Iron Man Black Sabbath

Iron Man by Black Sabbath from the 1970 Paranoid Album.

Sabbath bassist and lyricist Geezer Butler explained in NME that after Ozzy Osbourne put the idea in his head: "I was walking down the street one day and thought... 'what if there were a bloody great bloke made out of metal walking about?'"

Fittingly, "Iron Man" is a landmark in the heavy metal genre, with a massive guitar riff and a sci-fi, apocalyptic lyric. Black Sabbath influenced pretty much every metal band that followed, especially British acts like Iron Maiden, Saxon, and Judas Priest.

Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi came up with the guitar riff in the studio when drummer Bill Ward started playing the big, foreboding bass drum beat. Iommi created a wash of sound by bending his string, which is where Ozzy's "I am Iron Man vocal comes in." Then he blasted into the riff.

"Most of the riffs I've done I've come up with on the spot, and that was one of them," he said. "It just came up. It went with the drum, what Bill was playing. I just saw this thing in my mind of someone creeping up on you, and it just sounded like the riff. In my head I could hear it as a monster, so I came up with that riff there and then."

The first popular Black Sabbath single was "Paranoid," which made #61 in the US in 1970 and climbed to #4 in their native UK the same year. They weren't big fans of that song, which they quickly recorded to round out the album, and they didn't like it when kids came to their shows just to hear it. The band wanted to cater to their core fans and discourage interlopers, so they became stingy with their UK single releases and withheld "Iron Man" even though it was a huge song. In America, it was issued as their second single and went to #52 in 1972 - their highest Hot 100 showing. As Sabbath gained a following in the US, the song became more and more popular.

The comic book superhero Iron Man first appeared in 1963 in Marvel Comics, but he has little in common with the character depicted in this song - the comic iron man is a regular person (Tony Stark) who gets his powers from a suit. In the 2008 movie Iron Man, starring Robert Downey Jr., the song plays at the end of the film when Stark tells the press, "I am Iron Man." The movie opens with "Back In Black" by AC/DC.

A new version was included on the 2000 Black Sabbath Reunion album. It won the Grammy that year for Best Metal Performance.

How the distorted vocals at the beginning that say "I am Iron Man" were created has been a topic of debate. It has been rumored that Osbourne sang through an oscillating metal fan to get the sound, but it's more likely that his voice was run through a processor called a ring modulator, which creates a wobbly electronic effect by mixing the input signal with an oscillator. This is the device used to create the voices of the Daleks on Doctor Who, and it's something Toni Iommi has used - you can hear it on his guitar solo in "Paranoid."

Ozzy recorded a new version for the 1994 Black Sabbath tribute album Nativity In Black.

Artists to cover "Iron Man" include Marilyn Manson, Alice in Chains, Butthole Surfers, Add N To (X), Busta Rhymes, Therapy, NOFX, Auburn U. Band, Sir Mix-A-Lot, Tim McCarthy, Heavy Voltage, DYS, Tanzwut, EMO, Amoco Renegades, Dead Alewives, Replacements, The Cardigans, The Mats, and Offspring.

Ozzy recorded a reworked version called "This Means War" with Busta Rhymes in 1998 for Busta's album Extinction Level Event. This version was included on the 2000 Black Sabbath tribute album Nativity In Black II.

On his 2001 song "Gets Me Through," Ozzy referenced this in the line, "I'm not the antichrist or the Iron Man."

Bob Rivers did a Christmas parody called "I Am Santa Claus." It was one of his first Twisted Tunes.

In the film School Of Rock, "Iron Man" is the first riff Jack Black teaches the guitarist in the band. He also teaches him "Smoke On The Water" by Deep Purple and "Highway to Hell" by AC/DC.

"Iron Man" plays in the 2000 Futurama episode "Anthology of Interest I," where a 500-foot tall Bender flies to Earth with the main riff audible in the background. It also appears in these shows:

The Simpsons - ("Blood Feud" - 1991, "The President Wore Pearls" - 2003)
King of the Hill ("Bills Are Made to Be Broken" - 1999)
Gilmore Girls ("The Deer Hunters" - 2000)

The original Black Sabbath lineup played this song in 1985 at Live Aid, reuniting for the first time since 1978. They also played "Children Of The Grave" and "Paranoid" in their set.

In 2007, Nissan used this in commercials for their pickup trucks.

The pro wrestling tag team The Road Warriors used this song as their entrance theme in the early to mid-'80s.

This is a playable song in the very first Guitar Hero video game, released in 2005.

I am Iron Man

Has he lost his mind?
Can he see or is he blind?
Can he walk at all
Or if he moves will he fall?

Is he alive or dead?
Has he thoughts within his head?
We'll just pass him there
Why should we even care?

He was turned to steel
In the great magnetic field
When he travelled time
For the future of mankind

Nobody wants him
He just stares at the world
Planning his vengeance
That he will soon unfurl

Now the time is here
For Iron Man to spread fear
Vengeance from the grave
Kills the people he once saved

Nobody wants him
They just turn their heads
Nobody helps him
Now he has his revenge

Heavy boots of lead
Fills his victims full of dread
Running as fast as they can
Iron Man lives again