Black Sabbath’s 20 Greatest Songs – Ranked!

Black Sabbath. It’s a name, a band, a sound that every single Heavy Metal fan knows all about. They’re also a band who, quite rightly, excite high emotions, with the question of line-ups probably being the most contentious issue of all. 

So, let’s get that one out of the way right from the start.

The party most definitely did not stop in 1979.

Sure, the original line-up pretty much invented the whole genre, and they slugged it out with Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin for the Heavy Crown. But then two things happened at a very similar time. Ozzy left Black Sabbath and a whole new influx of Metal bands came out of the woodwork, firstly in the guise of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, and then a few years later, it was the MTV generation.

Black Sabbath went from standard bearers to veterans on the block, having to compete with the new boys.

Which, in my humble opinion, they did exceedingly well. Maybe their sound might have changed over the years to accommodate this new reality, but they wouldn’t be the first band to do it, and they’ll surely not be the last.   

Everybody has their own list of favourite Black Sabbath songs. It’s what makes each one of us individual, and it’s what makes music, and the appreciation of it, such an equally individual thing.

So, that said, no way will everyone agree with this list, but we can all celebrate a band without whom Heavy Metal would certainly be different, and who knows, it may not even have happened at all.

20. Disturbing The Priest (Born Again, 1983).

Ian Gillan’s sole album outing as the Sabbath frontman was always controversial, as was some of the lyrical content. But Disturbing The Priest hits you right between the eyes with a song that has got Black Sabbath written right through it. It’s a brooding, malevolent slice of heaven-sent Metal.

19. Can’t Get Close Enough (Forbidden, 1995).

Don’t believe all of the negative anti-hype about this. The last album from Tony Martin’s tenure really isn’t all that bad. And this song absolutely nails it.

It’s got the classic Sabbath slow start and one of the best riffs of the entire decade. I kid you not. At a point in history when grunge seemed to be everywhere, and Metal seemed to be nowhere, Metaltastic gems like these were like absolute musical life jackets in a sea of despair.

18. Glory Ride (The Eternal Idol, 1987).

This album is one of my all-time favourites, and that’s even more of an achievement when you consider the amount of cocaine that Tony Iommi, in particular, was using, as well as the revolving door of personnel. This is an album that oozes class, and this song highlights Tony Martin’s ferocious vocals.

17. Sweet Leaf (Master of Reality, 1971).

Starting with the classic Tony Iommi joint cough, the awesome riff then leads us into a pounding, grinding song that celebrates the sacred herb in a way that only Black Sabbath can. Break out the Rizlas! 

16. Seventh Star (Seventh Star, 1986).

Even Tony Iommi, the only remaining band member at this point, didn’t want Seventh Star to be a Black Sabbath album, but that doesn’t make it a bad effort. It was also the first Black Sabbath album I ever heard, so for me, it has a personal provenance.

The title track, though, remains true to the Sabbath brand, a slow and brooding song with a mystical lyrical direction and an absolutely colossal riff.  

15. Turn To Stone (Seventh Star, 1986).

Drumming and riffing, and a solo to die for. Glenn Hughes really let rip with the vocals on this album, and nowhere more so than this song. It’s a song about relationships and love, but the story is absolutely told Black Sabbath’s way.

14. The Sign Of The Southern Cross (Mob Rules, 1981).

An epic from Ronnie James Dio’s second Black Sabbath album. This really is a song that has it all, tenderness and strength, hope and fear. For any who still doubted the fit of singer for band, this song utterly dispelled all of the naysayers. 

13. Children Of The Grave (Master Of Reality, 1971).

With a quaint harpsichord sound at the beginning, this song soon blossoms into one of the all-time mega riffs while Ozzy screams out the lyrics of hope and despair at the same time. A song that is brilliant in its simplicity of form.

12. Hard Life To Love (The Eternal Idol, 1987).

Such an immense song from one of Metal’s truly underrated vocalists. The title leaves you in doubt what the song is about, and the message is delivered with ultimate impact.

“Living in the fast lane is easy till you run out of road.” How right the band are, and how well they proved that running out of road didn’t lead to a single drop in musical talent and quality.

