Board 8 > Rank the Tracks Week 90: Black Sabbath's Paranoid (+Alanis Morissette results)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Previous results can be seen here:
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks_Set_2

The rules:
1. Listen to the album in full
2. Rank every track on the album
3. For the results, there will be a curve at the top of each list; two additional points between #1 and #2, and one additional point for the next two ranks. This way, the songs that really stick out to someone get an edge that is not immediately negated by someone else putting it lower. In the case of Demon Days, someone's 15th track will get 1 point, 14th 2 points, 4th 12 points, 3rd 14 points, 2nd 16 points, and 1st 19 points. For albums with greater than 15 tracks, everything ranked below #15 will be given 0 points and the scale for the top 15 will be the same as a 15-track album. For albums with more than 20 tracks, you only have to list your top 15 (with 16-20, I still like having the average rank listed)
4. If you want to include comments for individual songs, I will compile them in the results
5. The results will be posted at the beginning of the next topic
6. The deadline to vote is Sunday, November 27 at 8:00 AM EST - though I have recently been leaving them up for longer, so just try to vote by that afternoon
7. You can sign up to be added to the user cycle (a new user will be added to the end of the current cycle as long as there are four weeks remaining) - the next person on the list will choose 3 albums which the other users will vote on for the next topic.
7a. To ensure people are being given an actual choice, the three nominated albums must be by different artists. You can otherwise stick to a similar sound or era.
7b. The tiebreaker for these polls will be whichever is listed first in the poll options - make sure to deliver the results in order of your own preference (which will hopefully have the added benefit of influencing people toward your first choice if they can't decide).
7c. I have added a tiered vote structure - the least popular album will be removed and its backup votes distributed to the other two entrants.
8. Starting with the next cycle, every four weeks will be a competitive week where those listed choose a single album to face off against others.

Black Sabbath - Paranoid track list:
1. War Pigs
2. Paranoid
3. Planet Caravan
4. Iron Man
5. Electric Funeral
6. Hand of Doom
7. Rat Salad
8. Fairies Wear Boots

Current Cycle:
11/27: Great_Paul (Green Day - American Idiot)
12/04: jcgamer107 (Ween - Quebec)
12/11: ChichiriMuyo
12/18: BlueCrystalTear

Future cycle (dates subject to change if anyone new signs up before 11/27):
n/a: MetalmindStats (skipping this cycle)
12/25: HBJDubs
1/1: Raetsel_Lapin
1/8: BlueCrystalTear/darkx/neonreaper
1/15: Steiner
1/22: Snake5555555555
1/29: Jesse_Custer
2/5: RyoCaliente/VeryInsane/FoolFantastic
2/12: ZaziGuado
2/19: firefdr
2/26: Johnbobb
3/4: Steiner/ChichiriMuyo/Great_Paul
3/11: VeryInsane
3/18: FoolFantastic
3/25: Seanchan
4/1: Johnbobb/ZaziGuado/jcgamer107
4/8: Giggsalot
4/15: RyoCaliente
4/22: darkx
4/29: Snake5555555555/Raetsel_Lapin/Seanchan
5/6: neonreaper
5/13: Great_Paul
5/20: jcgamer107
5/27: Giggsalot/MetalmindStats/Jesse_Custer
6/3: ChichiriMuyo
6/10: BlueCrystalTear
6/17: HBJDubs/firefdr

I'm leaving the previous topic up a bit longer as I have been doing recently.

Here's ChichiriMuyo's pitches for the album choices:

Elastica - Elastica
https://youtu.be/ilKcXIFi-Rc
16 tracks, 40 minutes. All killer, no filler. Quite possibly the best britpop album. Sadly the music press at the time was more interested in who the lead singer was dating at the time than the music.

Cyndi Lauper - She's So Unusual
https://youtu.be/PIb6AZdTr-A
An all time great pop album. I'm almost surprised it hasn't come up for ranking sooner, though I know as a group we can be a bit pop adverse. Absolutely worth a listen.

Hole - Live Through This
https://youtu.be/cH_rfGBwamc
Say what you will about Courtney Love, this album is outstanding. This is another album where I think it might have been the best of its genre (grunge, obv), but the rock world just does not seem to respect its female artists.

