Black Sabbath – Paranoid – 1970
Metal. Heavy Metal. Just what is it?
I could go on some kind of descriptive bender. I could vomit adjectives till you and I are sick of reading them and writing them.
Or.
You could just pick up Paranoid and listen to the seven minute opening opus, “War Pigs” to get exactly what HEAVY METAL is.
It’s a kind of horror show in minor keys. It’s the voice of the people, if the people are sequestered in a dungeon and have no ability to speak for themselves. It’s a wail and cry. It’s a brick wrapped in a wet towel soaked in gin and pummeled into your head.
Listen that epic build toward the end of “War Pigs”. 15 years later that would be augmented by strings and keyboards and massive overproduction. Without it, it’s just as powerful but even more stark and terrifying.
In the hands of Iommi, their “hit single”, the title track, would be the very basis for everything The Ramones would do in just a few years.
And what can be said of “Iron Man”? If there was ever a song built around one great riff, it’s that. It holds up 40 years later, so much so that it sounded fresh in the Robert Downey Jr movie just a few years ago.
The first time you listen to Paranoid you might feel a little let down toward the end. This is, I assure you, only because the first half of it has become part of the musical lexicon that you, like me, might feel like the rest is too familiar. Listen again. THen I think you’ll get past the Spinal Tappiness of the record. (Man, in retrospect, they really ruined 70s metal.)
Grade: A
ASIde: War Pigs, Paranoid, iron Man
BlindSide: Fairies Wear Boots
