Listen. Black Sabbath is the most influential band on this planet. I’ve said it. They changed the world with their unique, dark, heavy, and groovy sound. We call that sound, the sound of Metal. With that said, let’s dive into 10 of their greatest hits:
Best Black Sabbath Songs
10. “Sweet Leaf”
Black Sabbath didn’t just create Heavy Metal, which is certain when you put “Sweet Leaf” on. As the title suggests, the song is a ‘heartfelt’ tribute to cannabis by Ozzy. Even if you may not smoke, that smooth cool riff will make you want to roll a joint and just chill-out.
9. “Symptoms of the Universe”
“Symptoms of the Universe” may just be one of the first Thrash Metal songs ever. It’s fast, it has harsh vocals, blistering solos, the relentless pounding of the drums, and a thunderous galloping bassline. If you haven’t heard it, you better hear it in full. The ending is pretty interesting. It suddenly turns mellow bringing a smooth, funky, and jazzy sound.
8. “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath”
There’s no second guessing why Black Sabbath are the founders of Metal. Just put this song on. The song structure is so unique for its time. Ozzy shines in this track. It’s also one of the first stoner, doom metal tracks.
7. “Changes”
A beautiful ballad, “Changes”, shows a different side of the band. It’s strangely very simple yet very powerful. It truly does move you when Ozzy sings the main chorus. The song is quite layered which makes it very ambient. There’s a constant haunting sound of strings in the back, a mellow piano plays the same notes on the side, and you can even hear eerie back vocals deep beneath the instruments.
6. “Black Sabbath”
Wow! This song is really scary. It is dark, and its true horror is packaged in a beautiful yet sinister sound that’s unique to Black Sabbath. To this day, no other song can recreate such an eerie feeling of gloom and doom as this song can. Fun fact, this song came about when Geezer Butler, the bassist, had a supernatural encounter with a dark figure.
5. “Children of the Grave”
Do you want to summon the devil? Play this. It’s one of those first songs that gave hints to what Metal can be. The song, and especially the main riff is so heavy, so sinister, and so well produced, that it’s unbelievable how good it sounds when it was released. And that was 1971!
4. “Paranoid”
Paranoid is probably the song that pops into anyone’s mind when people talk about Black Sabbath. It’s a song that made them famous back in the day. And still today, many discover Black Sabbath through this song. It’s short, catchy, and everything that classic metal sounds like.
3. N.I.B.
N.I.B. has such a nice groovy riff, it’s a nice ‘feel good’ song. It has an iconic bassline, amazing vocals, signature Tony Iommi sound, and of course great drumming. It sounds kind of bluesy, but it is not. You can tell how different it sounds from anything from that time.
2. “Iron Man”
How much more iconic can this riff be? It’s so menacing, even with the technology they had back then, it sounds heavy as hell and darker than the darkest shade of black. The song takes you in right from the start. As you hear Ozzy howl, you want to know who this “Iron Man” really is? You can feel what the Iron Man feels through the riffs, the crazy solo, and the greatest outro ever.
1. “War Pigs”
Do you want goosebumps? Listen to this. With anti-war lyrics, seamless yet unpredictable transitions, passionate vocals, divine solos, and an instrumental section to die for, it has everything that Metal stands for.
“Black Sabbath @ MSG Madison Square Garden 1977” by Whiskeygonebad is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.