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Heavy metal band Black Sabbath have been named the most important British hard rock act of all time in a poll by record industry trade body the BPI.
The Birmingham pioneers of heavy metal, who have sold more than 70 million records worldwide including the 1970 classic Paranoid, bagged almost half of the votes (45 percent) in a poll of more than 3,600 fans. Iron Maiden and Led Zeppelin completed the trio.
Black Sabbath's Ozzy Osbourne The survey - carried out in conjunction with Kerrang! and Metal Hammer magazines - also found that aficionados of hard rock and metal get bitten by the bug early, with over 40 percent discovering it before their teenage years.
