Album of the Day

Black Sabbath's emergence from Birmingham, England, at the end of the 1960s made the demise of that decade's utopian outlook deafeningly clear. With their second album, 1970's PARANOID, the quartet tackled such cheery topics as nuclear war (“Electric Funeral”), drug-addicted soldiers (“Hand Of Doom”) and violent skinheads (“Fairies Wear Boots”). The music was as powerful as the lyrics, with Tony Iommi's crunching riffs, Ozzy Osbourne's banshee wail and the driving rhythms of bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward truly hitting their stride. Despite minimal airplay, the collection topped the U.K. chart and turned “Iron Man,” “War Pigs” and the title track into signature songs for Sabbath. PARANOID was released in the U.S. 45 years ago today, and it remains one of the all-time great heavy metal albums.