Oh shit, I knew I forgot to do something this week -_- On my own album choice.

Go ahead and remove me from the user rotation because I'm just way too busy to be any sort of reliable with this at this point.

Underleveled posted...

Oh shit, I knew I forgot to do something this week -_- On my own album choice.

Go ahead and remove me from the user rotation because I'm just way too busy to be any sort of reliable with this at this point.

Like I said, the Alanis Morissette topic is still open for the next whenever if you still want to vote.

A firm example of less being more, Paranoid is densely packed with hits that helped pave the way for heavy metal as a genre. Even if metal has since pushed the boundaries of hardness, there remains an undeniable coolness to these tracks.

My ranking:
War Pigs
Iron Man
Paranoid
Fairies Wear Boots
Planet Caravan
Hand of Doom
Electric Funeral
Rat Salad

FoolFantastic posted...

Like I said, the Alanis Morissette topic is still open for the next whenever if you still want to vote.

Thanks. Submitted. Still, not sure if I participate even remotely frequently enough to be worthy of being in the cycle.

Black Sabbath's first album established the heavy metal genre and the doom metal sub-genre at the same time. Paranoid came out less than a year later. IMO it's their best album, it's probably the easiest to digest and rank. I know some of the albums that came out after are a bit more refined and consistent. I was thinking to do something Ozzy, was considering Blizzard of Ozz but I just felt like we needed to do Sabbath. And this one is such a Side A album (I love side B for sure, though) that I feel like it would be easiest to fit into the holiday week.

Underleveled posted...

Thanks. Submitted. Still, not sure if I participate even remotely frequently enough to be worthy of being in the cycle.

I think I've said this before, but I prefer having more people nominating things than not. Even if you can''t be a regular participant, you provide a unique set of albums which is important for keeping things fresh. This would be a much less interesting place if only three or four people selected albums.

Obviously, do whatever you need to. If you want or need to take a break, go for it. I may take one myself soon! But if you're able to post a list of nominations on time, then you're as worthy as anyone else & I welcome your selections.

Fluttershy_Pony posted...

I think I've said this before, but I prefer having more people nominating things than not. Even if you can''t be a regular participant, you provide a unique set of albums which is important for keeping things fresh. This would be a much less interesting place if only three or four people selected albums.

Obviously, do whatever you need to. If you want or need to take a break, go for it. I may take one myself soon! But if you're able to post a list of nominations on time, then you're as worthy as anyone else & I welcome your selections.

Fair enough. Keep me on for now then.

Fluttershy_Pony posted...

I think I've said this before, but I prefer having more people nominating things than not. Even if you can''t be a regular participant, you provide a unique set of albums which is important for keeping things fresh. This would be a much less interesting place if only three or four people selected albums.

phew

Tagging this

I too like having a variety of people nominating. If we have too many people bailing, we will lose something important, which is variety. It's good to have people with intermittent participation nominating. I still think everyone should participate at least one week per cycle that isn't their own nomination, but that's to encourage participation without being harsh.

Tag

1: Fairies Wear Boots
2: War Pigs
3: Hand of Doom
4: Planet Caravan
5: Rat Salad
6: Paranoid
7: Iron Man
8: Electric Funeral

bump

Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill results

The participants sorted by deviation from final results:
Snake5555555555 (16)
FoolFantastic (18)
VeryInsane (18)
neonreaper (20)
Seanchan (20)
Epyo (22)
Raetsel_Lapin (22)
BlueCrystalTear (26)
Johnbobb (26)
HBJDubs (28)
ZeroSignal (28)
hotdogturtle (30)
ChichiriMuyo (34)
MetalmindStats (34)
darkx (36)

General Album Comments

Seanchan: Nothing amazing to me but I was surprised that like half this album was already known to me via singles. I do remember Jagged Little Pill being a big deal back in the day but it was still shocking how much of this got significant radio play. Even back then, I remember kind of liking some of the singles.

This may be completely off base, but I put Alanis Morissette in that group of what I'll call "female empowerment rock" from that period. My mind started making connections to singles from other female artists of the time like Sarah McLachlan and Melissa Etheridge. Spotify lists Jewel as a related artist, and I was like "oh yeah, she's in that group too!". Basically all the artists that would have headlined Lilith Fair.

