Classical Composer Reacts to IRON MAN: Black Sabbath | The Daily Doug (Episode 778) 

This version was missing the iconic "I AM IRON MAN" at the beginning.

"Leave him cookies and beer He'll visit your house first next year"

Iron Man was partially inspired by Ted Hughes' 1968 book Iron Man. About an alien Iron Man who comes to earth, who is at first feared by the locals, but eventually saves them from an giant dragon from outer space. The song also may have inspired the 6 metre Iron Man statue in the band's native Birmingham.

For some reason when he goes "oh, hush!" is just so adorable! That's relationship goals right there! All those years and they can still playfully poke fun at each other!

Iommi had so many riffs in his head he had to use 2 or 3 (or more) in just about every song. Definitely the riff king, and they were all immense

Beat Club version! I think they were still deciding where to order the lyrics. Anyway, always cool to see early Sabbath performances.

Iron man is the song that got me into black sabbath. It will always be my favourite song of theirs

You would be well advised to do the rest of Paranoid. "Planet Caravan" is an awesome piece of jazz, and side 2 mostly isn't stuff you've done, but it's all amazing and classic. Seriously one of the greatest albums in recorded music history.

Yeah, Doug, I do remember the "I Am Santa Claus" parody. It was certainly not the first time I had heard that riff, as I had been familiar with Black Sabbath for Many Moons already by that time. I had forgotten about the parody, so thanks for bringing it back to mind for me.

Love your channel Doug. Keep up the great work! :)

Love the embroidery on your shirt!!! You always have a great reaction. Thanks!

My first album my brother purchased for me for Xmas at age 14. Still have it to this day. My friends and I would air guitar this entire album. Oh yeah! Then, Master of Reality, Sweetleaf and Children of the Grave ( my favorite).❤️👍😎🎸

If you were a metal head back in the day and you wanted to learn guitar, this was the first song you had to learn xD. You nailed it Doug, Tony is the king of riffs \m/

My first Sabbath album was Volume 4 in 1972. I think i bought the first one soon after. It took me a little longer to buy Paranoid and Master of Reality.

Anyone that's ever watched 80's wrestling - Iron Man was the entrance music for the Road Warriors/Legion of Doom. Seeing the crowds pop as it hit and Hawk/Animal came strutting out oddly adds an extra visual to a great song

Great vid, Doug! One of my favourite Sabbath tracks. I’ve even played it in a couple of cover bands over the years. Those interlude riffs…the first one which goes chromatically from B to Ab, then the next one is the Bm scale run up using chromatic notes to fill in between the 4th&5th and the b7 - octave, then that second one repeats and is followed by the C#m blues scale run, then the solo…out of the solo, they reverse order. C#m run, then the Bm scale, then after the final verse, they repeat the first B-Ab riff. The song is a palindrome 😉😁👍🏻

I heard that CD too when I was a kid. It was many years before I got into metal, so that might have been the first place I heard the riff, too.

Such an awesome song

Never thought of the song like that. I heard the song from my uncle. When I was 10. Loved it instantly. I'm 52 and still playing guitar. Great video again doug. Hope your partner gets well❤

Is this a live version? It’s tuned lower and the audio sounds like it’s performed live.

"Taking the mickey out of" someone is the polite version -- the rude version is "taking the piss." Ozzy apparently plays the harmonica somewhere on there, and Rick Wakeman the Moog...

Thanks Doug old school metal at its best love some Black Sabbath 😊

Iommi is most certainly the King Of Metal Riffs, been listening to him for decades and his playing still hypnotizes me.

Thanks again Doug, having a musical higher education, I come here for the great desciptions, ear training and theory reminders. I personaly like the prog metal shows being a jazz player in general, love the polyrhythms, polymeters...etc, as well as the high abilties some of these players show.

This is NOT the original version Doug.... it is missing the opening "I am Iron Man" to go with the guitar slur.... something is not right with the drums too....

