| "Supernaut" | |
|---|---|
| Song byBlack Sabbath | |
| from the albumVol. 4 | |
| Released | September 1972 |
| Recorded | 1972 |
| Genre | Heavy metal |
| Length | 4:28 |
| Label | Warner Bros. |
| Songwriter(s) | Ozzy Osbourne,Tony Iommi,Geezer Butler,Bill Ward |
| Producer(s) | Patrick Meehan,Black Sabbath |
"Supernaut" is the fifth song from the albumVol. 4 by Britishheavy metal bandBlack Sabbath.
In an interview withQ magazine,Beck named the "Supernaut" riff as his all-time favourite, along withNeil Young's "Cinnamon Girl". The song was also a favorite ofFrank Zappa[1] andJohn Bonham.[2] When played live, the song frequently featured a drum solo.
| "Supernaut" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single by1000 Homo DJs | ||||
| B-side | "Hey Asshole" | |||
| Released | 1990 | |||
| Recorded | Chicago Trax Recording Studio | |||
| Genre | Industrial rock | |||
| Length | 14:51 | |||
| Label | Wax Trax! | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Ozzy Osbourne,Tony Iommi,Geezer Butler,Bill Ward | |||
| Producer(s) | Hypo Luxa | |||
| 1000 Homo DJs singles chronology | ||||
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The song was covered byMinistry side project1000 Homo DJs in 1990. It was released as12-inch andCD single. The CD version of the single also contains the songs "Apathy" and "Better Ways", from the band's 1988 debut single, "Apathy."[3]
Ned Raggett ofAllMusic praised the cover, writing that "the title track is something else again, one of Al Jourgensen's best efforts at creating completely over-the-top industrial death disco. While it doesn't do much in the way of reinterpreting the original Black Sabbath number—no lyric changes, same basic pace—the amped-up guitars, huge drum fills, dancefloor-oriented pounding, and distorted lyrical screaming turn it into a massive, exhilarating crunch." Nevertheless, he stated that the b-side song, "Hey Asshole", was "consisting of little more than a shouted loop of the song title and a crunching rhythm as background for an extended rant by a character playing, indeed, an asshole of a cop"[3]
Trent Reznor ofNine Inch Nails recorded the original vocals for the "Supernaut" cover.[4] His vocals were not officially used because Reznor's labelTVT Records refused to allow his appearance on the release.[5] An oft-repeated story tells that instead of recording new vocals, the band's frontmanAl Jourgensen merely altered Reznor's performance through adistortion effect to mask his identity.[3][6][7]
Both Reznor and Jourgensen dismissed this claim. In a 1992Prodigy post regarding "Supernaut", Reznor wrote, "[I] finally told Al to redo it without me. The version that Wax Trax put out is Al, the version on the NIN [bootleg] single is me."[8] Jourgensen made a similar statement in a 2003 interview. When asked whose vocals appear on "Supernaut", Jourgensen replied, "That would be me on the original, on WaxTrax! The later version released on TVT was Trent Reznor... then the remixed version had my vocals on it."[9]
The version with Reznor's vocals was eventually released on the compilation albumBlack Box – Wax Trax! Records: The First 13 Years. The version of the song with Al Jourgensen's vocals was also featured on the Black Sabbath tribute albumNativity in Black.
TVT ordered Reznor's vocals removed from ["Supernaut"], but Jourgensen actually just altered them slightly and said he'd re-recorded it.
No matter what you hear, Trent sings on all the versions of Supernaut out there. … Al went back into the studios and just distorted Trent's vocals to confuse the lawyers, label and so on...