FYI, Jewel's Pieces of You is another "Jagged Little Pill" for me. Probably heard half that album as radio singles despite never hearing the full thing. She has such a beautiful voice too! Maybe one for a future ranking...

hotdogturtle: Overall this album was very samey, and on my first listen there wasn't a single song that stood out to me as a #1 (it took me a second listen to pick one). I could probably shuffle the middle half of my ranking in any order and not feel any worse about my list. The only thing I really got out of this was realizing that I've heard a few of these songs before without knowing what they were.

BlueCrystalTear: I'm just happy this is an album I own so that means I've heard it before. Because this is good shit. Yes, there are a few songs that are a bit redundant of each other, but there are a few different blueprints here. And the attitude permeates throughout the album. But, really, the album is divided between the singles and the non-singles - the album tracks do many of the same things as the singles, but for the most part not as well.

ChichiriMuyo: The most amazing thing to me is the sheer number of hits that came from this album, yet I don't remember it feeling oppressive at the time. How can somebody be everywhere like that and not get old? Must be because the music is that good. Maybe that's why she played God in Dogma. Though I will say, listening to the whole album does leave me a little tired of her vocals. Maybe that's why God didn't speak in Dogma! Seriously, though, this is a really good album.

Epyo: Ohhhh this is one of my favorite albums, top 5 I think!

I always loved the singles in the 90s, but never heard the album, until one day in 2016 or so, I was reading the tracklist, and thought "wait those were all on ONE album???" That's as many banger hits, as like, Nevermind!

So I tried out the full album and fell in love, hasn't really left my rotation since.

VeryInsane: pretty straightforward album but still good

ZeroSignal: I haven't listened to Jagged Little Pill in well over two decades and yet still remembered a good chunk of it thanks to my family playing this regularly when I was 11. An incredible release for Alanis Morissette and an iconic 90s album.

HBJDubs: Great album! You Oughta Know, being one of my go-to karaoke songs is solidified as my #1, but Ironic through Forgiven can all be shuffled around any given day as the #2.

Epyo: BTW for anyone that likes this album, and hasn't heard the Acoustic version of the album, I super recommend it!

It's not a simple live unplugged thing, they went all out, in-studio. The songs were significantly rearranged/reworked/rewritten to have a different (usually darker) vibe, taking advantage of loud reverberating acoustic guitars that sound huge, and sick af.

In general I think it's better than the original, except perhaps Hand in my Pocket which sounds a lot sadder. Also they added actual instruments to "Your House" (the secret track) and turns out, that's a good song.

It's on most streaming services I think--in Youtube Music, it's the later tracks on the "Collector's Edition", the one with the brown/tan cover image.

Johnbobb: man every single song on this album is worthy of being a single

Seanchan: I have to agree with the general sentiment about this being a sneaky good album. I wouldn't call it a favorite of mine but it goes pretty deep with the singles and then after that you've still got a bunch of pretty decent songs.

12. Wake Up (Track #12)
Score: 46 (Average Rank: 9.93/12)
Biggest Fan(s): hotdogturtle (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): Snake5555555555, Raetsel_Lapin, neonreaper (#12)

BlueCrystalTear: By the end of the album, I'm starting to get a little tired of everything this song is offering, and its internal repetition doesn't help.

Epyo: It's kinda weird, but I like it. The "get up, wake up" part at the end is good.

darkx: I kinda hate having to put this near the bottom but I think that speaks to how strong this album is.

11. Perfect (Track #3)
Score: 49 (Average Rank: 9.73/12)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin, darkx (#6)
Biggest Detractor(s): Seanchan (#12)

BlueCrystalTear: Forgettable.

Epyo: The complaining-about-parents lyrics are pretty cringe. I do like how it keeps adding layers/instruments/anger throughout, but it doesn't give me goosebumps or anything.

10. Mary Jane (Track #9)
Score: 60 (Average Rank: 9.07/12)
Biggest Fan(s): darkx (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): hotdogturtle, ChichiriMuyo, Epyo, FoolFantastic, VeryInsane, ZeroSignal (#12)

Epyo: Kinda depressing, ugly, and repetitive, but I think it was meant to be all of those. I respect it as an experiment, but I don't love listening to it.

