Former Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler has opened up about his past battle with depression, saying that you “can’t describe it”.
The musician spoke about his mental health struggles during a recent interview with TalkShopLive.
“Unless you’ve experienced true depression, you can’t describe it. It’s like you’re going to this awful black hole,” Butler explained (via Blabbermouth).
“And people would say, like, ‘Oh, just go and have a drink or take the dog for a walk.’ That’s what the doctors used to say. ‘Well, go and watch television or read a book.’ And, of course, you’ve got no interest in anything.”
He continued: “So the only way I could express myself was writing the lyrics for [Black Sabbath’s] ‘Paranoid’. I mean, I wasn’t depressed all the time, but when I used to get the bouts of depression, you just couldn’t explain it to anyone, and you were terrified that you [would] go to a mental health person, maybe, and they put you in hospital for years, in a mental institution.
“So you’d never go to doctors or anything like that. And so you just had to get on with it. And the only way I could get it out of my system was to write the lyrics.”
When asked how his mental health is currently, Butler responded: “Good now, yeah. ‘Cause in 1999, I was finally properly diagnosed, and they put me on Prozac for six weeks. And the doctor says, ‘It’s not gonna work straight away. Keep taking it for six weeks and eventually you’ll start feeling like normal again.’
“And I said, ‘Well, what’s normal?’ After six weeks, this big cloud seemed to lift off me. It was great.”
Butler previously spoke about his depression last summer, explaining that “just the occasional bout would come on me”.
The bassist went on to say that he wouldn’t talk to anybody about his condition, and he was often accused of being “moody and miserable”. He added: “So they were saying, ‘You’ve got all the money you want, you’ve got your house, you’ve got your cars and everything. What’s wrong with you? Cheer up.’
“And they couldn’t understand that it’s nothing like that.”
In other news, Butler recently expressed his appreciation for Slipknot and the nu-metal explosion in the 1990s, and talked about the influence of The Beatles on his career.
Last month, Butler said Osbourne “desperately wants” to play one final show with Black Sabbath. It came after the frontman revealed that he would “jump at the chance” to perform another Sabbath gig with co-founder Bill Ward.
For help and advice on mental health:
- “Am I depressed?” – Help and advice on mental health and what to do next
- MITC – A collective of musician industry therapists
- TONIC Rider – Bespoke training and support for music industry professionals
- Help Musicians UK – Around the clock mental health support and advice for musicians
- Music Support Org – Help and support for musicians struggling with alcoholism, addiction, or mental health issues
- YOUNG MINDS – The voice for young people’s health and wellbeing
- CALM – The Campaign Against Living Miserably
- The Samaritans – Confidential support 24 hours a day
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