When Black Sabbath wrapped up their career with the grand Back to the Beginning farewell show on July 5, 2025 — a mere 17 days before Ozzy Osbourne died — they ended their four-song set with “Paranoid.” No other song would have made sense. The 1970 single transformed Black Sabbath from a cult band with little traction outside of their native England into one of the most popular groups in the world. For the remainder of their career, it was not possible for them to leave the stage without playing it.
That remained true once Ozzy left the group in 1979, and soon began playing solo shows the next year with a long string of lead guitarists. And it remained true for Sabbath in the Eighties when they changed out their singer like most people change their socks.
It means that quite a few singers and guitarists have tackled “Paranoid” over the years. Here’s a look back at 12 renditions of the timeless tale about losing your mind.
Black Sabbath with Ozzy Osbourne
The original Black Sabbath were at the peak of their powers when they played L’Olympia Bruno Coquatrix in Paris on Dec. 20, 1970, just three months after the Paranoid album dropped, and a professional camera crew captured the magic for all time. This is before oceans of cocaine, booze, and money began slowly ripping the band to pieces. They’d play “Paranoid” hundreds and hundreds of times after this night, but it never sounded quite as vital.
Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio
Losing a singer as iconic as Ozzy Osbourne should have been a deathblow to Black Sabbath. But they quickly recruited former Rainbow frontman Ronnie James Dio, cut a spectacular new album, Heaven and Hell, and hit the road. As you can see from this video, Dio brings a very different energy to “Paranoid” that’s more theatrical than Ozzy’s approach. But out of all the post-Ozzy singers, there’s no doubt that Dio was the best. And for a few months in 1980, it seemed like they were going to be the victors in the split with Ozzy. And then Blizzard of Ozz dropped.
Black Sabbath with Ian Gillan
When Dio quit Black Sabbath in 1982, the remaining members brought Deep Purple’s Ian Gillan into the fold for the ill-fated Born Again album and tour. The conventional wisdom that their travails during this time, including an oversized Stonehenge stage prop, inspired Spinal Tap simply aren’t true. The movie was well into production when all this happened. But that doesn’t mean this period wasn’t a complete mess for Sabbath. That said, Gillan brought his “Highway Star” banshee wail to “Paranoid,” and it worked out pretty well. But it was very short-lived. Deep Purple reformed the foliowing year, and Sabbath were once again in need of a new singer.
Black Sabbath with Tony Martin
After spending much of the 1980s hiring established singers to front Black Sabbath, only to watch them leave the band within a year or two, Tony Iommi decided to hire Tony Martin, a relative unknown, for 1987’s The Eternal Idol. This was a smart long-term play since Martin remained extremely loyal, and was even willing to return to the band in 1993 after they sacked him for a couple of years in order to briefly reunite with Ronnie James Dio. Martin is a vocal powerhouse, and he gave the oldies his best every single night, but this was Sabbath at their absolute nadir as a creative force. They largely played clubs during his tenure. Still, a vocal minority of Sabbath fans love the Martin era since they released a ton of original music. After he left for the second and last time in 1995, they basically became a heritage band with Ozzy.
Ozzy Osbourne with Randy Rhoads
On Sept. 3, 1980, while Black Sabbath were traveling from Hawaii to Florida for a show at the Lakeland Civic Center, a group billed as the Law played a big at the Norbreck Castle Hotel in Blackpool, England. This was the public unveiling of Ozzy’s new solo group Blizzard of Ozz, with ace guitarist Randy Rhoads. Their seven-song set began with new solo tunes like “Crazy Train” and “Suicide Solution,” and wrapped up with a trio of Sabbath classics, including “Paranoid.” It was the beginning of a war between Ozzy and his former bandmates that the singer would very quickly win.
Ozzy Osbourne with Bernie Tormé
The partnership between Ozzy and Rhoads yielded many of the biggest hits of Ozzy’s solo career, and they became incredibly tight friends while recording 1980’s Blizzard of Ozz, 1981’s Diary of a Madman, and touring heavily behind them both. But on March 19, 1982, Rhoads died in a plane crash while attempting to buzz the top of Ozzy’s tour bus. Despite the near-blinding grief Ozzy was suffering, he agreed to keep the tour going just a couple of weeks later. Irish guitarist Bernie Tormé was brought onboard to fill the void, but lasted only a matter of weeks. In that brief window of time, they played Madison Square Garden. A shoddy audience tape from that night is the best record of Tormé’s time in the band.
Ozzy Osbourne with Brad Gillis
When things didn’t work out with Tormé, Ozzy brought Night Ranger’s Brad Gillis into the group. He was a better fit than the bluesier Tormé, but Ozzy was drinking heavily to numb the pain of Rhoads’ sudden death. This sparked many conflicts between himself and Gillis, and the guitarist returned to Night Ranger when the tour wrapped. But during his time with Ozzy, they recorded the quickie live album Speak of the Devil, consisting purely of Black Sabbath covers. This was put together to compete with Sabbath’s own concert LP, Live Evil, and generate publishing royalties. The album remains a polarizing release, but it’s a chance to hear Gillis put his spin on “Paranoid.”