Fifty-five years ago today, the album Rolling Stone would later rank the “Greatest Metal Album of All Time” officially entered the Billboard 200.
On February 20, 1971, Black Sabbath’s landmark LP Paranoid debuted on the U.S. albums chart at No. 25—the beginning of what would become one of the most influential runs in heavy music history.
In 2017, Rolling Stone placed Paranoid at No. 1 on its list of the “100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time,” cementing its reputation as metal’s foundational blueprint.
“It’s impossible to imagine what heavy metal would have become without the iconic gloomy riff of ‘Iron Man,’ the musical thickness of ‘War Pigs’ and the rapid-fire chugging of ‘Paranoid,” wrote the music magazine’s Kory Grow.
“Paranoid is important because it’s the blueprint for metal,” Rob Halford said in the liner notes for a 2016 reissue of the album. “It led the world into a new sound and scene.”
From the first track to the last, Ozzy Osbourne’s cutting voice tackled themes that would define generations of metal to come: imminent doom, nuclear war, brutality, disillusionment and societal decay.
According to the band, much of the album’s sound was forged during relentless early touring in Hamburg and Zürich, where they stretched songs into extended improvisations. The ominous riff that became “War Pigs” evolved from live jams, and drummer Bill Ward’s solo showcase “Rat Salad” sometimes stretched to 45 minutes.
Ironically, the title track “Paranoid” was written at the last minute simply to fill out an album side. Yet it became one of the band’s biggest hits and one of metal’s most enduring anthems.
Originally intended to be titled War Pigs, the album’s name was changed by the label, though the now-famous cover art remained untouched.
Paranoid would go on to reach No. 1 in the UK and influence generations of bands, from Metallica to Pantera. As Rolling Stone concluded, the album became metal’s call to arms and its echo still reverberates more than five decades later.
