Grand Funk Railroad - Paranoid (1969)

What a year 1969 had been ... the year of Led Zeppelin and the true start of heavy metal. And it was accomplished without sidelining progressive rock, blues rock, and psychedelic bands like Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Procol Harum, and others. Zeppelin produced two LPs, Led Zeppelin and Led Zeppelin II, the second one containing their first MAJOR commercial hit single in the United States, “Whole Lotta Love.“ As the year drew near a close, the airwaves were suddenly bombarded by other new heavy bands with a similar sound that rivaled Zeppelin, in particular King Crimson’s “21st Century Schizoid Man“ and this song, “Paranoid,“ by the American band Grand Funk Railroad, released for airplay during the Christmas holidays of December 1969 with continued play during the winter of 1970. Like Cream, GFR was a trio ... one that packed a powerful punch. Their first LP, On Time, had not gathered too much attention until the release of “Paranoid“ to FM “underground“ stations, then everyone took notice. The song had enough impact to propel me to a record store and buy their second album, Grand Funk (also known as the Red Album). This LP is one of the prides of my vinyl collection and as near perfect as albums get. Once GFR turned commercial with “I’m Your Captain“ the experimental sound of the first two albums would never be heard again. Not to say that they were not a GREAT Top 40 band: If I didn’t think so, I would have never done music videos for “Bad Time,“ “Footstompin’ Music,“ and “The Loco-Motion.“ But there was something special and unique about the pre-Top 40 sound they had, not to mention two other especially great songs with fantastic lead guitar work, “In Need“ and “Inside Looking Out.“ “Paranoid,“ the closest thing to a heavy metal song the band ever did, reportedly blew Zeppelin right off the stage. It begins with the muddled sounds of radio and TV news broadcasts ominously being switched over to news stations, culminating in a civil defense alarm that would be sounded in the 1960’s during an imminent nuclear attack. Vietnam may have been “the great cause“ for people of all ages to rally around by this time in history (no longer merely a youth cause), but no one had forgotten October 1962 either when then-president John F. Kennedy became the first and only US commander-in-chief (thus far) to face a nuclear war crisis. That troubled period is part and parcel to the environment of paranoia that exists in the world even today as nuclear powers and nuclear-capable nations eye one another with distrust and in ever-shifting alliances. 1969 also witnessed the Tate-Labianca Murders committed by self-styled guru Charles Manson and his family of “programmed“ hippies. That crime forever drove a wedge of distrust among young people who had for so long trusted one another ... even picking up hitchhiking strangers without a thought, not to mention hitching cross-country themselves. This song deals with paranoia on both levels ... the nuclear danger posed by governments and the personal dangers that were rampant in our society then and even more so now. It is a song that is as relevant today as it was in 1969 and 1970.