9. Not the Doctor (Track #11)
Score: 67 (Average Rank: 8.53/12)
Biggest Fan(s): ChichiriMuyo, ZeroSignal (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): BlueCrystalTear, HBJDubs, Johnbobb, darkx, MetalmindStats (#12)

BlueCrystalTear: This does nothing that other songs on the album don't already do better, and it thus feels like a filler track. The album would've been even better without it.

Epyo: Love her sarcastic style of singing the sassier lines, love the weird bouncy guitar strumming, and most of all: love the 2 drum hits before "Visiting hours are 9 to 5..."

8. Forgiven (Track #6)
Score: 75 (Average Rank: 8.13/12)
Biggest Fan(s): neonreaper (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): ChichiriMuyo (#11)

Epyo: Each verse starts chill, but builds in a pretty cool "menacing" way, towards the chorus. Love the last few chords in each chorus near "so we diiiiid". neonreaper: Sneaky good track. They seemed happy to let a few of these tracks be their own thing and didn't need to pile on pop sensibilities, and this song really benefits.

7. Right Through You (Track #5)
Score: 84 (Average Rank: 7.4/12)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): MetalmindStats (#11)

Epyo: Lots more of the jokes she delivers in that sarcastic-singing voice I love--that voice epitomizes this album, for me. But, Not the Doctor has the fun strumming, so it goes higher.

6. Ironic (Track #10)
Score: 133 (Average Rank: 5/12)
Biggest Fan(s): ChichiriMuyo, MetalmindStats (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): neonreaper (#9)

BlueCrystalTear: The most ironic part of this song is that it's hardly about irony. I don't know how intentional that was. But, while this is distracting, at least Alanis makes fun of herself for it. The music is awesome here too.

Epyo: Sooo fun to sing along to. And the lyrics, so legendarily bad/good, I love them. BUT, minus points, because the chord progression kinda sounds bad, IMO.

darkx: This song is even more aptly named than intended, as most of the situations described are not actually ironic (at least not in the strictest definition of the word; some of them are not ironic at all).

5. Head Over Feet (Track #8)
Score: 137 (Average Rank: 4.53/12)
Biggest Fan(s): BlueCrystalTear (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): hotdogturtle, Epyo (#7)

BlueCrystalTear: Among my favorite love songs ever - this is what we call a "healthy relationship" since this couple is friends as well as lovers. Easy #1.

Epyo: Love trying to sing this one, great lyrics, that warm my heart. I've heard this song might have popularized the term "friends with benefits". Fun harmonica during the instrumental.

neonreaper: Sappy but fun to listen to

4. You Learn (Track #7)
Score: 142 (Average Rank: 4.8/12)
Biggest Fan(s): Snake5555555555, Epyo, Seanchan, darkx (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb (#10)

BlueCrystalTear: A catchy title track that ripped up multiple Billboard charts for a reason.

Epyo: Love everything about the song, especially the chorus's beautiful message, delivered with sicko mode over-the-top vocals.

3. All I Really Want (Track #1)
Score: 147 (Average Rank: 4.2/12)
Biggest Fan(s): hotdogturtle, ZeroSignal (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): ChichiriMuyo (#9)

Epyo: This song goes all over the place, especially the vocals, which get downright weird. Lots of parts, very unpredictable, this song never gets old for me.

2. Hand in My Pocket (Track #4)
Score: 150 (Average Rank: 4/12)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): ZeroSignal (#8)

Epyo: Extremely simple chill song instrumentally, but, she makes it exciting by going all over the place with the vocals. Very cool combination.

