In his book Iron Man: My Journey Through Heaven And Hell With Black Sabbath, Tony Iommi confirmed the story, saying that he and Ozzy probably had no idea what the word ‘paranoid’ meant at that time: they left the lyrics to bassist Geezer Butler, considered the ‘intelligent one’ in the group.įor his part, Butler told Guitar World magazine in 2004, ‘A lot of the Paranoid album was written around the time of our first album, Black Sabbath. Rumour has it that, after recording his vocals for Paranoid, frontman Ozzy Osbourne turned to his bandmates in Black Sabbath and said: ‘What the fuck does ‘Paranoid’ mean?’ Still, Ozzy’s vocal track was the perfect counterpart to what has become one of heavy metal’s most identifiable riffs.
In addition, the last few seconds of the track feature the sound of the tape speeding up, changing tempo and pitch.įollowing War Pigs is the mighty title track, still ranked as one of the greatest heavy metal songs of all time, bringing Sabbath to the singles charts, peaking at #4 in the UK, #1 in Germany and, despite very little airplay in the US, reaching #61 on the Billboard Chart. The outro of War Pigs, whose title, lyrics, and theme were subsequently changed during the recording of Paranoid, has its own name, Luke’s Wall (named in homage to the band’s two-man road crew, Geoff ‘Luke’ Lucas and Spock Wall) and features a more melodic tone than the rest of the song. The original title of the new Sabbath album’s opener War Pigs, was Walpurgis, according to drummer, Bill Ward, whose memory was of first working on the song at The Beat Club in Switzerland in 1968, backed up by Tony Iommi, who said that the song first originated as a jam session. As well as working with the band on their debut, Bain also produced Welsh trio Budgie’s first two albums, as well as Judas Priest’s debut disc. In June 1970, Sabbath reunited with producer Rodger Bain at Regent Sound Studios and Island Studios, London to record sessions for their second album. Butler told Osbourne about the dream and together they wrote the lyrics to Black Sabbath, one of their first songs in a darker vein. While recording their first album in a castle, Geezer Butler read an occult book and had a dream of a dark figure at the end of his bed. The band had noticed how people enjoyed being frightened, and, inspired, Iommi and his partners decided to play a heavy blues style of music laced with gloomy sounds and lyrics. They finally chose the name Black Sabbath in early 1969, based on a film directed by Mario Bava and starring Boris Karloff, best remembered for his roles in horror films and his portrayal of Frankenstein’s monster in Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein and Son of Frankenstein. They renamed themselves Earth, but after being booked in error instead of a small-time English circuit band with the same name, they decided to change their name again. The new group was initially named The Polka Tulk Blues Band, after a cheap brand of talcum powder Osbourne saw in his mother’s bathroom. The two enlisted Geezer Butler (who switched to bass, having been playing rhythm guitar) and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, after Osbourne placed an advertisement in a local music shop: ‘Ozzy Zig Needs Gig – has own PA’.
(On his last day of work in a sheet metal factory, he lost the tips of the middle and ring finger of his right hand).
Iommi, who had picked up the guitar as a teenager after being inspired by the likes of Hank Marvin and The Shadows, was forced to play guitar left-handed after an industrial accident at the age of 17. In 1968, following the break-up of their previous band, guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward set about to form a heavy blues rock band in Aston, Birmingham. It wasn’t the best start to a musical career for the future ‘Godfather of Heavy Metal’.
However, in late 1967, the 18-year old Osbourne formed, with guitarist Terry ‘Geezer’ Butler, his first band Rare Breed, who played two shows then promptly broke up. Yes, before Sharon, MTV and Ozzfest, John Michael ‘Ozzy’ Osbourne had a succession of jobs in the dark and depressing industrial English Midlands, including working at the Lucas car factory where the only music he made was tuning car horns.
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