Vinyl of the Week - 23 August 2020

Paranoid, Black Sabbath

For this instalment of VOTW, I thought it was about time we delve into the heavier side of rock Paranoid is the second album from Black Sabbath and one that is widely acknowledged as the beginning of heavy metal. Released in 1970, this album is hard rock at its best and the only Sabbath album to make it into the top 20 of the UK charts until the release of 13 in 2013. The record was originally titled War Pigs after the now iconic track. The reason for the name change is a point of conjecture. One story is the record company didn’t want backlash from the Vietnam war supporters. Lead singer Ozzy Osbourne states it was simply a commercial decision, as it made sense to name the album after the single ‘Paranoid’ which was doing well in the charts. The fact that the cover art depicts a guy in a pig mask with a sword attests to the fact that it was a last minute change. ‘Paranoid’ the song was actually an afterthought. Geezer Butler, the band’s bassist, recalls “we didn’t have enough songs for an LP so Tony (Iommi) wrote the riff in about 25 minutes and I wrote the lyrics in about 2 hours. Done”. Iommi, the band’s lead guitarist, is responsible some of rock’s most iconic riffs and this album contains three of the best: ‘Paranoid’, ‘War Pigs’ and, of course, ‘Iron Man’. I love this record for several reasons. The driving force of the cranked Marshall stack and Iommi playing his heart out is one. The other is the lyrics, which are so evocative of the time, full of references to the evils of war and greed, the effects of heavy drug use and a generation that didn’t like what they saw. Still relevant today I think. Next time you’re in the mood to rock, give Paranoid a spin - DS