Paranoid is the second studio album by Black Sabbath, released in September 18, 1970 through Vertigo Records in England and Warner Bros. Records in the US. 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 4 in the UK charts. In a 2017 publication by Rolling Stone magazine, Paranoid was ranked number one on its list of the “100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time“. The album is often cited a key influence for the development of the heavy metal music genre as well as one of the earliest heavy metal albums. Paranoid was the band’s only album to top the UK Albums Chart until the release of 13 in 2013.
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 (Iommi) just played the guitar lick and that was it. It took twenty, twenty-five minutes from top to bottom.” In the liner notes to the 1998 live album Reunion, bassist Geezer Butler recounts to Phil Alexander that they wrote the song “in five minutes, then I sat down and wrote the lyrics as quickly as I could. It was all done in about two hours.”
According to Alexander, “Paranoid” “crystallized the band’s writing process, with Iommi initiating the ideas with his charred riffs, Ozzy (Osbourne) 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. In the Classic Albums documentary on the making of Paranoid, guitarist Tony Iommi recalls that “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!” In the same documentary, Iommi demonstrates his approach to the guitar solo in the song, explaining that “I always tried to keep the bottom string ringing so it fills it out nicely.” On “Planet Caravan“, Osbourne sings through a Leslie speaker, with the singer telling Mojo in 2010, “Then Rodger Bain used an oscillator on it – whatever that is. It looks like a fridge with a knob on.”
Tracklist:
- War Pigs/ Luke’s Wall
- Paranoid
- Planet Caravan
- Iron Man
- Electric Funeral
- Hand of Doom
- Rat Salad (instrumental)
- Jack The Stripper /Fairies Wear Boots
Black Sabbath
Ozzy Osbourne: vocals
Tony Iommi: guitar, flute on “Planet Caravan”
Geezer Butler: bass guitar
Bill Ward: drums, congas on “Planet Caravan”
Additional personnel
Tom Allom: engineering, piano on “Planet Caravan”
Rodger Bain: production
Brian Humphries: engineering
Marcus Keef: graphic design, photography
