"Supernaut" is the fifth song from the album Vol. 4 by British heavy metal band Black Sabbath.

In an interview with Q magazine, Beck named the "Supernaut" riff as his all-time favourite, along with Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl". The song was also a favorite of Frank Zappa^[1] and John Bonham.^[2] When played live, the song frequently featured a drum solo.

Personnel

• Ozzy Osbourne – vocals
• Tony Iommi – guitars
• Geezer Butler – bass guitar
• Bill Ward – drums, percussion

Technical personnel

• Colin Caldwell, Vic Smith – engineering
• Patrick Meehan – production

1000 Homo DJs version

"Supernaut"
Single by 1000 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
"Apathy" (1988) "Supernaut" (1990)

The song was covered by Ministry side project 1000 Homo DJs in 1990. It was released as a 12-inch and CD 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 of AllMusic 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 of Nine Inch Nails recorded the original vocals for the "Supernaut" cover.^[4] His vocals were not officially used because Reznor's label TVT Records refused to allow his appearance on the release.^[5] An oft-repeated story tells that instead of recording new vocals, the band's frontman Al Jourgensen merely altered Reznor's performance through a distortion effect to mask his identity.^[3][6][7]

Both Reznor and Jourgensen dismissed this claim. In a 1992 Prodigy post regarding "Supernaut," Reznor said, "[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 Black Box – Wax Trax! Records: The First 13 Years compilation album. The Al Jourgensen version of song was also featured in Black Sabbath tribute album, Nativity in Black.

Other cover versions

• Coalesce on the 2007 reissue of their Led Zeppelin tribute EP entitled There is Nothing New Under the Sun and also on the Hydra Head Records Black Sabbath tribute album In These Black Days: Vol. 3.
• Ministry performed “Supernaut” on their 1992 Psalm 69 tour,^[10] and, as Ministry & Co-Conspirators, recorded it on their compilation album Cover Up.^[11]
• O'Connor (from Argentina) for Hay un Lugar (1999).
• Turisas for a cover CD issued by UK magazine Metal Hammer.
• The joint venture of Los Coronas and Arizona Baby covered the song in their 2011 live album Dos Bandas y un Destino.^[12]
• STEMM (from Niagara Falls) for Crossroads (2011).

References