B-side "Electric Funeral" Format 45 RPM Genre Heavy metal | Released October 1971 Recorded 1970 | |
Length 3:33 (Single version)
5:56 (Album version) | ||
"Iron Man" is a song by British rock band Black Sabbath. It is taken from their second studio album, Paranoid, released in 1970. It was later included on their initial greatest hits compilation We Sold Our Soul for Rock 'n' Roll (1976), as well as all subsequent greatest hits compilations; The single version was included on the Greatest Hits 1970–1978 album.
Contents
Writing and recording
Upon hearing the main guitar riff for the first time, vocalist Ozzy Osbourne remarked that it sounded "like a big iron bloke walking about". The title became "Iron Man", with Geezer Butler writing the lyrics around the title.
Butler wrote the lyrics as the story of a man who time travels into the future, and sees the apocalypse. In the process of returning to the present, he is turned into steel by a magnetic field. He is rendered mute, unable verbally to warn people of his time in the future and of the impending destruction. His attempts to communicate are ignored and mocked. This causes Iron Man to become angry, and drives his revenge on mankind, causing the destruction seen in his vision.
Background
This was the second Black Sabbath single in the US, but it was not released as a single in Britain. It got very little radio play in the US, but developed a cult following, which led to enough sales to give it a chart position.
A new version was included on the 1998 Reunion album. It won the Grammy for Best Metal Performance in 2000.
Ozzy Osbourne recorded a new version of "Iron Man" for the 1994 Black Sabbath tribute album Nativity in Black. Osbourne also recorded a version with Busta Rhymes in 1998 for Busta Rhymes's album Extinction Level Event (Final World Front). The track was renamed "This Means War". The version with Busta Rhymes was included on the Black Sabbath tribute album Nativity in Black II. On his 2001 song "Gets Me Through", Osbourne referenced the song in the line, "I'm not the Antichrist or the Iron Man".
Unlike the 1972 song "Iron Man" by Icarus, Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" bears no connection to the Marvel Comics superhero character Iron Man, which was created and first appeared in Tales of Suspense #39, March 1963, seven years prior to the song's publication. The song has since become associated with the character by fans of both; the popular 2008 film Iron Man, based on the comic books, features an instrumental rendition of "Iron Man" during the credits. The film's novelization goes on to also state that the song is Tony Stark's favorite, hence why he picked the title to baptize his superhero alter-ego. In the 2012 film The Avengers, set in the same continuity as the Iron Man films, Tony Stark is seen wearing a Black Sabbath shirt when not in the Iron Man armor, as a tribute to the band and song.
In the film School of Rock, this is the first riff that Dewey teaches the guitarist, Zack, along with "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple and "Highway to Hell" by AC/DC.
Frank Zappa once surprised members of Black Sabbath by covering this song with his own band at a gig that Sabbath attended.
In 2007, Nissan used this in commercials for their pickup trucks.
Mac Sabbath, a fast food-themed Black Sabbath tribute band, wrote a parody version of "Iron Man" entitled "Frying Pan". A live recording of the band performing the song went viral in late 2014 and was covered by international news sources, including MTV and Fox News.