Fossil, conodont fossil
October 10, 2021

Fossil named after Tony Iommi

A 469 million-year-old fossil of a newly discovered species of conodonts (extinct jawless vertebrates that closely resemble eels) has just been named after founding Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi, Blabbermouth reports. A team of Danish and Swedish paleontologists retrieved the fossil from a succession of limestone in western Russia which, during the Ordovician Period (a 45-million year period dating 488.3 million years back), formed sea floor sediments. Mats E. Eriksson, one of the paleontologists on the mission, has an extensive background in naming newly discovered fossils after heavy metal legends, having already honored Motorhead leader Lemmy Kilmister, Cannibal Corpse bassist Alex Webster and singer King Diamond in the fossil.

“Geezer’s [Butler] a great, great lyricist. [And as a bassist], nobody can touch him. Bill [Ward], in his day, was a great drummer. Tony [Iommi], he’s always gonna be the greatest, no one can touch him" - Ozzy Osbourne spoke about his career on Rick Rubin’s Broken Record podcast. “People will say to me, ‘Why did you always sing on the side of the stage?’ I don’t fucking know. I don’t know", Osbourne said. "It’s just fear, I suppose. ‘Cause Tony, he’s one of the few people who could walk into this room right now and I would fucking feel intimidated. He intimidates the fuck out of me — and he knows it”.