{"id":47530,"date":"2025-08-06T09:52:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T09:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/47530\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T09:52:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T09:52:08","slug":"how-tony-iommi-dreamed-up-a-basic-riff-that-made-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/47530\/","title":{"rendered":"How Tony Iommi dreamed up a “basic” riff that made history"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Tony<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ TIDAL)<\/p>\n

Wed 6 August 2025 2:00, UK <\/p>\n

The recent passing of Ozzy Osbourne<\/a>\u00a0shocked the metal community to its core, as the life he had lived and the untouchable nature of the \u2018Prince of Darkness\u2019 meant that many people thought he may well live forever.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning,\u201d the singer\u2019s family wrote in a heartfelt statement<\/a>, noting, \u201cHe was with his family surrounded by love.\u201d <\/p>\n

A number of tributes poured in for Ozzy, given his work as a solo artist and with Black Sabbath had been a beacon of light for many people. Sabbath were often credited with creating heavy metal, and as such, the band have a profound connection with one another. Naturally, one of the most touching tributes was one that came from his bandmates. <\/p>\n

\u201cI just can\u2019t believe it!\u201d Wrote Tony Iommi, \u201cMy dear, dear friend Ozzy has passed away only weeks after our show at Villa Park. It\u2019s just such heartbreaking news that I can\u2019t really find the\u00a0words,\u00a0there won\u2019t ever be another like him. Geezer, Bill and myself have lost our brother. My thoughts go out to Sharon and all the Osbourne family. Rest in peace Oz.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Iommi and his fellow bandmates will have been heartbroken at the news, at least they were able to perform on stage with him one final time before he passed. Iommi refers to the performance where Black Sabbath played their farewell gig at Villa Park, and it was an event for the history books. And, for their final ever song on stage together, what song did they choose? The heavy metal classic: \u2018Paranoid\u2019. <\/p>\n

While \u2018Paranoid\u2019 wasn\u2019t released until Sabbath\u2019s second album<\/a>, it remains one of their most important songs in their discography. The band wrote it as a last-minute effort when putting their finishing touches on the second record, and they needed another song to finish things off. Iommi came up with the iconic riff for \u2018Paranoid\u2019 in this period of desperation, and despite being basic, it remains one of the most important guitar riffs ever played. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t have enough songs to fill the album. The producer said, \u2018We need another song\u2019. I went, \u2018Oh, we don\u2019t have another song\u2019. \u2018Well, can you come up with one? It can\u2019t be any more than two and a half minutes\u2019. We\u2019ve never written anything less than bloody five minutes. The others had gone out to have something to eat, and I came up with this riff. So, when they got back, I played them this idea of \u2018Paranoid\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iommi appreciates just how important this riff was, but he is also well aware of how basic it is. He admitted that his style of playing has always favoured the basic over the complex; it just depends on what the song asks for. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s basic. It\u2019s not technical by any means,\u201d he claimed candidly, \u201cWhat I\u2019ve always done is not try and play anything that\u2019s flash, I play what I think is right for the song.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Related Topics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out \/ TIDAL) Wed 6 August 2025 2:00, UK The recent passing of Ozzy Osbourne\u00a0shocked the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,6814,134,136,6815,39433],"class_list":["post-47530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-black-sabbath","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-ozzy-osbourne","tag-tony-iommi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}