Black Sabbath’s ‘Paranoid’: See Ozzy Osbourne, New Vocalists Perform

The original Black Sabbath were at the peak of their powers when they played L’Olympia Bruno Coquatrix in Paris on Dec. 20, 1970, just three months after the Paranoid album dropped, and a professional camera crew captured the magic for all time. This is before oceans of cocaine, booze, and money began slowly ripping the band to pieces. They’d play “Paranoid” hundreds and hundreds of times after this night, but it never sounded quite as vital.

Losing a singer as iconic as Ozzy Osbourne should have been a deathblow to Black Sabbath. But they quickly recruited former Rainbow frontman Ronnie James Dio, cut a spectacular new album, Heaven and Hell, and hit the road. As you can see from this video, Dio brings a very different energy to “Paranoid” that’s more theatrical than Ozzy’s approach. But out of all the post-Ozzy singers, there’s no doubt that Dio was the best. And for a few months in 1980, it seemed like they were going to be the victors in the split with Ozzy. And then Blizzard of Ozz dropped.

When Dio quit Black Sabbath in 1982, the remaining members brought Deep Purple’s Ian Gillan into the fold for the ill-fated Born Again album and tour. The conventional wisdom that their travails during this time, including an oversized Stonehenge stage prop, inspired Spinal Tap simply aren’t true. The movie was well into production when all this happened. But that doesn’t mean this period wasn’t a complete mess for Sabbath. That said, Gillan brought his “Highway Star” banshee wail to “Paranoid,” and it worked out pretty well. But it was very short-lived. Deep Purple reformed the foliowing year, and Sabbath were once again in need of a new singer.

In 1973, Deep Purple hired singer-bassist Glenn Hughes to replace Ian Gillan. And 12 years later, “Black Sabbath” did the same thing. We put their name in quotes since this was essentially a Tony Iommi solo project that his record label pressured him into calling Black Sabbath. The lone LP from the Hughes era is 1986’s Seventh Star. When they toured, they did plenty of Ozzy-era songs, including, of course, “Paranoid.”

After spending much of the 1980s hiring established singers to front Black Sabbath, only to watch them leave the band within a year or two, Tony Iommi decided to hire Tony Martin, a relative unknown, for 1987’s The Eternal Idol. This was a smart long-term play since Martin remained extremely loyal, and was even willing to return to the band in 1993 after they sacked him for a couple of years in order to briefly reunite with Ronnie James Dio. Martin is a vocal powerhouse, and he gave the oldies his best every single night, but this was Sabbath at their absolute nadir as a creative force. They largely played clubs during his tenure. Still, a vocal minority of Sabbath fans love the Martin era since they released a ton of original music. After he left for the second and last time in 1995, they basically became a heritage band with Ozzy.

On Sept. 3, 1980, while Black Sabbath were traveling from Hawaii to Florida for a show at the Lakeland Civic Center, a group billed as the Law played a big at the Norbreck Castle Hotel in Blackpool, England. This was the public unveiling of Ozzy’s new solo group Blizzard of Ozz, with ace guitarist Randy Rhoads. Their seven-song set began with new solo tunes like “Crazy Train” and “Suicide Solution,” and wrapped up with a trio of Sabbath classics, including “Paranoid.” It was the beginning of a war between Ozzy and his former bandmates that the singer would very quickly win.

The partnership between Ozzy and Rhoads yielded many of the biggest hits of Ozzy’s solo career, and they became incredibly tight friends while recording 1980’s Blizzard of Ozz, 1981’s Diary of a Madman, and touring heavily behind them both. But on March 19, 1982, Rhoads died in a plane crash while attempting to buzz the top of Ozzy’s tour bus. Despite the near-blinding grief Ozzy was suffering, he agreed to keep the tour going just a couple of weeks later. Irish guitarist Bernie Tormé was brought onboard to fill the void, but lasted only a matter of weeks. In that brief window of time, they played Madison Square Garden. A shoddy audience tape from that night is the best record of Tormé’s time in the band.

When things didn’t work out with Tormé, Ozzy brought Night Ranger’s Brad Gillis into the group. He was a better fit than the bluesier Tormé, but Ozzy was drinking heavily to numb the pain of Rhoads’ sudden death. This sparked many conflicts between himself and Gillis, and the guitarist returned to Night Ranger when the tour wrapped. But during his time with Ozzy, they recorded the quickie live album Speak of the Devil, consisting purely of Black Sabbath covers. This was put together to compete with Sabbath’s own concert LP, Live Evil, and generate publishing royalties. The album remains a polarizing release, but it’s a chance to hear Gillis put his spin on “Paranoid.”

Ozzy finally found a stable replacement for Rhoads when he hired Jake E. Lee over Dokken’s George Lynch at the start of the Bark at the Moon sessions. He remained in the mix throughout the Bark at the Moon and The Ultimate Sin album/tour cycles. They didn’t play many Sabbath songs during this period, partially because their young fans were more familiar with the recent material, but every night closed out with “Paranoid.”

Zakk Wylde was just 20 years old when he heard that Ozzy needed a new guitarist while listening to him on Howard Stern. Through a connection to photographer Mark Weiss, Wylde landed an audition, and was hired for the No Rest for the Wicked album and tour. It was the start of a three-decade partnership that yielded some of Ozzy’s greatest solo work, including “No More Tears” and “Mama, I’m Coming Home.” When Ozzy played his solo set at Back to the Beginning, Wylde was the guitarist by his side. But there were long gaps in the 1990s and 2000s where Ozzy worked with other lead guitarists.

Ozzy launched the No More Tours farewell tour in 1992, but few people were surprised when he kicked off the Retirement Sucks tour just three years later. They were surprised, however, that Wylde wasn’t a part of it. Taking his place was former David Lee Roth and Lizzy Borden guitarist Joe Holmes. He stuck around through the early years of Ozzfest and into the 2000s, but was let go in 2001 to make way for the return of Zakk Wylde.

Just when it seemed like Wylde had the Ozzy job for life, he was dismissed yet again in 2009. This time around, he was replaced by Greek guitarist Konstantinos Karamitroudis, otherwise known as Gus G. He did a stellar job recreating parts originated by Tony Iommi, Randy Rhoads, and Zakk Wylde, but few hardcore Ozzy fans embraced him. They mostly yearned for the return of Zakk. And in 2017, that’s exactly what they got when he was hired for a third stint.