7 January 2026
Metal pioneers BLACK SABBATH released their 2nd LP, titled
PARANOID in the US, this day 55 years ago, on 7 January 1971.
The longplayer was originally titled War Pigs, but the record company allegedly
changed it out of fear of a backlash from supporters of the ongoing Vietnam War.
The front cover, with the original title in mind, was designed and shot by Keith McMillan
in Black Park, Buckinghamshire. His assistant, Roger Brown, was the weirdo with the sword. It was a choice by Vertigo Records with the potential visual and commercial impact in mind, and was designed by Tony Iommi.
Ozzy: “What the fuck does a bloke dressed as a pig with a sword in his hand
got to do with being paranoid, I don’t know, but they decided to change the
album title without changing the artwork.”
It featured 3 of their epic hammers, Paranoid,
War Pigs (highly relevant again) and Iron Man.
The LP peaked at #4 in the UK and hit the top spot in the US.
Rolling Stone Magazine said in a retrospective review: “Sabbath ruled for bummed-out
kids in the Seventies, and nearly every heavy-metal and extreme rock band of the last three decades, including Metallica, Nirvana and Slipknot, owes a debt of worship to Iommi’s crushing” guitar riffs, Ward and Butler’s visigoth rhythm section and Osbourne’s agonized bray.”
TITLE TRACK
More than 1,542 billion
streams on Spotify.
Geezer Butler: “‘Paranoid’ was about depression, because I didn’t really know the difference between depression and paranoia. It’s a drug thing; when you’re smoking a joint you get totally paranoid about people, you can’t relate to people. There’s that crossover between the paranoia you get when you’re smoking dope and the depression afterwards.”
ALBUM