In a new radio interview, Ozzy Osbourne revealed his metal anthem.
When asked to choose Black Sabbath’s breakthrough single, he said:
“I think it has to be ‘Paranoid’ from Black Sabbath. I still play that song live on stage, I end the show with it… I just call it my anthem.
“I went to school with Tony Iommi from Black Sabbath; I wasn’t friendly with him in school, though we became mates. Black Sabbath is a band with local guys that had a dream, and it all came true.
“I remember when Roger Bain, the producer [of ‘Paranoid], said, ‘Just jam something out, we need it to finish the album.’ We just jammed and ‘Paranoid’ came out, and it was a hit single.
“People would say, ‘That ‘Paranoid’ is great, it’s gonna be huge.’ When you’re in the bubble looking out, it’s a completely different view than from outside the bubble looking in. I mean, I’d become in my own way a Beatle, you know?
“When I met Paul McCartney, I couldn’t believe it. I would do a thing on a TV show, my wife and I and the kids, and he was on the show, and I said to Sharon, ‘Alright Sharon, did you ever think that you would be standing on the same stage as Paul McCartney?’, and she was just, like, ‘Wow.’
“It’s a simple song with an effective rhythm. It’s got its own color, it’s got its own vibe. I like to think that people in the years to come will still get enjoyment out of it.
“Every now and then you get a song from nowhere, it’s a gift – that was one of them songs that came out of nowhere, the biggest hit earlier on. It was the first time that I had a Top 10 single, apart from ‘Changes’ with my daughter Kelly.
“It’s one of those songs, it stands around the time. And I hope people in the future get as much enjoyment as people now get it.
“When I first departed from Sabbath [in the late ’70s], I said, ‘I’m not gonna do any more Sabbath.’ And then the kids were going, ‘We want to hear this one, ‘Iron Man,’ ‘War Pigs,’ ‘Paranoid’…’
“And then I thought, ‘Why not?’. Every night, I’ll do that song somewhere in my show. It’s one of those songs that I can’t get away from, it’s still as much fun to play now as it was back then. It’s a good song.”