Tony Iommi Awarded Honorary Doctorate at Coventry University

Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi was given a Doctorate of Arts by the university on November 19th “in recognition of his contribution to the world of popular music.”

As the BBC notes, the University recognized “his role as one of the founding fathers of heavy metal music and his status as one of the industry’s most influential figures.”

The award comes after original Sabbath drummer Bill Ward told the press that he can’t listen to 13, the new record from the reunited band on which he does not play:

“The only thing I’ve heard from ’13’ is … maybe 40 seconds of the first song, and then I turned it off. I haven’t heard anything off that album at all. And to be quite honest, I don’t care to either. It’s too painful.

“If I want to rip my guts out, I’ll put it on. I mean, I wish them all the luck – well, not luck, they don’t need luck – but I wish them all the best in the world. But for me, I can’t listen to it, it’s too close to home, you know. Like I said, I listened to the first 40 seconds of ‘God is Dead?’ and I just said I can’t listen to this anymore.”