VH1 was re-broadcasting the UK Music Hall Of Fame Sunday night and the Soulfish wife starting watching it when she noticed some old footage of The Kinks. Soon I joined her and saw the Pink Floyd induction and Black Sabbath one. Then the mighty original line up of Sabbath performed "Paranoid" and what little bit of my teenage angst I had left crumbled to dust. It wasn't the spectacle of 50 year old men rocking out. Since the young kids seem more inclined to steal old songs and recycle them as hip hop trash somebody needs to rock out; it might as well be the senior citizens of the world. What did me in were shots of the audience clapping their hands with glee and Ozzy exhorting them to do it some more.
It would make me beyond happy to see Black Sabbath live. I would probably applaud them too. But I don't think I would be smiling like an oblivious idiot during their show. Their name isn't Black Sabbath for kicks. The music is ominous, loud, and dark and the lyrics to the songs are the same. Somebody remarked (I believe it was Tommy Lee) that they were the opposite of the fun and the sun Beach Boys so why was the UK audience acting like they were at a beach party? "Paranoid" is not a fun, hand clapping song.
Here's what Lester Bangs (np relation) had to say about it from the June 1972 issue of Creem in an article titled "Bring Your Mother To The Gas Chamber":
"People are strange, when you’re a stranger. It’s a melodrama of alienation, just as "Paranoid" is a terse, chillingly accurate description of the real thing, when you suddenly find that you’ve somehow skidded just a fraction out of the world as you have and other still do perceive it. "Paranoid" renders perfectly the clammy feeling of knowing that at this point there is absolutely no one on the planet to whom you can make yourself understood or be helped by. All alone, like a real rolling stone; it’s no wonder in such circumstances that the imagination might get a little hairy, and turn to dreams of science-fiction revenge. I’ve felt the arctic wedge of disjuncture myself at one time and another, stuck in the painful place where you can only send frozen warnings cross the borderline and those inevitably get distorted. Because they’ve captured it so well Black Sabbath means a lot to me and a lot of my friends for "Paranoid" alone."
Article comments
1 - Vern Halen
Rock isn't about preserving your youth: it's about preserving your rebellion. The fact that you realize the implicit corporate rot, you're preserving the right part of rock for the right reasons. The music IS timeless - believe me.
I feel the same way about Alice Cooper's "Ballad of Dwight Frye" - it still creeps me out, regardless of how much Alice has admitted he's a put on.
Furthermore, I believe the song is no longer the artists after it's been released - it belongs to whoever takes it in & gives it a home between the ears & in the heart. So let the unbelievers smile & clap for Ozzie - Paranoid will always be the unhappy song it was meant to be in your own reality.
I just looked this over & it reads stoopid, but I hope you know what I'm getting at.
2 - Mark Saleski
yea baby, extra points for diggin' up the lester quote.
3 - godoggo
What I most remember about Lester on the Sabs is that they were apparently known as a "downer band" due to their followers dope preferences. Also something about after the show the floor being littered with hypodermic needles. Or something. Do folks use hypos with downers? Somebody click the link, please.
Yeah, yeah, "Error: Please don't include an email address on this public web page. Thank you." You're welcome. Old habits die hard. With a vengeance.
4 - uao
I dimly remember reading that Bangs piece a long time ago, but that downer connection always stayed with me, which the music certainly emphasized.
Some day someone ought to compile a comprehensive list of bands and the drugs associated with them (or their audience)
You could have the pothead picks: Phish, Bob Marley, Wings?
The drunks dig: Tom Waits, GG Allin, The Gun Club?
Acid highs: Greatful Dead, Phish, Pink Floyd?
Coke classics: Duran Duran, Billy Idol?
Speed Demons: BOC, Motorhead,
Heroin huslers: Eric Clapton, Lou Reed, Kurt Cobain? Alice In Chains?
Codeine: DJ Screw?
Ecstasy: The Orb, The Verve, Oasis, Portishead?
Banana Peels: Donovan?
...and so forth
5 - Christopher Rose
Oh dear! As a long time fan of Marley, Waits, Floyd, Duran Duran/Billy Idol, Motorhead, and Lou Reed, that makes me a PotheadDrunkAcidCokeheadSpeedDemon Hustler!
6 - godoggo
Remember the Descendents? Bonus Fat? Welcome to Der Wienerschnitzel? I Wanna Go To Oki Dog? Anyways, their drug of choice was... COFFEE!!!!. LOTSANDLOTSANDLOTSANDLOTSOFCOFFEE!!!
Can't argue with that.
7 - Slack Haddock
Oh, Fuck It, Make somebody Happy this Christmas and buy them the book! "How Black Was Our Sabbath" All proceeds to Ye Olde Roadies Retirment Fund.