4.22.2011

Inspiration Came From ... Anywhere ...




Steele, who credits Black Sabbath and the Beatles as key inspirations,  co-wrote the song "Just Say No To Love" with Tony Iommi for the Black Sabbath guitarist's solo record in 2000.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7LUSlOs-Ac

"I felt like a big kid," said Steele. "To be writing music with him (Iommi), I was awestruck. I was stuttering. I've loved Sabbath since I was 15. I like that slow, heavy sound. Grinding, churning stuff. Ozzy (Osbourne) sounded like the ultimate outcast and I didn't fit in too well in high school with the nerds, the jocks or the cool jeans."

Now, Pete being the joker and always finding the humor in a situation, we can only surmise that this story about the inspiration for the song may be full truth or a tall tale. But, a close friend of Pete's told us this story as being the inspiration for how he came up with the song: 

Pete was extremely nervous about working with Tony Iommi and had to run into the men’s room before meeting Tony.  Pacing back and forth, racking his brain for a subject, tune, title or lyrics to contribute to their collaboration. While taking care of business and staring at the wall, he saw a small anti-drug sticker that read, "Just Say No To Drugs." Pete thought to himself, “That’s it” … Just say no ... which turned into "Just Say No to Love."  And then a song was born. In Peter's mind, he could find inspiration from anything ... even in the bathroom. 

  

8 comments:

  1. such a talented artist !

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  2. a keen, perceptive mind, an agile brain and musical talent to spare - no wonder Peter wrote the amazing stuff he did. And no matter what the starting point was, it always ended in pure awesomeness. thanks for sharing. :)

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  3. The brain and its mannerisms. I love that song, it's such an anthem of "done with it." Thanks for this story.

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  4. This is my favorite song. Even if bring back bad memories ( my mom's death) I will always cherish the time me and Peter we were together and his support in those difficult times.
    He was an amazing persons and still much alive in my heart.

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  5. Firstly let me say thanks so much to the Ratajczyk family for this blog and for sharing their memories of Peter with the fans.
    Secondly, there is a wonderful quirk in 'Just say no to love' if you listen carefully in the line 'you dumped me for Tony Iommi' Peter delivers the words 'Tony Iommi' in a pure Brummie (Birmingham UK) accent. Genius.

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  6. Thank you for sharing! I'm so grateful to the Ratajczyk Family for setting up this blog so that everyone,myself included can express our gratitude and love for peter. Much love goes out to all of you for the opportunity to do so and for that you deserve the applause. Thank you again....Windy

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  7. lol inspiration comes from any,and everywhere!
    -erik hernandez-

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