating legal battles that accompanied the recording of 1975's ''[[Sabotage (Black Sabbath album)|Sabotage]]'', Sabbath chose Miami's [[Criteria Studios]] for the making of ''Technical Ecstasy'', which continued the band's separation from the doom and darkness that had been a trademark of their earlier albums. "Some people may have heard the band in 1970", noted Iommi, "and be thinking, 'Oh no, not them again!' But if they heard us now, they probably might like us."<ref name="Barackman">{{cite magazine|first=Michael|last=Barackman|title=Sabbath surfaces|magazine=[[Circus (magazine)|Circus]] |issue=142|date=26 October 1976}}</ref>

In the July 2001 issue of ''[[Guitar World]]'', Dan Epstein wrote, "The sessions proved extremely relaxing for everyone except Iommi, who was left to oversee the production while the others sunned themselves on the beach." Iommi explained to the same magazine in 1992, "We recorded the album in Miami, and nobody would take responsibility for the production. No one wanted to bring in an outside person for help, and no one wanted the whole band to produce it. So they left it all to me!"

In the [[liner notes]] to the band's 1998 live album ''[[Reunion (Black Sabbath album)|Reunion]]'', Phil Alexander writes that, while the band struggled to finish the album, "rock had spawned a new set of [[iconoclast]]s as the [[Sex Pistols]], [[the Clash]] and [[the Damned (band)|the Damned]]… Suddenly Sabbath found themselves both unsure of their musical direction and labeled as has-beens." "It's not like now: If you're a heavy metal band, you put out a heavy metal album", Butler explained to ''[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]'' in 2014. "Back then, you had to at least try to be modern and keep up. Punk was massive then and we felt that our time had come and gone."

To make matters worse for the band, manager [[Don Arden]] began spending more of his time focusing on another of his acts, [[Electric Light Orchestra]], whose 1975 album ''[[Face the Music (Electric Light Orchestra album)|Face The Music]]'' was their first to make the US top ten. Iommi's determination to move Sabbath in a new direction was misguided according to some, with Mick Wall noting in the 2013 book ''Black Sabbath: Symptom of the Universe'' that while future [[soft rock]] million-sellers ''[[Hotel California (Eagles album)|Hotel California]]'' and ''[[Rumours (album)|Rumours]]'' were just around the corner, "to try and force that sound on Black Sabbath was like trying to put lamb's wool on a suit of armour. It just didn't work, pleasing nobody."

In his autobiography ''I Am Ozzy'', vocalist [[Ozzy Osbourne]] admitted he had begun to consider leaving the band during this time: "I'd even had a T-shirt made with 'Blizzard of Ozz' written on the front. Meanwhile, in the studio, Tony (Iommi) was always saying, 'We've gotta sound like [[Foreigner (band)|Foreigner]]', or 'We've gotta sound like [[Queen (band)|Queen]].' But I thought it was strange that the bands we'd once influenced were now influencing us." Osbourne also wrote that the cost of recording in Florida "was astronomical" and that he'd "lost the plot with the booze and the drugs" during the recording of ''Technical Ecstasy'', eventually checking himself into the Stafford County Asylum on his return to England.

"That was the beginning of the end, that one", bassist [[Geezer Butler]] confessed to ''Guitar World'' in 2001. "We were managing ourselves because we couldn't trust anybody. Everybody was trying to rip us off, including the lawyers we'd hired to get us out of our legal mess. It was really just getting to us around then, and we didn't know what we were doing. And obviously, the music was suffering; you could just feel the whole thing falling apart."

While the band were recording the album, [[Eagles (band)|the Eagles]] were recording ''[[Hotel California (Eagles album)|Hotel California]]'' in an adjacent studio at [[Criteria Studios]] in Miami. "Before we could start recording we had to scrape all the cocaine out of the mixing board", Geezer divulged to ''Uncut'' in 2014. "I think they'd left about a pound of cocaine in the board." The Eagles were forced to stop recording on numerous occasions because Sabbath were too loud and the sound was coming through the wall.<ref name="iommiautobiography">{{cite book |last=Iommi |first=Tony |title=Iron Man: My Journey Through Heaven and Hell with Black Sabbath |url=https://archive.org/details/ironmanmyjourney00iomm_0 |url-access=registration |year=2011 |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=978-0-30681-9551}}</ref>

