War Pigs

Black Sabbath, 1970. Solo by Tony Iommi.

Doom's founding texts include Iommi's jam-based solos.

Tony Iommi's solo sections are built on the same heavy riffs that carry the song rather than on speed. With only one guitarist in the band, he tried to let the low string ring under his lead lines so the sound stayed full, and that idea shaped heavy music for decades. The lead work unfolds across the long instrumental middle and the extended outro, mixing bluesy pentatonic phrases, bends and trills with rhythmic stabs that lock tightly to Bill Ward's drums. The final section builds to a climax before a tape speed-up sends the track spinning to a halt. Listen for the low notes sustaining underneath the lead phrases; Iommi is playing bass and melody at once to keep the trio sounding huge.

War Pigs by Black Sabbath is ranked #56 in our consensus of 79 guitar-solo lists. The solo is played by Tony Iommi and the song was released in 1970. It appears on 11 lists, placing as high as #11 (Music in Minnesota).

The story of War Pigs

The song grew out of the marathon club residencies Black Sabbath played in 1969, including stints in Zurich where the young band had to stretch a handful of songs across several sets a night. Tony Iommi has said the piece took shape during one of those long improvised jams, with the slow, lurching riff and stop-start sections emerging before any lyric existed. Songfacts adds that war stories the band heard while playing for American servicemen on a European base fed into the mood of the piece.

Geezer Butler first built the lyric around Walpurgis Night, the witches' festival, and the working title was simply "Walpurgis". Butler has explained that in his mind war itself was the true evil, so the Satanic imagery was a way of depicting generals and politicians as the real devil-worshippers. The record company balked at the occult title, so it became "War Pigs", although the words, already finished, were left alone. Ozzy Osbourne later said the band were not experts on Vietnam; to him it was simply an anti-war song.

The track was cut in June 1970 in London with producer Rodger Bain, who with engineer Tom Allom added the air-raid siren at the start and the sped-up tape ending without consulting the band, changes the musicians came to like. The group originally wanted the whole album named after this song, but Vertigo judged that too provocative for the moment and chose "Paranoid" instead. On American pressings the closing instrumental section is billed separately as "Luke's Wall".

Released as the opening track of Paranoid on 18 September 1970, it was never a conventional hit single in the UK, yet it became one of the defining statements of early heavy metal and a permanent fixture of Black Sabbath concerts for the next five decades. In the US the song was billed together with its coda as "War Pigs/Luke's Wall", and in later years it resurfaced in the film 300: Rise of an Empire and as theme music for WWE's WarGames events.

The solo

Tony Iommi plays every guitar part on the recording, and the solo sections are built on the same heavy riffs that carry the song rather than on flashy speed. Discussing the track in the Classic Albums documentary on Paranoid, Iommi explained that he tried to let the low string keep ringing under his lead lines so the sound stayed full with only one guitarist in the band. The lead work unfolds across the long instrumental middle and the extended outro, mixing bluesy pentatonic phrases, bends and trills with rhythmic stabs that lock tightly to Bill Ward's drumming. The final section, credited on US copies as "Luke's Wall" builds to a climax before producer Rodger Bain's speed-up effect sends the track spinning to a halt. Guitar World ranked this solo No. 56 among the 100 greatest guitar solos.

Legacy

Critics now treat "War Pigs" as one of Sabbath's most important songs; Martin Popoff called it one of the band's two or three most enduring pieces, and Guitar World went as far as labelling it the greatest heavy metal song ever. It topped Louder's 2021 list of the best Sabbath songs, and Rolling Stone placed it fifth on its 2023 ranking of the greatest heavy metal songs. Its riff echoes through later music, from Arctic Monkeys' "Arabella" to countless metal bands, and it earned rare coverage in the folk magazine Broadside.

Top 10 facts about War Pigs

The song was originally titled "Walpurgis", after the witches' festival, but the label found the name too Satanic and it was renamed without changing the lyrics.
Wikipedia
Black Sabbath wanted to call the whole album War Pigs, but the record company felt that was too controversial and pushed for Paranoid instead.
Songfacts
The opening air-raid siren and the accelerated ending were added by producer Rodger Bain and engineer Tom Allom without the band's input; the members later approved of the changes.
Wikipedia
The track was recorded in June 1970 at Regent Sound and Island Studios in London.
Wikipedia: Paranoid (album)
Tony Iommi said he kept the bottom string ringing during his lead parts so the sound stayed full.
Wikipedia: Paranoid (album)
Guitar World ranked the "War Pigs" solo No. 56 on its list of the 100 greatest guitar solos.
Wikipedia
Songfacts notes that Bob Dylan's 1964 protest song "With God on Our Side" was an influence on the lyric.
Songfacts
Arctic Monkeys drew heavily on the "War Pigs" riff for their 2014 single "Arabella" and often played a snippet of it on stage.
Wikipedia
Judas Priest have used the song as their walk-on music since late 2011 and released their own cover in July 2025.
Wikipedia
Ozzy Osbourne praised T-Pain's 2023 version as the best cover of the song ever recorded.
Songfacts

Live versions

Reunion (NEC, Birmingham) (1997) Opening track of the 1998 live album capturing the original line-up's homecoming shows in Birmingham.
Ozzy Osbourne with Faith No More and Metallica, Hollywood Palladium (1990) All-star performance with Metallica's James Hetfield playing guitar alongside Ozzy and Faith No More.
Grammy Awards in-memoriam tribute (2026) Post Malone, Slash, Duff McKagan, Chad Smith and Andrew Watt played it to honour Ozzy Osbourne.

Notable covers

Faith No More (1989) Included on The Real Thing; later reused on the Nativity in Black tribute album.
Tesla (2007) Folded Jimi Hendrix's "The Star Spangled Banner" into their version.
T-Pain (2023) From On Top of the Covers; Ozzy Osbourne publicly called it the best cover of the song.
Judas Priest (2025) Released on the band's official YouTube channel in July 2025.
uKanDanZ (2025) Ethiopian band sang it in Amharic on their album Evil Plan.

In our lists

Sources

Who played the guitar solo on War Pigs?

Tony Iommi played the solo on Black Sabbath's War Pigs (1970).

What guitar was used on the War Pigs solo?

A gibson sg through a Laney amp, with treble booster, according to widely reported accounts.

Where does War Pigs rank among the greatest guitar solos?

#56 in the GreatestSolos consensus of 79 published lists; it appears on 11 of them.

Who wrote War Pigs by Black Sabbath?

All four members, Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward, are credited; Butler wrote the lyrics.

What album is War Pigs on?

It opens Black Sabbath's second album, Paranoid, released in September 1970.

What was War Pigs originally called?

Its working title was "Walpurgis", but the label thought that sounded too Satanic, so it was renamed.

What is War Pigs about?

It is an anti-war song portraying generals and politicians as evil figures who send the poor to die, written against the backdrop of the Vietnam War.

What is Luke's Wall on War Pigs?

It is the name given on US pressings to the song's closing instrumental section.