Originally released on 18 September 1971 in the UK and on 7 January in the United States, "Paranoid" was the second studio album by the British heavy metal band Black Sabbath. The album contains several of the band's signature songs, including "Iron Man", "War Pigs" and the title track, which was the band's only top 20 hit, reaching number four on the UK Singles Chart.
Paranoid is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential heavy metal albums of all time, often cited as a key influence for the development of the genre, as well as one of its earliest albums.
In an effort to capitalise on the recent UK chart success of their eponymous debut album. Black Sabbath returned to the studio with producer Rodger Bain in June 1970, just four months after the album was released. Paranoid was recorded at Regent Sound Studios and Island Studios in London, England. The album's title track was written as an afterthought. As drummer Bill Ward explains: "We didn't have enough songs for the album, and Tony just played the guitar lick and that was it. It took twenty, twenty-five minutes from top to bottom." According to Alexander, "Paranoid"
"crystallized the band's writing process, with Iommi initiating the
ideas with his charred riffs, Ozzy working on a melody, Geezer providing drive and the majority
of the lyrics, and Bill Ward locking into a set of often pounding
rhythms beneath Butler's bass rumble." The single was released in August
1970 and reached number four on the UK charts, remaining Black
Sabbath's only top ten hit.
Most of the songs on Paranoid evolved during onstage improvisational jams. "War Pigs" came from "one of the clubs" with Butler
adding, "During the song "Warning" we used to jam that out and that
particular night when we were jamming it out Tony just went da-dum!". Most of the album's songs
were originally created in the fall of 1969 in a music club in Zurich,
Switzerland. Black Sabbath spent six weeks in Zurich starting around
mid-November 1969. They played at what was then known as the 'Beat Club'
(also called the Hirschen Club) on the ground floor of the Hotel
Hirschen in Zurich's old town. The engagement included seven 45-minute
sets per day for six weeks. Black Sabbath didn't have much material back
then, so they played only one song per set, but for 45 minutes.
The album's opening track "War Pigs" was originally intended to be called "Walpurgis". It was then changed to "War Pigs", which the band intended to name the album until it was changed to Paranoid after the record company became convinced that the song of the same name had potential as a single. Butler explained:
"I wanted to write a song called 'Walpurgis' – you know, the Satanic
version of Christmas – write it about that Satan isn't a spiritual
thing, it's warmongers. That's who the real Satanists are, all these
people who are running the banks and the world and trying to get the
working class to fight the wars for them. We sent it off to the record
company, and they said, 'No, we're not going to call it that. Too
Satanic!' So I changed it to 'War Pigs'." In his autobiography I Am Ozzy, vocalist Ozzy Osbourne recalls, "It was originally going to be called 'Walpurgis' ...
which was a term for a black magic wedding or something. Then we
changed it to 'War Pigs', and Geezer came up with these heavy duty
lyrics about death and destruction.
The song "Iron Man" was originally titled "Iron Bloke". Upon
hearing Iommi play the main guitar riff for the first time, Osbourne
remarked in awe that it sounded "like a big iron bloke walking around".
The title was later changed to "Iron Man" as bassist and lyricist Geezer
Butler composed the lyrics. The riff to "Iron Man" is iconic among heavy metal guitarists, with
Osbourne declaring in his memoir that "...Tony Iommi turned out to be
one of the greatest heavy rock riff-makers of all time. Whenever we went
into the studio we'd challenge him to beat his last riff – and he'd
come up with something like 'Iron Man' and blow everyone away." Butler
wrote the lyrics as the story of a man who time-travels into the future
and sees the apocalypse.
In the process of returning to the present, he is turned into steel by a
magnetic field. His attempts to warn the populace are ignored and
mocked. This causes Iron Man to become angry and vengeful, causing the
destruction seen in his vision.
"Electric Funeral" also contains apocalyptic imagery dealing with nuclear warfare. In The Last Supper
concert film, Iommi remembers that at the time with most bands it was
all the 'flowers in your hair' and we wanted to sing and play about the
other side of life. "Paranoid" was "about depression, because I didn't really know the
difference between depression and paranoia. It's a drug thing; when
you're smoking a joint
you get totally paranoid about people, you can't relate to people.
There's that crossover between the paranoia you get when you're smoking
dope and the depression afterwards."
"Planet Caravan" was an unusually quiet song which showcased that the band was capable of more than bone crushing guitar riffs. Iommi admitted that the band had doubts about the mellow number, it was almost one of those 'Should we do this?'"
with Butler adding, "We just came up with that in the studio and it was
really laid back so and we didn't want to come out with the usual love
crap. So it was about floating through the universe with your loved one,
instead of 'Let's go down to the pub and have some chips', or whatever ... Just taking a spaceship out into the stars and having the ultimate romantic weekend." Django Reinhardt's jazz influence is apparent on Iommi's guitar playing.
"Hand of Doom"
dealt with the problem of soldiers returning from the Vietnam War
strung out on heroin, which the band witnessed first-hand when they
played two American Army bases but, as Butler observed to Matthew
Longfellow in 2010, there was "nothing on the news about this. There was
no programs telling you that the US troops in Vietnam, to get through
that horrible war, were like fixing up and all this kinda thing. It just
stuck in my head and when we got to "Hand of Doom", that's what I wrote
it about". According to Butler, Ward's drum solo "Rat Salad" resulted from
the band having to play eight 3/4-hour spots a night in Europe early in
their career. The closing track on the album, "Fairies Wear Boots",
as a "hard-driving riff sweetened by a beautifully baleful melody" with
a lyric written by Osbourne about a nasty encounter with a group of
skinheads.
The cover, with the original War Pigs title in mind, was designed and shot by Keith McMillan (credited as Keef) in Black Park, Buckinghamshire. His assistant, Roger Brown, was the model. It was a choice by Vertigo Records with the potential visual and
commercial impact in mind, and was designed by Tony Iommi. The original
UK vinyl release was in a gatefold sleeve featuring a black-and-white
photo of the band, posed outdoors on a grassy hill. Also shot by Keith
McMillan, it was the band's first appearance on album artwork. Brown's image is superimposed three times to create the effect of
continuity or movement and is stained with a pink paint. Brown is shown
wearing a white helmet, a pink and yellow outfit and a red shield, wielding a sword
in an attacking stance, amidst a dark forest. The objective of the
cover was to create an image dark, surreal, and slightly evil aesthetic.
Many publications now cite Paranoid is as one of the greatest and most influential heavy metal albums of all time. In a retrospective review, it was the album that defined the sound and style of heavy metal more than any other record in rock history". Geezer Butler cited Paranoid as the one that stood out to
him the most. He explained, "It was a totally complete album. It wasn't
forced, and the chemistry between the four of us was so fluid. I
remember getting together to do that record, and we wrote literally
everything immediately. Each song came together so easily and had such
fire. And each time we would go into rehearsal, we'd come out with a
completed song. I think that's why that album is special, because of how
naturally things came together. It was the most organic record that
Sabbath – in any era – ever made. It was completely natural, as it
should have been."
Paranoid Track List:
1. War Pigs
2. Paranoid
3. Planet Caravan
4. Iron Man
5. Electric Funeral
6. Hand Of Doom
7. Rat Salad (instrumental)
8. Fairies Wear Boots