1. You Oughta Know (Track #2)
Score: 185 (Average Rank: 2.67/12)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin, FoolFantastic, neonreaper, VeryInsane, HBJDubs (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): MetalmindStats (#9)

Epyo: I've gotten chills every single time I've heard that last verse after the bridge, the one with scratching the fingernails on someone else's back. This song is almost *too* intense for me, which actually brings it down a few points.

neonreaper: Man when this first came out, we were all like "wow". She is pissed at that guy! One friend said "I wouldnt want to be that guy" and I was like, "are you kidding me?" that dude had a good time with a crazy girl and she's still obsessed with him. This song would make me feel like a total boss. That said, these sorts of emotions about an ex are easy to relate to and we weren't getting enough "angry female" voices. So even though the album has a bit too much in the way of pop sensibility, I didn't mind. I liked it. I still mostly do though it's been a while since I directly related to much of the material.

1. Iron Man
2. Paranoid
3. War Pigs
4. Fairies Wear Boots
5. Electric Funeral
6. Planet Caravan
7. Hand of Doom
8. Rat Salad

In some ways this should be one of my less favourite albums in Sabbath's classic run. It's less doomy and atmospheric than the debut or MoR, and less ambitious than Vol. 4 and SBS. It's almost their pop record. But holy shit, this is just banger after iconic banger. Listening to it in full for the first time in ages reminds me how completely absurd the tracklist is here - side A in particular could basically function as a greatest hits of early heavy metal. Sabbath are the best hard rock band of that era by a mile, and this album is probably the best single piece of evidence as to why.

War Pigs
Paranoid
Planet Caravan
Hand of Doom
Iron Man
Fairies Wear Boots
Electric Funeral
Rat Salad

bump

1. War Pigs
2. Iron Man
3. Planet Caravan
4. Paranoid
5. Hand of Doom
6. Electric Funeral
7. Fairies Wear Boots
8. Rat Salad

up

Will be submitting a little later than normal. Hopefully should have 3rd listen done by Sunday night.

War Pigs
Paranoid
Iron Man
Planet Caravan
Electric Funeral
Hand of Doom
Rat Salad
Fairies Wear Boots

Iron Man
War Pigs
Paranoid
Planet Caravan
Fairies Wear Boots
Hand of Doom
Electric Funeral
Rat Salad

1. War Pigs
2. Fairies Wear Boots
3. Planet Caravan
4. Iron Man
5. Paranoid
6. Hand Of Doom
7. Rat Salad
8. Electric Funeral

Very memorable, though none of the tracks really reach an elite status for me. On the flip side, none of them are duds, so props to this album being highly accessible

Haven't had time for this because most of my week was devoted to fighting off being sick. Will get one listen in now, another tomorrow morning.

War Pigs
Iron Man
Paranoid
Fairies Wear Boots
Planet Caravan
Rat Salad
Hand of Doom
Electric Funeral

Paranoid
Planet Caravan
Iron Man
Electric Funeral
War Pigs
Fairies Wear Boots
Hand Of Doom
Rat Salad

1. War Pigs
2. Iron Man
3. Fairies Wear Boots
4. Paranoid
5. Planet Caravan
6. Electric Funeral
7. Hand of Doom
8. Rat Salad

Just a really solid album with no bad songs. You've got the 3 big classic rock radio hits and then 5 more good songs.

I will say, my reaction to Planet Caravan was totally different depending upon how I was listening. On my first listen, via earbuds, I was digging its change up style. Second listen was done via car stereo and all the road noise just drowned out all the more subtle parts of the song. Third listen, back on my normal earbuds, and I was like "no, actually this IS a good song!" Just goes to show the equipment and environment really matter when listening.

Paranoid
Iron Man
War Pigs
Electric Funeral
Fairies Wear Boots
Hand of Doom
Rat Salad
Planet Caravan

Paranoid
Iron man
Warpigs
Planet Caravan
Hand of Doom
Rat Salad
Electric Funeral
Fairies Wear Boots

couple of writeups...

Iron Man - This was a song I loved as a kid, my dad really liked Paranoid and played the album a good bit. I might think War Pigs is the better song in many ways, but, my heart is with Iron Man. Still working the horror film style of song writing, they came up with a great tragedy along with one of the all-time great riffs and overall song layout.

War Pigs - Not just a song condemning war, but also a song that addresses the allure of power.

Electric Funeral - Great song but maybe misplaced on the album. Also just feel like the end could stand to be re-recorded, it sounds better live and that's saying something haha.

Planet Caravan - Such a great trippy tune.

Sorry about the lack of update, I've been busy this week