Metal Sludge Gossip Board

While I like Black Sabbath I really cannot understand why War Pigs is considered being such a classic.

It is a boring song and it does not get better with the age. It sounds dated both lyrically and sound wise.
My guess is that the song was intended to be some kind of Black Sabbath pastiche to the Vietnam war protest songs and never was meant to be anything more than simply a filler in the s/t album.Then it got (at the time) so much praise from the peace-loving-hippie-critics that the band started to believe the hype and were afraid to drop it from their set.


Is there people here in this board claiming they love/like the song? Playing it over and over and enjoying it?

Discontinue the lithium.

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath > War Pigs
Turn Up The Night > War Pigs
Trashed > War Pigs
In For The Kill > War Pigs

And so on...

It was - and still is - a brilliant song really, even though I've gotten a bit bored with it after the first 20 or so listens... Geezer's basslines are awesome.

Methinks radio kinda killed this song, when there's so many other great and overlooked Sabbath songs to be played...

The fact that a 7 1/2 minute song still gets played on the radio is enough testament to its greatness.

Unsuccessful troll is unsuccessful.

EuroJR wrote: ↑Thu Jul 03, 2025 2:13 pm Sabbath Bloody Sabbath > War Pigs
Turn Up The Night > War Pigs
Trashed > War Pigs
In For The Kill > War Pigs

And so on...

I love War Pigs...but this is true.

I'll put Trashed and Turn Up the Night against anything in the sabbath catalog

The melody is great and haunting

The lyrics are as relevant today as they were during the Vietnam era

It sounds like no other song I’ve ever heard

The drums are awesome, as are the bass and guitar

The ending riff is beyond epic and could/should have been its own song

It’s a fucking bona fide classic

If you think it’s boring you have ADD

EuroJR wrote: ↑Thu Jul 03, 2025 2:00 pm never was meant to be anything more than simply a filler in the s/t album.

It's on Paranoid.

It's one of Black Sabbath's best songs. What really makes is work is the swing feel on the drums during the heavy guitar breakdown, a juxtaposition not often heard either before or after. It both rocks and grooves, and the whole thing works despite Ozzy's pretty simplistic melody. Lyrics do feel a bit dated, but this song is all about the sounds, not so much the words.

HueyRamone wrote: ↑Thu Jul 03, 2025 5:18 pm

EuroJR wrote: ↑Thu Jul 03, 2025 2:00 pm never was meant to be anything more than simply a filler in the s/t album.

It's on Paranoid.

This song sucks
Its even bad for overrated Black Sabbath

Only thing Black Sabbath did that was cool is when White Zombie covered Children Of The Grave

Great song.

Lets you play a mean air guitar.

Honestly when I was first getting into Black Sabbath/metal it didn't do much for me. So I at least know where you're coming from. Sometimes a song is so hyped by the time you hear it, it can be disappointing.

But I can appreciate it is a well crafted song. It's still not my go to when it comes to Sabbath but I do like it more now than I did when I was younger. I still think 4 songs are better than it on Paranoid.

Amazing, one of their best.

LAglamrocker wrote: ↑Thu Jul 03, 2025 5:47 pm This song sucks
Its even bad for overrated Black Sabbath

Only thing Black Sabbath did that was cool is when White Zombie covered Children Of The Grave

Hot take

Van Ailin' wrote: ↑Thu Jul 03, 2025 5:29 pm It's one of Black Sabbath's best songs. What really makes is work is the swing feel on the drums during the heavy guitar breakdown, a juxtaposition not often heard either before or after. It both rocks and grooves, and the whole thing works despite Ozzy's pretty simplistic melody. Lyrics do feel a bit dated, but this song is all about the sounds, not so much the words.

Thank You, this is a good explonation.

Clean out your locker, Bob, you're fucking fired.