Definitely live - love the 70’s when tuning was optional! 😂

the quality of the song in the video is bad dont know why….

Hard to overstate the crucial role Black Sabbath - and especially Tony - played in founding the metal genre? As so often with Sabbath, What a riff! Geezer's lyrics always pretty special. Yes, we Take The Mickey in the UK! But we also take the piss...a lot! Usually out of each other, and our friends. Something that often confuses Americans - if we are taking the piss out of you, we like you! Great again, Doug 👍👍

The story is actually surprisingly complex given its brevity - the hero lives in a future of mass destruction, and travels *back* in time to prevent that destruction - but is turned to steel during his time travels. He is left seemingly immobile and inanimate - but the appearance is given that he successfully prevented the terrible future ... but the apathy, then abuse over time becomes too much to bear, and Iron Man returns to an animate state, and wreaks the very destruction that he travelled time to prevent! Ozzy thus presents one possible answer to the question - "Can the future be changed?"

Very cool reaction/analysis Doug! Iron Man is such an iconic and great track. Paranoid was the first album I bought after a friend played it for me in the early 70's. Many years later I came across the Bob Rivers Christmas parody CD that featured "I Am Santa Claus"! I could not stop playing it and laughing my fool head off! Classic!!

This was great. I love this album. Electric funeral is a fantastic song. Doug, do that song soon . Im going to call Tony and tell him to tune to your piano, 😅😅. SABBATH was my first favorite band, and then soon after, RUSH won that award. Lol. There was a band that played SABBATH tunes, but they changed the lyrics and wrote about MCDONALD'S FOOD / RESTAURANT. I forget their name, and I dont know if they are still together. All 4 members each dressed as a character. Lol. They were good. You can find them on youtube.

Love the reaction video! The music-video and the audio is from a TV-performance. Not that it matter, but if there's interest the studio-version has the iconic intro :) Cheers!

this is an early live version before the release of the album. This happened a lot in the early days. Experimenting with the lyrics and the order of the verses.

Nice to see that there are only British album covers behind you.

I like watching Doug's metal mondays because its what the little man in head does when I listen to metal

love the enthusiasm!

That particular arrangement of this song is all jacked up

Fucking love yer doug. Good effort on the keyboard😂😂😂😂

I was aware of the parody with Santa Clause and never took it seriously, even as a parody. But hearing and seeing you Doug, skat that little hook you “sang” with the horns…..Priceless! and I now look at the parody with respect. 🤘🏻🤘🏻

I remember exactly where I was the first time I heard this song and it changed my taste in music forever. I was sitting at a stop light a few years later with my first power booster cranking Iron Man when I noticed a mother and her children enjoying watching the 16-year-old lunatic jamming his ass off to Iron Man. I am Santa Clause is the best Christmas song ever. Also, Megan is freaking awesome I was also laughing at you, but in a good way.

I hope Doug eventually reacts to "Hand of Doom" or "Into the Void" in the near future.

Hey Doug, how much do you know about Black Sabbath's Paranoid? I love "War Pigs", it would be fantastic to see your reaction. Hugs from Brazil!

I would love to see you react to The police! Especially Sychronicity,outlandos and regatta de blanc !

Thanks for the iron Santa quip

@5:35 It's actually being played buy pressing the low E string between the beginning of the neck and the tuning peg. Press and slowly release.

Possibly off ‘Past Lives’ album. Not original studio recording.

In 1974 my brother bought a compilation album called "Heavy Metal" (that had almost NO heavy metal on it, LOL). Anyway, that was the first time I heard this song and it literally changed my life - turning me into a life-long metal head. I was 9 at the time, and no idea music could sound like this.

Hahaha that Christmas parody seems awesome

Twisted Sister put out a Christmas album called "A Twisted Christmas". They've always been relatively tongue and cheek as well criminally underrated, but even as a Jew, that's my holiday album of choice. Christmas songs are just (for the most part very catchy) it's so great to hear a metal spin on so many classics. A good example is their rendition of "Oh Come All Ye Faithful" to their classic "We're not gonna Take it" riff. It's almost Weird Al level genius!