11. War Pigs (Paranoid, 1970).

This is one of those songs that when it gets played at concert venues before the band, any band comes on, and you’ll hear everyone in the audience joining in. That’s because everyone in the venue will know the song and also because they’ll just love it.

War Pigs remains a raw, visceral anti-war song that savages the establishment. Just what a good Metal song should be doing.

10. Children Of The Sea (Heaven And Hell, 1980).

This was the first song that Ronnie James Dio and Tony Iommi created together, and it remains a timeless gem. A long way from being the heaviest Black Sabbath song, it retains delicacy, power, and, yes, beauty.

9. Black Sabbath (Black Sabbath, 1970).

The title track of the album that quite literally changed the world. No one had ever quite heard anything like this, the doom, the tone, and the message. It’s also the first song to bring the diabolical triton musical interval to Heavy Metal, but it sure wasn’t the last.

An immense doom-laden song which, despite all of that, I find endlessly uplifting.

8. Neon Knights (Heaven And Hell, 1980).

Ten years after the band’s first album and their rebirth was heralded by Neon Knights, Heaven And Hell’s opening track. It’s a totally high-speed, no-prisoners track, letting everyone know that there was a new singer in the band, that he wasn’t messing around, and that a band that was in disarray six months earlier were now back to stay.

7. N.I.B. (Black Sabbath, 1970).

Named after the shape of Bill Ward’s beard, this song was forever re-christened by the somewhat dramatic Americans as Nativity In Black. The opening riff is a tour de force by Geezer Butler, before Tony Iommi follows up with the guitar.

It’s a song about the devil falling in love and becoming a good person, which might surprise a lot of people who aren’t Black Sabbath fans.

6. Heaven And Hell (Heaven And Hell, 1980).

The title track of what by many was seen as Black Sabbath’s comeback album, and how! An electrifying, addictive riff, fabulous mystical lyrics, a delicate mix of soft and heavy, a solo that will leave you almost in tears and a finale that will have you jumping around the room. 

5. Voodoo (Mob Rules, 1981).

An unexpected treble-like tone that loses nothing in heaviness. A sheer amazing riff and dark, brooding lyrics that are as uplifting and motivational as they are scary and ominous. Only Black Sabbath can create songs with that seemingly conflicting mix of emotions.

4. Iron Man (Paranoid, 1970).

Nobody does riffs like Black Sabbath, and this one was immortal. All sorts of rumours came out about the opening vocal line, which was apparently made through Ozzy speaking through an oscillating metal fan. Heavy Metal history doesn’t need hi-tech gadgets to create the legends.

3. Falling Off The Edge Of The World (Mob Rules, 1981).

Yet another Black Sabbath song that has it all. A slow start that then becomes heavier than you can possibly imagine. With a super-fast riff and a solo that will take your breath away, and lyrics that are so impossibly barren, you wonder if there can be any beauty at all in the world.

Until, that is, you take in the sheer beauty of the song itself.

2. Paranoid (Paranoid, 1970).

For a song that Tony Iommi actually didn’t like, this song has entirely belied expectations, being widely regarded as a classic and instantly recognisable as an indispensable Black Sabbath song on any Metal fan’s playlist.

Initially a concert opener, it soon became the finale, and rightly so. The energy and urgency of Paranoid make it the ultimate show-stopper-on-the-ultimate-high song ever. 

1. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (Sabbath Bloody Sabbath 1973).

Coming out in 1973, this song’s riff was known as the riff that saved Black Sabbath, and how! No matter when this song came out, it would be forever known as a complete Metal classic, and it still is after all these years.

It’s a song that, for me, more than any other, encapsulates everything that Black Sabbath are and still is. It’s simply perfect in every way and the song that every Metal band wished they’d written.

So there it is, my Black Sabbath Top 20, and of course, entirely subjective. But to call songs like these a Top 20 really misses the point because every one of them is a winner. Every one of them is brilliant and a classic.

And let’s also be clear. When you’re talking Black Sabbath, simply coming up with twenty favourite songs is missing the point as well because for many of us, I’m sure, there are a lot more than twenty Black Sabbath songs that we could call our favourites.  

The post Black Sabbath’s 20 Greatest Songs – Ranked! first appeared on MetalTalk - Heavy Metal News, Reviews and Interviews.