Fact #117503

David Tangye (Sabbath roadie) : Van Halen hit the stage and started to play Sabbath tunes. It was their way of paying tribute to the Sabs, but Tony Iommi was strangely annoyed by it. He may have misinterpreted the gesture as a piss-take, which it certainly was not. Van Halen were in awe of Sabbath, and their ingenious lead guitarist, Eddie Van Halen, was a big fan of Tony. The unwitting faux pas was soon forgotten. The two bands came to get along very well together, and Alex Van Halen would often sit...behind Bill's drum kit, watching and listening to him play onstage.
(Source L How Black Was Our Sabbath by David Tangye and Graham Wright, Pan Books, 2004)