I read somewhere that Tony Iommi had his guitar strings loosened up to make it easier to play with the severed fingertip on his fret hand, which had the effect of making his playing sound almost sinister (being tuned to a slightly lower pitch).

Live version is my favorite, pure talent

Ah yes, back when “making a music video” meant playing a song live, once, with cameras rolling 😅 It was in the Iron Man movie; it was the music for the first teaser trailer, too. It’s technically the first song in the MCU. Nothing to do with it, but RDj insisted (insisted on wearing a Black Sabbath T shirt in The Avengers, too)

I have Twisted Christmas. Still listen to it! I AM SANTA CLAUS. Love it!

Another request to check out the Tony Martin Black Sabbath era! Have a listen to When Death Calls which features Brian May on lead guitar

I enjoy Doug's air drumming.

One of my favorite lyric is,”heavy boots of lead fills his victims full of dread”.

Did you already listen to the Technical Ecstasy album? One of my favorits. Especially the song 'Gypsy'.

OMG. I love smart parodies, such as those by Allan Sherman. I have never heard of Bob Rivers. Thank you for bringing him to my attention.

This is a classic. This groove made heavy metal click

You can't bend behind the nut on your keyboard. That's what Tony is doing to get that low BAHWWW tone to kick the tune off.

Opening note played on the low E string and bending the string above the nut.

I was at that show and it was my birthday

Tony Iommi, the riff master!

You heard it !

"Short, singable motives." Nice.

Long Live Iron Man 🎸🎶🎸🎶

Thanks, Megan, for suggesting this song LOL Fun fact I just recently learned (that's why I like reactions) about this song: Gezzer Butler once stated that it's an analogy to Jesus. I would never have guessed THAT on my own. Which makes me think of 2 songs in comparison: Lord of the heaven and the earth by Rumplestiltskin , back in the early 7ties. And the more recent Revenant by The Warning. Rumplestiltskin is a little, but fascinating rabbit hole. Who still remembers them? The Warning are just starting to become legends. But I'm sure they will. (Plus: (thanks to the commenters) I N E E D to sind that Santa Claus cover! )

classic song, Tony Iommi is an all-time, but I recommend people check out the Randy Rhoads version with Blizzard of ozz (Ozzy) any version he did was fantastic, albeit abridged as he did want to do the entire song and segue it into Children of the Grave. It can be found off the album Tribute or various bootlegs

Paranoid is a truly great album. Planet Caravan is like a multidimensional song. Such a powerful band.

Welcome to the club!

Please go back and listen to the studio version! Good reaction. Edit: Bob Rivers was a genius! Edit again: You should check out “Hand of Doom”, also on the Paranoid album. Jazzy, yet heavy. I can REALLY see you diggin’ it.

Electric Funeral is another classic

Great song for every Metal guitarist to know regardless of playing experience

noticed the tuning issue - Black sabbath tunes down but not a standard interval, it's like almost 3/4 of a step down, but not quite. it's tuned to Ozzy's voice not a tuner. drove me nuts when I was a kid trying to figure it out by ear on guitar

I had a swell time singing this song

There's a way I like to look at metal... Black Sabbath created it, Judas priest gave it identity, iron maiden perfected it, and metallica sold it and theres a reason Sabbath is at the front lol

Fantastic song.. When you doing a movie about a character named Ironman it is absolutely too good to pass up when you can afford the royalties.. On top if that it really fits so good with the character of Tony Stark, he is very much into all the classic rock making it 100% perfect for the film.

As usual with Sabbath, the drums make this song work. Not to diminish the contributions of the other legendary members of the band.

You Gotta listen to the album version.

The arrangement of this version always throws me off, having grown up and learning the later version of the song.