Wiseacre wrote: ↑Thu Jul 03, 2025 5:04 pm The melody is great and haunting

The lyrics are as relevant today as they were during the Vietnam era

It sounds like no other song I’ve ever heard

The drums are awesome, as are the bass and guitar

The ending riff is beyond epic and could/should have been its own song

It’s a fucking bona fide classic

If you think it’s boring you have ADD

Thank You.
I

pieceofme wrote: ↑Thu Jul 03, 2025 8:13 pm Honestly when I was first getting into Black Sabbath/metal it didn't do much for me. So I at least know where you're coming from. Sometimes a song is so hyped by the time you hear it, it can be disappointing.

But I can appreciate it is a well crafted song. It's still not my go to when it comes to Sabbath but I do like it more now than I did when I was younger. I still think 4 songs are better than it on Paranoid.

Thank You.

I've heard the song over and over, but will give it another listen with these new perspectives

HueyRamone wrote: ↑Thu Jul 03, 2025 5:18 pm

EuroJR wrote: ↑Thu Jul 03, 2025 2:00 pm never was meant to be anything more than simply a filler in the s/t album.

It's on Paranoid.

Also not filler. War Pigs was originally the title track, hence the cover photo of a guy dressed mostly in pink, with a sword. Paranoid, the song, was technically the "filler" as they needed a few minutes' more music and pretty much wrote it on the spot.

GoodJudge wrote: ↑Thu Jul 03, 2025 10:39 pm

HueyRamone wrote: ↑Thu Jul 03, 2025 5:18 pm

EuroJR wrote: ↑Thu Jul 03, 2025 2:00 pm never was meant to be anything more than simply a filler in the s/t album.

It's on Paranoid.

Also not filler. War Pigs was originally the title track, hence the cover photo of a guy dressed mostly in pink, with a sword. Paranoid, the song, was technically the "filler" as they needed a few minutes' more music and pretty much wrote it on the spot.

Came here to write this. Also, War Pigs is a great song and was in no way filler or parody. The words were relevant for the time and Geezer was generally a good lyricist even if he got a bit lazy when hastily rewriting the words to "Walpurgis" (original title) with its "dead rat dinners" and whatever to something that had a meaning for the band and fans in 1970.

One of the first Ozzy era Sabbath songs I heard and loved. My uncle knew I liked Sabbath but it was the then-current Dio era and as I also liked DOAM he pointed me to the Ozzy era. War Pigs, COTG, SBS and Black Sabbath were the first songs I got into. I even liked War Pigs on Talk of the Devil for a while before realizing that the dude from Night Ranger and the other dude from Quiet Riot can't touch Geezer and Iommi. The Whitesnake guy is a great drummer but here I prefer Ward.

Never has the phrase “I can explain it to you, but I can’t understand it for you” been more applicable.

The name alone is major

Ozzy was not a technically accomplished singer, so it took some balls to strand him out there during the verses, leaving him to sing those long, sustained notes with nothing behind him but a hi-hat. And he pulled it off. It's raw, it's emotional. It's the first song where Ozzy sounds like Ozzy - his vocals on their debut album were kind of slurred and in a lower register.

Also, because of all that open space, the tension and the anticipation, the riffs just sound super powerful when they eventually blast out. It's not a good song, it's a GREAT song

Type O Negative destroys Black Sabbath
Christian Woman destroys War Pigs

Black Sabbath D+
Type O Negative
Music “A”
Image “A+”

So good about War Pigs
War is good
Pigs is good

SterileEyes1 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 03, 2025 11:07 pm Never has the phrase “I can explain it to you, but I can’t understand it for you” been more applicable.

Yeah, if you have to ask, then maybe you should be hanging out on a Chappell Roan forum or something instead.

Dio did it better

https://youtu.be/BZuQltGEPt8?si=YL_QOLEmVOTnru93

Bono Nettencourt wrote: ↑Fri Jul 04, 2025 7:35 am

SterileEyes1 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 03, 2025 11:07 pm Never has the phrase “I can explain it to you, but I can’t understand it for you” been more applicable.

Yeah, if you have to ask, then maybe you should be hanging out on a Chappell Roan forum or something instead.

Can someone please explain to me what's so good about Chappell Roan?

I kinda like her, actually.