===Musical styles and songs===
''Technical Ecstasy'' is an attempt by Black Sabbath to mature as a group and explore novel musical directions.<ref name="Rivadavia">{{cite web |last1=Rivadavia |first1=Eduardo |title=Black Sabbath Albums Ranked Worst to Best |url=https://ultimateclassicrock.com/black-sabbath-album-ranked/ |website=Ultimate Classic Rock |access-date=13 June 2024 |date=21 May 2015 |archive-date=13 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240613120957/https://ultimateclassicrock.com/black-sabbath-album-ranked/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Compared to the band's earlier albums, the record's songs are more [[eclecticism in music|eclectic]], complex and flowery, with studio effects and synthesisers appearing prominently.<ref name="cos">{{cite web |last1=Hadusek |first1=Jon |title=Ranking: Every Black Sabbath Album from Worst to Best |url=https://consequenceofsound.net/2017/03/ranking-every-black-sabbath-album-from-worst-to-best/full-post/ |website=Consequence of Sound |date=9 March 2017 |access-date=29 January 2020 |archive-date=5 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201105091510/https://consequenceofsound.net/2017/03/ranking-every-black-sabbath-album-from-worst-to-best/full-post/ |url-status=live }}</ref> As Greg Pato of [[AllMusic]] describes: "The band was getting further and further from their original musical path, as they began experimenting with their trademark [[sludge metal|sludge-metal]] sound", citing the [[funk music|funky]] "All Moving Parts (Stand Still)" and the melodic, Bill Ward-sung "It's Alright" as examples.<ref name="Prato">{{cite web |last1=Prato |first1=Greg |title=Technical Ecstasy Review by Greg Prato |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/technical-ecstasy-mw0000197070 |website=AllMusic |access-date=14 June 2024 |archive-date=24 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240524100910/https://www.allmusic.com/album/technical-ecstasy-mw0000197070 |url-status=live }}</ref> The latter song – the first time Osbourne did not take lead vocals on a Black Sabbath track – has been compared to the work of [[Paul McCartney]] and [[Badfinger]] and is among the group's most [[controversy|controversial]] songs.<ref name="cos" /> The prominence of guest keyboardist [[Gerald Woodroffe]] throughout the album was considered a "surprise left turn",<ref name="Elliott">{{cite web |last1=Elliott |first1=Paul |title=Every Black Sabbath album ranked, from worst to best |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/black-sabbath-albums-ranked-from-worst-to-best |website=Classic Rock |access-date=13 June 2024 |date=9 August 2022 |archive-date=13 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240613223133/https://www.loudersound.com/features/black-sabbath-albums-ranked-from-worst-to-best |url-status=live }}</ref> though Steven Rosen of ''[[Sounds (magazine)|Sounds]]'' considers his work on the album to be "supplemental in nature", adding that "the new synthesized wheezings are nice and so long as he remains in a back-up role there should be little problem with his being accepted by the Sabbath fans."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rosen |first1=Steven |title=Black Sabbath: Technical Knock-out |journal=Sounds |date=22 January 1977 |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/black-sabbath-technical-knock-out |access-date=14 June 2024 |archive-date=14 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240614102138/https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/black-sabbath-technical-knock-out |url-status=live }}</ref>

Butler has described ''Technical Ecstasy'' as a response to [[punk rock]]. Music journalist Michael Hann disputed this, saying: "Given it was recorded in June 1976, that suggests they were either way ahead of the curve, or that Butler is mistaken."<ref name="Hann">{{cite web |last1=Hann |first1=Michael |title=Every Black Sabbath album – ranked! |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/jan/31/every-black-sabbath-album-ranked-ozzy-osbourne |website=The |access-date=13 June 2024 |date=31 January 2019}}</ref> In a 2021 interview, Ward cited ''Technical Ecstasy'' in asserting the band's "punk and [[prog rock|prog]] credentials" while admiring [[punk rock]] because "I came from a violent band as well." He said, "We never made music to fit into anything or to reach a certain audience".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kielty |first1=Martin |title=Bill Ward Asserts Black Sabbath's Punk and Prog Credentials |url=https://ultimateclassicrock.com/black-sabbbath-punk-prog/ |website=Ultimate Classic Rock |access-date=14 June 2024 |date=8 October 2021 |archive-date=14 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240614103403/https://ultimateclassicrock.com/black-sabbbath-punk-prog/ |url-status=live }}</ref> With regard to Iommi being the only member determined to work on the album, Peter Watts of ''[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]'' comments that ''Technical Ecstasy'' is "the sound of Tony Iommi being left to his own devices and getting pulled in several different directions at once", believing that he wished to eschew heavy metal for [[hard rock]], while also "nodding at punk and [[soft rock]]" but still remaining "quintessentially Black Bloody Sabbath", with the resulting record combining aspects from all their earlier albums – including the drive of their earliest work and experimentation of ''[[Sabbath Bloody Sabbath]]'' (1973) – as well as a straight [[pop music|pop]] song with vocals by Ward.<ref name="Watts">{{cite journal |last1=Watts |first1=Peter |title=Technical Ecstasy |journal=Uncut Ultimate Music Guide Series |date=2024 |issue=53 |pages=60-61}}</ref>

''Technical Ecstasy''{{'}}s lyrics dealt with a variety of topics. Tony Iommi's autobiography ''Iron Man: My Journey Through Heaven & Hell with Black Sabbath'' reveals that "Dirty Women" was about "all these hookers" Butler had seen around [[Florida]]. "All Moving Parts (Stand Still)" is about "a transvestite who becomes President of the United States", Butler told biographer Mick Wall in 2013, "because America was such a [[Misogyny|misogynistic]] society at the time." As with their previous two albums, the band continued experimenting with keyboards and synthesisers on ''Technical Ecstasy''. The music itself was less dark and more atypical than that of previous albums, especially on the ballads "It's Alright" and "She's Gone".

The ballad "It's Alright" was written and sung by drummer [[Bill Ward (musician)|Bill Ward]]. Initially reluctant to sing the song for fear of offending Osbourne, he was encouraged by the band to do it.<ref name="iommiautobiography" /> In his autobiography, Osbourne praises the performance, enthusing, "He's got a great voice, Bill, and I was more than happy for him to do the honours." It was released as a single because, said Iommi, "We want to break out as far as we can… so we've decided to hit the singles market."<ref name="Barackman"/> It has since been covered live by [[Guns N' Roses]], and features on their ''[[Live Era '87–'93]]'' album. It also featured in the 2010 film ''[[It's Kind of a Funny Story (film)|It's Kind of a Funny Story]]''.