A single mistake helped Black Sabbath make a 1970 masterpiece: “We still play it that way”
Black Sabbath kept an unexpected rhythmic variation in ‘Electric Funeral’ after drummer Bill Ward repeatedly played one section with three beats instead of four. Guitarist Tony Iommi said the band retained the mistake, and still performs the song that way.
The track appeared on 1970’s *Paranoid*, alongside songs including ‘Iron Man’ and ‘War Pigs’. Ward’s loose, shifting groove contrasts with Iommi’s riff and suits lyrics depicting the aftermath of a nuclear attack; his influences included jazz drummers Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich and Louie Bellson.
- A three-beat section became part of ‘Electric Funeral’.
- Black Sabbath still play it that way.
- The unusual groove reinforces the song’s unsettling mood.
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Black Sabbath were an English rock band whose heavy guitar sound helped shape heavy metal in the late 1960s and 1970s. The group included guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward, whose playing helped define how their songs sounded.
‘Electric Funeral’ appeared on the band’s 1970 album Paranoid, which also included ‘Iron Man’ and ‘War Pigs’. Its lyrics imagine a world after a nuclear attack, and its changing rhythm gives the song a less regular feel than a typical rock beat.
Ward drew on jazz drummers such as Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich and Louie Bellson. That mix of influences helps explain why his drumming could shift between patterns while remaining central to Black Sabbath’s heavy sound.