Speaking at last December’s Steel City Con, Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler reflected on the band’s early days, admitting that rock immortality wasn’t even a consideration when Sabbath released its debut album in 1970.

“We thought we’d last about two or three years at the most,” Butler said (via Ultimate Guitar). “Everybody completely slagged it in the press. They hated us, calling us Satanists and all this crap, because they didn’t really listen to the lyrics.”

Any uncertainty vanished later that year with Paranoid, the band’s breakthrough second album. It became Sabbath’s only UK No. 1 release until 2013’s 13, while the title track—despite Tony Iommi feeling it didn’t fully represent the band—became their biggest hit, reaching No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart.

Butler noted that while Paranoid cemented Sabbath’s sound, he never liked its cover art. “We thought that was a terrible cover,” he said, adding that it came from a manager the band soon parted ways with.

Iommi later explained that the artwork confusion stemmed from a last-minute title change. The album was originally meant to be called War Pigs, with cover art reflecting that theme. “The album cover on Paranoid has nothing to do with ‘Paranoid,’” Iommi said in 2020. “It was going to be called War Pigs… which made more sense.” The title was ultimately rejected as too controversial at the time, forcing the band to move forward awkwardly with the altered concept.