Earlier this month, metal trailblazers Black Sabbath played the last shows of their almost fifty-year career, ending with a two-night run in their hometown of Birmingham. Last.fm were in attendance at their London show to watch the pioneers bow out, and with over 90 million scrobbles on Last.fm, it seems our users are partial to some Sabbath too - so we thought there could be no better time to run down our top five most iconic Black Sabbath moments.

Black Sabbath (2 million scrobbles)

It's hard to imagine the impact the opening three notes of Black Sabbath's debut album would have had on rock fans back in 1970. While the likes of Led Zeppelin had previously begun to take rock music in a harder, heavier direction, it was Sabbath who truly embraced the darker sound of what we now know as heavy metal. Less than ten years before the release of 'Black Sabbath', rock music was all about The Beatles singing about holding people's hands – now it was Ozzy Osbourne wailing about 'Satan sitting there, he's smiling'. A true turning point in heavy music, and it's not surprising that Sabbath have used this as their opening track for every show on their farewell tour.

War Pigs (3.1 million scrobbles)

Released just months after their debut, Sabbath's second album 'Paranoid' is without a doubt one of the defining guitar albums of all time. Over its eight tracks, Ozzy and co ramped up everything that made their debut so seminal – and 'War Pigs', the opening track, has it all. Hard-hitting riffs, frantic guitar solos, classic drum work from Bill Ward - and yep, you guessed it – Ozzy singing about Satan again. Despite bassist and lyricist Geezer Butler penning 'War Pigs' as an anti-Vietnam War song, it couldn't have been further from the hippy folk anthems from the other side of the Atlantic, reflecting the bleak industrial surroundings of Sabbath's hometown.

Iron Man (4.9 million scrobbles)

During the early 70s, Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi arguably churned out more timeless rock riffs than any other guitarist - pick pretty much any track from Sabbath's first five albums and we defy you not to reach straight for your air guitar. Another classic cut from 'Paranoid', 'Iron Man' features one of the most instantly recognisable riffs ever written, underpinning Ozzy's wonderfully inconsistent lyrics ("Iron Man"…"Turned to steel"…"Boots of lead"?). However, it's not just the thunderous main riff that deserves a shout out – the outro riff is yet more proof that Tony Iommi wrote more classic riffs than is fair for any one person.

Into the Void (1.2 million scrobbles)

Any modern metal listener will be accustomed to the menacing sound of a down tuned guitar – but once again it's Tony Iommi we have to thank for this now commonly used technique. Having lost all the fingertips on his right hand in an industrial accident, Iommi tuned down his guitar to ease the tension on his fingers, which also had the fortunate effect of sounding extremely metal. On Sabbath's third album 'Master of Reality', Iommi tuned his guitar down three steps to C# tuning, giving tracks like 'Children of the Grave' and ''Lord of this World' an even more ominous edge. It's the sludgy album closer 'Into the Void', though, that has to register among the darkest tracks Sabbath ever put out – helping to lay the foundations for a huge array of other metal genres like stoner metal, doom, and sludge.

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1.8 million scrobbles)

By the time Sabbath released their fifth album 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath' in 1973, the band was beginning to deviate from their trademark heavy sound and incorporate more experimental elements into their music, with Iommi learning more instruments during the writing process and making use of keyboards and synthesizers. The title track of the album strikes the perfect balance between the crushing Sabbath sound of old and the more complex arrangements elsewhere on the album. Yet another classic Iommi riff (and some positively helium-esque vocals from Ozzy) give way to a jazz-influenced acoustic section that acts to make the main riff seem even bigger when it returns - before culminating in one of the heaviest sections of any Sabbath track ever recorded. In fact, both Guns n Roses guitar legend Slash and Mastodon guitarist Brent Hinds have pointed to the second half of 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath' as being a huge influence.