“I thought it was too pop. I rebelled against it”: How Ozzy Osbourne learned to love a song that was written and recorded in one hour and ended up becoming Black Sabbath’s biggest hit

If there is one album, above all others, which defines heavy metal, it is Paranoid, Black Sabbath’s masterpiece.

The colossal power in classic songs such as War Pigs, Iron Man and the title track was the template for generations of heavy bands to follow.

It was also the album that confirmed Sabbath as major stars, hitting No.1 in the UK and No.12 in the US.

Paranoid was released in 1970 just seven months after the band’s self-titled debut.

The whole album was completed within four days, according to guitarist Tony Iommi. And it was at the very last moment that the title track was written and recorded, after producer Rodger Bain insisted that the album needed one more song.

Iommi wrote the speedy, fuzz-toned riff. Bassist Geezer Butler already had a rough draft of lyrics and the title. And once singer Ozzy Osbourne had worked out a vocal melody, the song was complete. Written and recorded within an hour, it is the essence of Black Sabbath distilled into less than three minutes.

At first, Ozzy disliked the song. As he later explained: “I thought it was too pop. I rebelled against it.”

Despite the singer’s protests, Paranoid was issued as a single on July 17, 1970 – two months ahead of the album.

By August, it had reached No.4 on the UK chart.

In the wake of this success, the album – originally titled War Pigs – was hastily renamed Paranoid. But there was no time to change the album artwork, a somewhat bizarre visual interpretation of War Pigs, featuring a blurry, wild-eyed warrior figure in a motorcycle crash helmet, brandishing a sword and shield.

Paranoid is an album full of bad vibes. War Pigs is the thunderous opening salvo, a furious anti-war tirade that resonated powerfully at a time when the US was still embroiled in the Vietnam conflict. There is also an echo of Vietnam in Butler’s lyrics for the heroin blues Hand Of Doom, while Iron Man is a sci-fi horror fantasy, beginning with Iommi bending notes to fearsome effect before a leaden riff kicks in.

There is a brief moment of calm in Planet Caravan, a tale of astral travel with a trippy, spaced-out ambience. There is also a touch of humour in the album’s final track, Fairies Wear Boots, a heavy number named in reference to a gang of skinheads with whom the band had a punch-up during a British tour.

Black Sabbath - Fairies Wear Boots (HQ) - YouTube

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But on an album in which the central themes are death, destruction and insanity, Black Sabbath laid down a marker as the heaviest band on Earth.

Paranoid is arguably the most influential heavy metal album of them all.

In its dark power are the roots of bands such as Judas Priest and Slayer, and various sub-genres including black metal, doom, and stoner rock.

Two of the most significant bands of later years covered songs from this album – Faith No More with War Pigs, Pantera with Planet Caravan.

As for the song that Ozzy originally dismissed as “too pop”, he has sung it ever since, with Sabbath and without. As he said: “I couldn’t go onstage and not do Paranoid.”