Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi almost had his career cut short by an accident that cut off his fingertips, but he prevailed.

Tony is a left-handed guitarist and the accident took the tips of his right hand’s fingers, the ones needed for the fret board.  A lot of people would have called it quits, but Tony attached plastic caps to the tips of his injured fingers and started using lighter gauge banjo strings. He also loosened his strings which, as fate would have it, produced a deeper more distinctive sound that was perfect for the band he would later co-found, Black Sabbath.

Tony Iommi set the standard for metal guitarists with his unique, haunting guitar sound – thanks to an industrial accident and his perseverance.

Meanwhile, Black Sabbath will head back into the studio to work on a new album this year.

-Spencer