Maybe the reason that the song confuses folks is that Butler sort of buried the lead. Instead, Butler imagined a sci-fi story about a time traveler who comes back from the future to help society, but who is instead feared and mocked because of how he’s been transformed into an iron creature during his journey. Hence, the song title is just a coincidence and the song itself has nothing to do with Tony Stark or his alter ego. Lyricist Geezer Butler grew up in a very religious family and wasn’t allowed to buy comic books. At the time the song was written, Iron Man was somewhat of a secondary character known mostly by comic book aficionados and not a universal pop culture icon. In any case, one thing is for sure: The song has nothing to do with the Marvel Comics character that has since risen to new levels of popularity thanks to Robert Downey Jr.’s portrayal in a slew of movies. Butler hastily wrote probing lyrics that played off the ominous feel of the music. Iommi seemed to pull riffs from the air that would become the basis for heavy metal evergreens like “Paranoid,” “War Pigs,” and, of course, “Iron Man.” The band would then take off into improvisational jams until the song structure was hammered mercilessly into shape. Luckily, they were at the peak of their creative powers. As a result, they were forced to write much of their second album Paranoid, which was recorded over three days in June 1970 and released in the UK three months later, on the fly in the studio. That time frame certainly applied to Black Sabbath, who had exhausted the songs they used in their live shows on the debut. The old adage about sophomore slumps in music claims that you have a lifetime to write your debut and less than a year to write your second album. Having struck a chord with a fan base who grooved to the band’s instrumental virtuosity and fury as well as their less-than-sunny take on the world, the Black Sabbath were hustled back into the studio to record a follow-up to their debut. When their self-titled debut, recorded in just two days in the studio, was released in 1970, critics were generally appalled, but the album sold incredibly well. Such a formula seemed like a recipe for cult status at best. Thanks to Iommi’s incredibly heavy style of guitar playing (in part caused by the tips of two fingers on his fret hand being severed in a factory accident), the sinister bend in Osbourne’s voice, and Butler’s wish to write lyrics 180 degrees away from the flower power vibes popular at the time, their originals sounded like horror movies in miniature. At one point, they were called the Polka Tulk Blues Band (can you imagine If that had stuck?) and they went through a few other names before they chose one that suited the tenor of the music they were making. The Return of the Sabbathīlack Sabbath rose in 1968 from the ashes of other British groups that never quite gelled. But just what the heck is going on in Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man?” How did this iconic heavy metal track come to be? And was it Tony Stark himself who inspired the thing? Let’s answer all those questions, by first examining the four men who created this anthem of annihilation. For nearly six minutes, Ozzy Osbourne bellows with deranged intensity about vengeance and destruction, while bandmates Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward raise the tempo from a sludgy stomp to a breathless chase scene, one where all innocent bystanders seemed destined to be caught and mangled.
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