Black Sabbath: Paranoid [RHINO]

Why you'll love it

Paranoid went to No. 1 in the U.K. and became the blueprint for pretty much every heavy metal band that followed. "War Pigs," "Iron Man" and "Paranoid" are all on one record, which is frankly unfair to everybody else.

This edition

• Rhino pressing of the original 1970 album
• Original eight-song running order

About the album

Black Sabbath started work on its second album, Paranoid, just four months after its eponymous debut came out in February of 1970 and ... well ... you wanna talk "momentum"?

Paranoid, which followed that September, might have actually managed to one-up the band's own classic debut, instantly contributing as it did a host of permanent entries to the metal canon: "War Pigs," "Iron Man," "Fairies Wear Boots" and, of course, "Paranoid" itself. Which, according to bassist Geezer Butler, was written at the 11th hour to pad out the track listing: "in five minutes, then I sat down and wrote the lyrics as quickly as I could. It was all done in about two hours." That's catching lightning in a bottle, right there.

Also at Kops: more Black Sabbath on vinyl · browse Metal

Tracklist

Listen

On Rhino, a reissue of the 1970 album.