Have listen to some of later black sabbath stuff with tony Martin on vocals I recommend winds of Valhalla song which is awesome

Fun fact: Though not in this version, the most known version starts with distorted speech of "I AM IRON MAN!" This sound was created by speaking into a fan. Another fun fact: in the videogame Guitar Hero, it was cheaper to re-record all the songs than buy the rights to the originals. When it came time for the band responsible for those re-recordings to cover Iron Man, they first experimented with digital effects. It wasn't right. They actual sought out and purchased the same type of fan used in the original song.

I Am Santa Claus is part of my seasonal Xmess rotation. 🤘

I don't know if Twisted Sister tried to make a sequel to this with their Destroyer. But it has always felt that way to me.

This is a live version as others have surely said!

Love the Santa Claus riff too.

The song was not about Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr's MCU character. But it does match up fairly closely with one of the original Marvel characters: the first Human Torch (pre-Fantastic Four)

This song is found on Dr. Demento's Twisted Christmas. I'm sure it is found in other albums, but that's where I know it Is. It is a compilation of funny xmas songs. Grandma got run over by a reindeer is another one of the songs on the album for instance. Is funny af. You should look up Dr. Demento. He does compilations of songs from different decades. Oh, and Weird Al is also a common artist on them as well. Good stuff.

that was live

New Nightwish is out today!

OMG. I was listening to this in the shower a few days back and I was wondering... "What would Doug make about this song"

Bob Rivers did some really good parody stuff for sure

Doug, you've got to do a reaction to "Hand of Doom", it's an experience of a war vet starting to shoot up. It's followed up by "Rat Salad" which is an instrumental and drum solo and to me sounds like death rattles. To me it's just as good as War Pigs".

I'm always puzzled that Black Sabbath's Sabotage album is so underrated: From my POV, it's their best album with Ozzy. The tittle Megalomania is very interesting, Sympton of the Universe is a serious hit but everything is truly good and there is more maturity than older material and the interaction between members hadn't degraded (due to substances abuses?) and... Well, there is always some kind of madness when Ozzy is around but on this one, there's really something that goes further... what is funny is that when Tony composes for acoustic guitar, there is often something from MacLaughlin's acoustic stuff in the Mahavishnu Orchestra which is a huge contrast with his chainsaw-like distortion sound... Usually, I like his old sound when he's somewhere at the edge between clean and distortion, I don't really like his rhythm guitar distortion before the Dio era I think... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-KZiuHXFB-Hc.html What is really funny is when you consider the distortion on the 1973 joint Santana/Mahavishnu album : they're doing jazz and they have a heavier sound than Black Sabbath! ru-vid.com/group/OLAK5uy_lEtxpyVbQXeGJ45TzyAcSxBg1DjfMh7go IMHO Early Mesa/Boogie high gain amplifiers. And the 1st title is a Coltrane cover: A Love Supreme, and this album is a milestone for shred... 1st time I heard it, I was stunned: even metal virtuosos of the early-mid-80's were left behind, and the sound is both highly saturated but also articulate, accurate, expressive... Kinda stuff people believe you have treatments and effects while the most of the time, it's just the guitar and the amplifier... Most of professional electric guitars have alder or mahogany bodies, sometimes ash... Here, both John and Carlos use guitars with maple bodies

You should check out the 90s update "Monkey vs. Robot".

"is he alive or dead, are there thoughts within his head" - this not only works for someone going on a killing spree, but also a robot with AI.

Have a toke and listen to the Cardigans cover of this. They were big fans, but had some unusual Sabbath covers. I think you'll enjoy it.

I think Tony I. tuned down a half step. Im sure someone in the Council can confirm.

What happened to the Powerslave video?

I don’t know what this version is, but pretty sure it’s not the original studio version, as I’ve heard that on the radio in my dad’s garage so many times that I can’t forget it-but I have to admit I think this version is easier to figure out in guitar without the studio overdubs. Side note: I learned s lot of songs through Weird Al before listening to the original song so I get where you’re coming from as far as the parody part goes!