With so much downtime in 2020, musicians have kept busy in a number of ways, whether it's performing livestreamed shows or drive-in concerts, getting friends to jam on cover songs or releasing solo material, to name a handful. For Black Sabbath's Geezer Butler, he's used this time at home to get to work on a book about his early life and career.

"This is the longest I have been home in 50 years," the bassist told Australia's Wall of Sound in a recent interview. Regarding this extended stay at home, he quipped, "My dogs and cats are loving it — not so much my wife."

Instead, Butler has embraced some of life's simpler pleasures in a relatively low-key year. "Based here in Los Angeles, I have ventured out on some amazing road trips, mainly in Utah, my favorite state in the USA, but apart from that I've read [a lot] of books, watched a lot of TV, eaten too much and dabbled with various new basses — mainly five-, six- and even seven-string basses," the Sabbath icon divulged.

Aside from a pandemic, 2020 has also been marked by the 50th anniversaries of Black Sabbath's first pair of albums — Black Sabbath and Paranoid. It appears this has stirred some moments of reflection for Butler, who revealed, "I'm currently putting together a book about growing up in Aston, Birmingham and how Sabbath came about… but I'm really enjoying semi-retirement and not having to do anything or be anywhere, especially after being away from home for most of the last 50 years."

"Every generation, as they get older, wants to look back fondly on their younger years, and music is a great way of reviving those feelings they had in their younger days," he said earlier in the interview. "There is no denying there was some incredible music back in the sixties and seventies, lots of various styles and ideas, that still sound relevant now, and with each generation there is still a demand for that music.”

As part of celebrating that milestone 50-year mark, Black Sabbath have partnered with Dr. Martens boots for two different sets of footwear bearing the artwork seen on each of those first two records. See those here. A 5-LP super deluxe edition box set of Paranoid arrives on Oct. 9 as well.

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