The key to the enduring appeal of Black Sabbath’s career-making second album, September 1970’s Paranoid, doesn’t only reside within its fist-pumping, headbanging, metal-genre-establishing bonafides. Actually, the secret sauce can be found via something you may not have even considered—Black Sabbath’s inherent sense of melody. And where might that come from, you ask? Two words—The Beatles.
“I wanted to be in The Beatles,” Sabbath vocalist Ozzy Osbourne told me during our in-person interview a decade ago. “They had great harmonies and great melodies, and I always got a great feeling listening to is quite bloody good indeed. In fact, if you listen closely, you’ll find Ozzy’s vocal approach to the verses on “Paranoid” is a direct descendent of the way Paul McCartney attacks the verses on The Beatles’ “Get Back.” (Help me with my mind, Loretta…)
