Tony Iommi was horrified when Black Sabbath’s debut album got negative reviews, but said being called Satanists might have helped them out.

In a recent interview with Metal Hammer, the guitarist said the band’s association with Satanism made everyone afraid of the band, which might have worked to their advantage. “I think in one way it helped us,” Iommi admitted. “At one point we weren’t doing any interviews, so nobody knew much about us. I heard stories about people being frightened to meet us. But it created this thing, and people wanted to come and see what we were like. So the image was good and bad, really.”

Read the full story on Ultimate Classic Rock.