Black Sabbath - Paranoid (Warner Bros.)

It all had to begin somewhere. There is little dispute (at least for most critics with any semblance of taste and reason), the epicenter, the meat, the very lifeforce of the metal phenomenon was created and honed by the almighty Black Sabbath. The effect that they had on the metal world was so profound, it could never be duplicated again is so meaningful a way. They forged steel, to drop an adequate pun. This Birmingham, England quartet began their career as a fledgling blues band on the English pub circuit called Earth. At this particular point in rock history, with the success of nearby Liverpudlian native The Beatles, rock music was a hot commodity in this area, and the music/drug culture relied heavily upon the rock/pop sensibilities secreted by the 60's. This manifested itself mainly in the form of the Blues. But, my friends, times MUST and always do change. The world was introduced to the thunder and mayhem that was Black Sabbath in the early stages of 1970 with their debut, self titled release on Warner Brothers Records. This album gained rave critical reviews, but was largely ignored by an American audience. It was the 1971 release Paranoid that made America's disillusioned youth realize that something special was happening in England again. Comprised of John "Ozzy" Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Terry "Geezer" Butler, and Bill Ward, the music world was forever changed to the tune of dark tidings and warnings against the blacker side of nature. Every track within this album's confines definitely stands the test of time. The production values are as one would expect from this era, but the content transcends the analog mishmash. The lyrical prose left the parent's of fans careening toward the nearest church. had these people paid closer attention, the ideas behind the words are very honest and warning. Tracks like the nuclear fueled Electric Funeral and War Pigs, to the drug-addled insanity of Fairies Wear Boots, to the soft and haunting Planet Caravan proves that Sabbath was a two-sided insanity/tenderness coin. Covering enormous ground on one LP, of drugs, war, and the occult, it is plain to see why Black Sabbath are the true innovators, and inventors, of modern metal, and none can lay claim to it.



- C. Kolakowski