Writers: Black Sabbath
Producer: Roger Bain
Recorded: Spring 1970 in London, England
Released: Fall 1970
| Players: | Ozzy Osbourne – vocals Tony Iommi — guitar Geezer Butler — bass Bill Ward — drums |
| Album: | Paranoid /i> (Warner Bros., 1970) |
One of the most enduring tracks from Black Sabbath' s second album, “War Pigs” is, in fact, an anti-war song that over a gloomy, dense wall of sound paints a vivid picture of the carnage of war and criticizes politicians and military officials for perpetuating conflicts for their own benefit.
“War Pigs” was supposed to be the title track of the Paranoid album, but Warner Brothers executives in the U.S. felt that the title might be a liability in the midst of the Vietnam War, though they decided to keep the original cover art of a blurred, sword-waving warrior.
The Paranoid album has sold more than four million copies.
The album hit Number 12 on the Billboard 200, while it topped the U.K. charts — a remarkable feat given a lack of airplay for any of the album' s songs.
One of the great Black Sabbath myths to surface around the time Paranoid was released is that a chief witch named Alex Saunders placed a spell on the band that protected it as long as the musicians wore crucifixes. This was supposedly to counter a curse the group suffered when it turned down an offer to play at Stonehenge.
