Paranoid (song)

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“Paranoid”
The 1972 re-release cover
Single by Black Sabbath from the album Paranoid
A-side	Paranoid
B-side	The Wizard Snowblind
Released	1970
Format	45 RPM
Recorded	1970
Genre	Heavy metal
Length	2:52
Label	Vertigo
Writer(s)	Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward
Black Sabbath singles chronology
"The Wizard" (1970) "Paranoid" (1970) "Iron Man" (1970)

"Paranoid" is a song by Black Sabbath that appears on the band's breakthrough album Paranoid. Supposedly, the members of Black Sabbath put together this song in 15 minutes based on a solo by Tony Iommi. This song was only meant to be a "filler", but became one of Black Sabbath's most well known songs: the band members were sent back to the studio to record one more song because the record company deemed the album was too short, and planned to quickly record a filler song, but eventually wrote and recorded a classic. The record company changed the album's name from War Pigs, as it was originally intended, to Paranoid out of fear of a backlash from supporters of the Vietnam War.

"Paranoid" is uncharacteristically fast and simple for a Black Sabbath song, and is one of the most-covered songs of all time. Unlike most of the band's songs, "Paranoid" was short enough (just under 3 minutes) to be released as a single, as well as to receive airplay on mainstream radio. The single, with "The Wizard " on the B-side, was released in the UK in July 1970 and it reached the number 4.

Lead singer Ozzy Osbourne has continued to play this song as a solo artist and did a version live with Randy Rhoads, which was released on the live album Tribute and the complition album The Essential Ozzy Osbourne.

"Paranoid" was ranked #34 on VH1's 40 Greatest Metal Songs ^[1]. In March 2005, Q magazine placed it at number 11 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. Rolling Stone ranked it #250 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Paranoid was ranked #1 in Martin Popoff book "The Top 500 Heavy Metal Songs of All Time". Popoff put together this book by requesting thousands of metal fans, musicians, and journalists to send in their favourite heavy metal songs. Almost 18,000 individual votes were tallied and entered into a database from which the final rankings were derived. ^[2].

[edit] In pop culture

• "Paranoid" is heard in the movies Dogtown and Z-Boys, We Are Marshall, Almost Famous, Sid and Nancy, and Dazed and Confused. The song was also included in the soundtrack for Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 (the live version from Tribute) and used as background music in the game Rock N' Roll Racing, as an instrumental due to programming limitations. The song is featured as a playable track in the video games GuitarFreaks, Rock Band and Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.

• "Paranoid" is heard playing in the Supernatural episode "Phantom Traveler" as Sam Winchester and Dean Winchester are coming out of a men's suit store, and continues as they impersonate Homeland Security agents.

• "Soittakaa Paranoid!" ("Play Paranoid!") is the Finnish equivalent to requests for "Free Bird". Juho Juntunen, editor of Finnish rock magazine Soundi, used to humorously shout the phrase from the audience in various gigs. This manner spread widely and it's now common to hear someone shout "Soittakaa Paranoid!" in any gig in Finland, even if they do not know where the joke originated, or have never heard the song.

• A cover version of "Paranoid" was also recorded by a Polish band Piersi. Even though the music is the same as in the original version, the lyrics have been completely altered - this version is a sarcastic anecdote about a young man racing on his motorcycle to meet up with his girlfriend, who lives in a nearby village, but suffering eventually a road accident. The cover version ends with an extract from another Black Sabbath song War Pigs (also with altered lyrics)

• A slow, acoustic version by Gus Black is heard in episode 6 of season 1 of "Californication (TV series)". It is used when Hank Moody and the nameless girl are listening to Hank's vinyl records.

[edit] Cover versions

• The Dickies (1979)
• Megadeth have covered Paranoid for the tribute album Nativity in Black. The song also appeared on Megadeth's Hidden Treasures album, in which cover versions and tracks from movie soundtracks were included.
• Type O Negative covered the song for the re-release of their faux live album The Origin of the Feces.
• Eighth Deadly Sin covered the song for their first EP Darker Than Black
• Mötley Crüe
• Mystic Prophecy covered the song on their album Satanic Curses
• Sopor Aeternus
• Silverchair
• 3rd Strike
• Steel Pole Bath Tub, on their Lurch EP
• Quo Vadis
• Rage
• Ruder Than You covered the song in a ska version for their 'Horny For Ska' album.
• Queens of the Stone Age
• Master (Russian band)
• Big Country
• KoRn The song has been confirmed for their upcoming cover album Korn Kovers
• The Resin
• Rekuiem
• Gus Black
• Pantera
• Cindy und Bert German version
• Auf der Maur

[edit] Notes