Rob Halford explains why Black Sabbath's 'Paranoid' is his favourite song ever
See his full Top 10
Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford has hailed Black Sabbath’s 1970 heavy metal masterpiece ‘Paranoid’ as his favourite song of all time.
Rob Halford was among the 250 artists, journalists and industry figures who submitted 10 song choices to Rolling Stone’s new 500 Greatest Songs of All Time countdown, which was unveiled last week.
Rolling Stone has now published a new video that sees Rob talk through his 10 favourite songs and explain why he cherry picked them.
Naming Black Sabbath’s ‘Paranoid’ as his number 1, Rob explained that it was a “game changer” and had a huge impact on him as a young 20-year-old budding musician from Walsall.
“At the top of the list is ‘Paranoid’ by Black Sabbath,” Rob said. “For me it was one of the game-changing moments that we have in music because it brought out and brought forth a genre and a style of music that lit up the world.
“It’s what we call a ‘game-changer’ and the great effect that it had for so many of us – and particularly for me as a young musician at the time – ‘Paranoid’ took off like a heavy metal rocket.”
Despite being Rob Halford’s number 1 choice, Black Sabbath’s ‘Paranoid’ ultimately ended up at no.338 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Aretha Franklin’s ‘Respect’ was named the greatest song ever, while Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ was the highest-ranking rock track at no.5.
Rob Halford’s 10 favourite songs of all time:
10) David Bowie - ‘Space Oddity’
9) Rage Against The Machine - ‘Bulls on Parade’
8) Scorpions - ‘Blackout’
7) Pantera - ‘Walk’
6) Ozzy Osbourne - ‘Bark at the Moon’
5) Motörhead – ‘Ace of Spades’
4) Metallica – ‘Ride The Lightning’
3) Dio – ‘Holy Diver’
2) Slayer – ‘Angel of Death’
1) Black Sabbath – ‘Paranoid’
Following their phenomenal headline slot at Bloodstock last month, Judas Priest are scheduled to tour the UK in early 2022 as special guests to Ozzy Osbourne.