"Iron Man" is a song by English

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...

, released in 1970 from the band's second studio album, ''

Paranoid Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety, suspicion, or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of con ...

'', and as a single in the US in October 1971.

Background and composition

Upon hearing

Tony Iommi Anthony Frank Iommi Jr. (born 19 February 1948) is an English musician. He co-founded the pioneering Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and was the band's guitarist, leader, primary composer, and sole continuous member for over ...

's main guitar riff at rehearsal for the first time, vocalist

Ozzy Osbourne John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and media personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead singer of the heavy metal music, heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which per ...

remarked that it sounded "like a big iron bloke walking about", with "Iron Bloke" quickly becoming a placeholder title as the band developed the song. Iommi had created the riff "on the spot" in response to a

bass drum The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter usually greater than its depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. The head ...

beat drummer Bill Ward started playing, creating a mood of "someone creeping up on you". While recording the song, producer

Rodger Bain Rodger Bain (born 1945) is a British record producer, known for producing albums by heavy metal bands such as Black Sabbath, Budgie and Judas Priest in the 1970s. He is greatly associated with Vertigo Records, having been the staff producer the ...

and studio engineer

Tom Allom Thomas James Allom is an English record producer and sound engineer. His best-known work was in the 1970s and 1980s, working with artists such as Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Krokus (band), Krokus, Loverboy, Def Leppard, KIX (band), Kix and Rou ...

had tremendous difficulty capturing the "power and depth of the sound" of his bass drum in the studio due to the limitations of the microphones available at that time. The lyrics, composed by bassist and lyricist

Geezer Butler Terence Michael Joseph "Geezer" Butler (born 17 July 1949) is an English musician, best known as the bassist and primary lyricist of the pioneering Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Black Sabbath. He has also recorded and performed with Heave ...

, tell the story of a

self-fulfilling prophecy A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that comes true at least in part as a result of a person's belief or expectation that the prediction would come true. In the phenomena, people tend to act the way they have been expected to in order to mak ...

in which a man travels into the future and witnesses the

apocalypse Apocalypse () is a literary genre originating in Judaism in the centuries following the Babylonian exile (597–587 BCE) but persisting in Christianity and Islam. In apocalypse, a supernatural being reveals cosmic mysteries or the future to a ...

. In the process of returning to the present day to warn the human race, he is turned into steel by a

magnetic field A magnetic field (sometimes called B-field) is a physical field that describes the magnetic influence on moving electric charges, electric currents, and magnetic materials. A moving charge in a magnetic field experiences a force perpendicular ...

and is subsequently ridiculed and ignored by the people he intended to save. Feeling resentful, Iron Man retaliates by actually causing the apocalypse seen in his vision. Butler has been clear that there is no link between the song and the

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

superhero of the same name, explaining that he had not read American comics as a child. Rather, he took his lyrical inspiration from Osbourne's "iron bloke" remark and he decided to compose the lyrics as a

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

story. Raised in a devout

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

family, Butler also intended the song's subject as an allegory for

Jesus Christ Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

, but rather than forgiving his doubters and tormentors, Iron Man instead seeks vengeance. Butler recalled, "I liked the Hammer horror films in the 1960s and magazines such as '' Man, Myth and Magic'', but I had a few supernatural experiences as a child and dreams that came true and that, more than anything, shaped my interest in the

occult The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mysti ...

", additionally citing

H.G. Wells Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, hist ...

's novels as inspiration. The effect used to create Osbourne's distorted vocal in the song's intro has been a topic of conjecture. Some have speculated over the years that Osbourne's voice had been processed by a

ring modulator In electronics, ring modulation is a signal processing function, an implementation of frequency mixing, in which two signals are combined to yield an output signal. One signal, called the carrier, is typically a sine wave or another simple wa ...

, which had most famously been used to create the voices of the

Dalek The Daleks ( ) are a fictional extraterrestrial race of extremely xenophobic mutants principally portrayed in the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. They were conceived by writer Terry Nation and first appeared in th ...

on the ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'' television program. Iommi used this effect on his guitar solo in the song "

" from the same album. According to Butler, a much more low-tech method was used: Osbourne singing through an oscillating metal fan.

Reception and legacy

The song peaked at number 52 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1972, becoming their highest-charting single on the chart. It also reached number 68 on the Canadian ''

RPM Magazine ''RPM'' ( and later ) was a Canadian music-industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. ''RP ...

'' Top 100. The live rendition of the song from their '' Reunion'' (2001) album won them the

2000 Grammy Awards The 42nd Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 23, 2000, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1999. Nominations were announced on January 4, 2000. Santana was the main ...

for

Best Metal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance is an award presented at the Grammy Awards to recording artists for works (songs or albums) containing quality performances in the heavy metal music genre. The Grammy Awards is an annual ceremony, where ...

. "Iron Man" was used in the end credits of ''

Iron Man Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, the character first appearan ...

'' (2008), as well in its video game adaptation and the trailer for the 2010 sequel, ''

Iron Man 2 ''Iron Man 2'' is a 2010 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Iron Man. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures, it is the sequel to ''Iron Man'' (2008) and the third film in the Marvel Cinem ...

''. The character

Tony Stark Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, the character first appearan ...

alter-ego An alter ego (Latin for "other I") means an alternate self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other self, one with a different personality. Add ...

of Iron Man, also wears a Black Sabbath t-shirt in the 2012 film ''

The Avengers Avenger(s) or The Avenger(s) may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Marvel Comics universe * Avengers (comics), a team of superheroes **Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe), a central team of protagonist superheroes of "The Infinity Sag ...

''. The song won spot number 317 in ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

s list of the

500 Greatest Songs of All Time "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" is a recurring song ranking compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and industry figures. The first list was published in December 2 ...

as of 2004, and number 7 on their "100 Greatest Heavy Metal Songs of All Time" list in March 2023. "Iron Man" was ranked the sixth best Black Sabbath song by Rock – Das Gesamtwerk der größten Rock-Acts im Check.

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

ranked the song as the greatest heavy metal song of all time. The professional wrestling tag team

The Road Warriors The Road Warriors, also known as the Legion of Doom, were a professional wrestling tag team originally composed of Road Warrior Hawk (Michael Hegstrand) and Road Warrior Animal (Joseph Laurinaitis).. They performed under the name "The Road W ...

used "Iron Man" as their entrance theme in the mid-1980s in the

American Wrestling Association The American Wrestling Association (AWA) was an American professional wrestling promotion based in Minneapolis, Minnesota that ran from 1960 until 1991. It was founded by Verne Gagne and Wally Karbo. The promotion was born out of the Minneapolis ...

and other promotions.

Personnel

– vocals *

– guitars *

– bass * Bill Ward – drums

Certifications

References

{{authority control 1970 songs 1971 singles Black Sabbath songs NOFX songs Songs about time travel Songs written by Ozzy Osbourne Songs written by Tony Iommi Songs written by Geezer Butler Songs written by Bill Ward (musician) Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance Warner Records singles Song recordings produced by Rodger Bain