One of The Greatest Heavy Metal Albums is 50 Today

 

Exactly fifty years ago today, Black Sabbath released their second album, Paranoid, which despite rogue ciritical reaction, is considered to be one of the albums that contributed to the birth of heavy metal.

They wasted no time

At the beginning of summer 1970, Sabbath's original lineup - singer Ozzy Osboure, guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward, and bass player Geezer Butler, hooked back up with producer Roger Bain in an attempt to build on the success of their self-titled debut released earlier in the year. 

The album was to be issued under the working title of War Pigs, after the opening track which was critical of the Vietnam war, but Warner Bros. insisted on changing it last minute to the follow-up track title, possibly to avoid suggestions of violence. Interestingly folks, the US version did not drop until early 1971, as Black Sabbath, released four months before they started working on Paranoid, was still on the charts.

Bad critics, good album

Like their debut, Paranoid was largely shunned and dismissed by critics. Even so, three decades later, Steve Huey of AllMusic called it one of the greatest rock albums of all time. 

Paranoid sold 4 million copies just in the US, and by spring of 1971, was two notches shy of the Top 10 there. However, on Sabbath's side of the Atlantic, the LP topped the charts in the UK a month into its release, and until their 2013 album, would be the last one to do so.

An early peak?

It may be said that Paranoid is considered to be an "early peak album" for the band. Normally, the average rock band of the day generally hits their pinnacle several records into their career. But as for Sabbath, the title cut became their one and only top-10 hit (#4, UK). 

Interestingly, the title track stemmed from a "random riff" Iommi played on the guitar, as according to Iomi, there wasn't enough content for the album. Butler followed up on his bass, Ward on the drums, and Ozzy came up with lyrics, which was ironic as Butler was the band's lead lyricist. 

They toured the US

As a result of Paranoid's success, Sabbath began touring the opposite side of the Atlantic that fall. Their first gig was at Ungano's Club in NYC on November 1, 1970. This eventually led to the band recording their next few albums in Los Angeles, in particular 1972's Volume 4.

The legacy remains...

After the success of Paranoid, many of its tracks get frequent play on classic/mainstream rock radio. War Pigs and Paranoid have opened and closed many shows respectively, and Iron Man and Fairies Wear Boots are now both live and radio staples. Many of the songs have made the cut in Ozzy's solo setlists as well. That's incredible, if you can imagine that upon initial release, the album did as well as it did with hardly any radio play whatsoever!

Unfortunately, after the success of Paranoid, Sabbath were unable to top it. They began depending on drugs, and by the end of the decade, Ozzy was let go, and so launched his solo career.  

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