10 Classic Guitar Riffs That Were Created By Accident
5. Paranoid - Black Sabbath
Anyone who is well versed in Black Sabbath knows that this is not a band exactly known for their short songs. Throughout albums like Master of Reality and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, the real meat of every record Sabbath have made has catered to songs that stretch out into 8 minute exercises from start to finish. So when you actually have a short song in the mix, it almost has to be an accident, right?
Well...yeah. During the recording for what would become the album Paranoid, the title track was never really considered, instead having the war protesting song War Pigs in its place. When Sabbath were getting ready to hand the thing in though, they found themselves lacking 2 minutes worth of music, after which they were told to just go in and jam something by their producer.
Almost through pure inspiration, Tony Iommi strapped on his guitar on a whim and started to play the opening riff for what would become Paranoid, which quickly turned into one of the final takes once the rest of the band scrambled to their places to keep up with the vibe in the room. As much as heavy metal gets a bad reputation for being on the fringes of society most of the time, this is one of the few bite-sized pieces of menace that gave the genre its global fanbase today.