| "Iron Man" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Single by Black Sabbath from the album Paranoid |
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| B-side | "Electric Funeral" | |
| Released | October 1971 | |
| Format | 45 RPM | |
| Genre | Heavy Metal | |
| Length | 3:33 (Single)
5:56 (Album) |
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| Label | Warner Bros. Records | |
| Writer | Iommi, Osbourne, Butler, Ward | |
| Producer | Rodger Bain | |
"Iron Man" is a signature song of Birmingham, England heavy metal pioneers Black Sabbath. It was first released on their second album Paranoid (1970) and 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.
Contents |
Riff
The song is known for its signature riff: 
Legacy
This song features one of the most popular riffs of all time. It is frequently used in television and movies.
Appearances
- The Boston Red Sox all-star third baseman Mike Lowell uses this as his entrance song before every at-bat at Fenway Park
- The University of California - Los Angeles Marching Band plays the theme after a quarteback sack as well as other defensive stops.
- The University of Michigan Marching Band plays the theme after a defensive stand by the football team.
- Purdue University plays the song during basketball games.
- In the PlayStation 2 game Guitar Hero, where it was heavily abridged: the verse "Now the time is here/for Iron Man to spread fear...", all the way up to the guitar solo, was cut off the song, as well as a minor solo in the end of the song.
- Additionally, in the version of the Freezepop song "Get Ready 2 Rokk" in the same game, the "Iron Man" riff is briefly used at the very end of the song.
- During a scene in the movie Detroit Rock City, when the four main characters beat up two disco-loving Guidos as revenge for them destroying a Kiss 8-track tape.
- Recently, parts of the song have been used in a commercial for the Nissan Titan which began airing in mid-2006.
- Referenced in Ozzy Osbourne's solo song Gets Me Through. The exact quotation is: "I'm not the kind of person/You think I am/I'm not the Antichrist or/The Iron Man"
- Rapper Busta Rhymes sampled Iron Man for a song titled "This Means War" which also featured Ozzy Osbourne.
- In 2007, the song appeared on the teaser for the upcoming Iron Man adaptation starring Robert Downey Jr.
- Frequently air guitar riffed by Beavis and Butthead.
- Ironman is the school song for the Don Bosco Prep Ironmen.
- "Ironman" was also used as the theme song to the professional wrestling tag team the Road Warriors.
- Ironman was used in the movie Lords Of Dogtown when skateboarder Jay Adams was competing in a local competition.
Cover versions
- Bob Rivers covered the song for his christmas song I Am Santa Claus
- American rapper and beatboxer extraordinare Rahzel has been known to perform his own cover of "Iron Man" live.
- The Cardigans on their First Band on the Moon album (this version is not played Rock 'n' Roll style, but rather in a softer, acoustic style).
- The Bad Plus on their album Give.
- Besides the collaboration with Busta Rhymes, Ozzy Osbourne covered the song with "Therapy?" for the Black Sabbath tribute album, Nativity in Black.
- Sir Mix-A-Lot did a version of "Iron Man" on his album Swass with the band Metal Church.
- Metallica performed a cover of the song when Black Sabbath was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
- Japanese rock band Electric Eel Shock recorded the song for their album "Beat Me". They use the original as intro to their live shows, which regurlarly includes their own version.
- Marilyn Manson released a version of the song with altered lyrics changed to portray the Son of Sam killer on one of the band's demos.
- Technically not a cover, Judas Priest released a song named "Winter" on their first studio album, Rocka Rolla in 1974. This song has the same guitar riff repeated in the background of the song. The song's lyrics are completely different.
- The artist Junkie XL wrote a covered version that will sometimes plays during the main menu screen of the Xbox game Forza Motorsport'.
Parodies
- Bob Rivers used the Iron Man riff for his parody "I Am Santa Claus". Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne appeared in a video for the parody, watching a performance of the song on a television set until he destroys the set in disgust (although this scene was actually edited from Ozzy's own video for "Road to Nowhere").
- Alice in Chains also parodied the song in a short non-listed track (usually known as "Iron Gland") on their album "Dirt".
- The Butthole Surfers included a song called, "no, i'm iron man" on their album piouhgd, which featured a parody of the distinctive low-pitched "I am Iron Man!" intro to Black Sabbath's song, followed by dozens of high-pitched voices arguing over which one of them was, in fact, Iron Man.
- The song "Powdered Milk Man" by The Aquabats parodies the song's intro, where "I am Powdered Milk Man" is said instead of "I am Iron Man".
- In Futurama episode (Anthology of Interest), a 500-foot Bender is made and flies to Earth. During the trip, the song is played in the background; it has been noted that Bender is 30% Iron.
- In the Digimon Adventures series, Andromon uses the phrase 'I am Andromon' with the same distortion effect used in the song's intro.
- In one episode of the Simpsons, both Lisa and Nelson are running for an elected position in the school. During a debate, Lisa has an entire musical number, after which Nelson responds, "Wait, I have a song too!" and proceeds with, "I am Iron Man. Da na na na na na na vote for me!" sung to the tune of the Black Sabbath song
Awards & Chart Position
- In 2000, 30 years after the song was first released, it won the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance.
- "Iron Man" also won spot #310 in Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
- "Iron Man" was awarded the #1 spot on VH1's 40 Greatest Metal Songs in 2006[1] .
- Peaked at #52 in 1972
