Time To Find Out If The Metal Community Plays Favourites

In her lurid new tell-all — Lita Ford - Living Like A Runaway: A Memoir — Lita Ford drops a bombshell regarding Tony Iommi — specifically, that on several occasions during their two-year relationship, Black Sabbath's legendary axeman beat the ever-loving shit out of her, leaving her with a black eye the very first time he punched her. As the relationship continued (Ford describing herself as a "moron" for sticking with him), Ford says that the assaults continued, with the worst of them following their engagement. Ford writes, “After snorting tons of blow, [Tony] got angry and choked me unconscious. When I woke up, I saw him holding a chair above my head. It was a big, heavy leather chair with studs around the arms, and he was about to smash it over my face. I rolled over, and luckily I moved fast enough that he missed me and the chair smashed into the ground.”I'd imagine that more than a few music fans will be quick to admit that domestic abuse is a serious and horrible act, while backpedaling their criticisms by noting that these allegations would have occurred long in the past and that everybody seems to have learned their lessons and moved on. But have they? Tony Iommi's own autobiography remains deafeningly silent as to any incidents of physical abuse. In fact, he devotes a mere handful of paragraphs to Lita Ford (a two-page chapter called Lovely Lita, pp. 242-243), painting her as petty and unhinged, angered that Iommi nicked her drummer and bassist (Eric Singer and Gordon Copley, respectively), to replace Geezer Butler and Bill Ward. Iommi's account of the relationship breathes new life into the phrase "whitewash," when he writes, "It was a shame, really, because I messed up the relationship by being constantly out of it. She was a nice girl and we got on well. It just started coming apart, certainly when the Eric thing happened. We were together for about two years. Then we went our separate ways."No mention of any black eyes, beatings or choking his girlfriend into unconsciousness. He implies that the relationship ending was down to her bitterness that he poached her band. Presumably, if Iommi felt any accountability or remorse over the way he treated Lita — and if her horrifying allegations are true — his own autobiography presented a logical platform for coming clean, but if he feels bad about slapping his girlfriend around, he's doing a bang-up job of concealing it.The heavy metal community continues to pour vitriolic scorn over Phil Anselmo for his incredibly-offensive "white power" comment and Nazi gesture at this year's Dimebash. Will they hold Tony Iommi to the same scrutiny? Will metal musicians film videos of themselves condemning Iommi? Will the metal press ask everybody who's ever played in a metal band to comment on the allegations that Tony Iommi beat a woman? I love Zeppelin's music as much, if not more than the next guy, but let's face it — the late John Bonham was a petulant, entitled and notoriously violent man who once punched a girl in a Los Angeles bar simply for smiling at him, yet he's fondly remembered as a maniacally-talented drummer and lovable rogue whose saucy exploits harken back to those halcyon and much-missed days of 70s rock and roll decadence. My guess is that Iommi will get a similar pass. He shouldn't. He should publicly address these allegations, present his side of the story and at the very least, condemn domestic battery as cowardly and unacceptable then, now and always.