Black Sabbath's 'Paranoid': Lesser-known facts about the iconic album

50 years ago, in 1970, iconic rock 70s rock group Black Sabbath released their album, Paranoid, which revolutionized hard rock and heavy metal. They were among the first group of artists to explore the heavy metal genre in music. Take a look at some of the lesser-known facts about this iconic album that remains etched in every fan's memory:

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Lesser-known facts about Black Sabbath's Paranoid

 

Title track was written post the album

Black Sabbath had finished writing and composing for their second album within 4 months after releasing their first in February 1970. After they took it to the record label, they were told to write another song. Just to get done with the album, the band came up with Paranoid. Although written as a song just to complete the album, Paranoid is the most famous and acclaimed song from the album. It made to number 4 on UK Top 20 hits chart.

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Paranoid's similarity with Led Zeppelin’s Communication Breakdown

Back then, it was a common thing for bands that played in clubs to rip-off from other’s songs and/or music. So, when the band had to write another song in haste, they picked up from Led Zeppelin’s Communication Breakdown. The notes don’t completely match each other, but the similarities are evident.

Only name of album changed, and not the artwork

The name of the album was reportedly changed from War Pigs to Paranoid as the band had doubts that it might lead to negative reviews as there was the Vietnam War that was going on back then. However, Ozzy Osbourne later mentioned in his book that the change was made because the band had a feeling that Paranoid will garner positive reviews. However, the fact remains that the artwork remained unchanged.

 

Paranoid is the only song to be in the UK Top 10 charts

Paranoid was a song written just as an obligation as the band wanted to launch their second album. The band now has a massive fan-following and are considered pioneers of heavy metal now but weren’t thriving back then. They only had a certain group of followers. However, this did not stop the album’s title track from being liked by the audiences, and it reached Number 4 in the UK Top 10 charts.

Rat Salad-Van Halen connection

Van Halen rose to fame in 1978, prior to this the band used to perform at clubs. They sang covers of songs by other bands and Black Sabbath was one band whose songs they performed a lot. Now named Van Halen after their lead guitarist Eddie Van Halen, the band earlier considered calling themselves Rat Salad which was the 7th song of the album Paranoid.

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