It seems to be a trend that genre-defining bands are initially shunned by critics. It sort of makes sense people are so used to hearing a certain kind of sound that when they hear something drastically different it's initially jarring and unpleasant. Only once the band has attracted and cultivated a passionate subculture do they break out into the mainstream and become a bit easier to understand and swallow. Despite the fact that Black Sabbath had already dropped a self-titled debut album, Paranoid is easily the more classic of the two, and was also misunderstood and disliked by contemporary critics (despite selling extremely well). Released in 1970, the album contains many of the band's most beloved songs, including Iron Man, Paranoid and War Pigs. Initially, however, critics responded extremely negatively to the band's dark aesthetic and occult-based and horror-inspired lyrics. Many disregarded Paranoid as nothing more than the second release by a group of satan-obsessed amateur musicians. These days, of course, Paranoid is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential heavy metal albums ever, but it took quite a considerable amount of time to convince music critics.