麻豆约拍

These days regarded as a paragon of what a 鈥榟eavy metal鈥� song should do, Sabbath鈥檚 hit single from their second album (yes, it got to number four in the UK charts in 1970) may have been popular amongst the fans, but fell foul of critics of the time. Robert Christgau of The Village Voice famously described the parent album of the same name thus: 鈥淭hey do take heavy to undreamt-of extremes, and I suppose I could enjoy them as camp, like a horror movie - the title cut is definitely screamworthy.鈥�

While arguments rage about who produced the first example of heavy metal (experts seem to vacillate between The Kinks鈥� 鈥榊ou Really Got Me鈥�, Iron Butterfly or Blue Cheer) Black Sabbath certainly spring to mind as prime exponents of the genre in its fully fledged power chord-churning, monolithic majesty.

Their first self-titled album had laid the bludgeoning template for everything to follow: Lyrics dealing with insanity and Satanism by bass player Terence 鈥楪eezer鈥� Butler; powerhouse drumming by Bill Ward and the dark riffs of Tony Iommi, all topped off by Ozzy鈥檚 wailing. 鈥楶aranoid鈥� has all these trademarks, only turned up to 11.

Recorded as a last minute addition to the album due to a lack of new material, 鈥楶aranoid鈥� eventually became the album鈥檚 title, replacing the originally mooted 鈥榃ar Pigs鈥�: hence the strange porcine-faced man in a crash helmet and pink leggings wielding a scimitar on the cover. Its simple chugging riff drives a lyric that never once actually mentions the word 鈥榩aranoid鈥�, although they certainly do sum up the state of mind. Guitarist Iommi once famously said that both he and Osbourne had no idea what the word even meant at that time.

No matter: for 鈥楶aranoid鈥� remains the place when the UK were properly introduced to a genre that may have oft been ridiculed, but has proven to be more resilient than just about any other that鈥檚 been in the charts. Just like the band that spawned it鈥