Watch British Riff-Masters Tony Iommi and Brian May Jam to Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid”

You know, it’s awesome that we get to live in a world where we’ve got all the sick up-and-coming bands out there but can still fall back and witness the legends to their thing. With things like YouTube making that whole process even easier, we’re spoiled with the amount of awesome content we get from literal living metal legends.

Take the following video posted by Guitar World just a couple hours ago where Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi sat down with Queen‘s Brian May to talk shop and play some tunes. Of particular note in this clip is the fact that they play over one of the most iconic Black Sabbath songs of all time, “Paranoid.”

It was all part of a Sky Arts documentary series titled Greatest Guitar Riffs. In this little snippet, we get to see the two friends discuss their music. At one point, May asks Iommi where all great riffs come from, almost like a child asking where babies do. Ever the metal sage, Iommi had an answer for him.

“I think it’s within. Normally, we’d jam around and play something, and Ozzy [Osbourne] would go, ‘What the fuck’s that?’ But it just feels right.”

In the clip we also learn that “Paranoid” was a last ditch addition to the Sabbath’s sophomore album of the same name. At one point, while Iommi plays the riff, May declares he’s going to “commit sacrilege” by hopping on to the riff and soloing over it.

This is all one hell of a display of two of the world’s best old-school guitarists. With Iommi admitting that he’s got new music coming and that the Tony Martin-era box set is finally on its way, I’m happy that 2024 has been chock full of the iconic southpaw.