Artist: Black Sabbath
Song: Children of the Grave
Album: Master of Reality
Producer: Rodger Bain
Label: Warner Bros.
Year: 1971
Notes:
Geezer Butler is a pacifist and this song picks up right where ‘War Pigs’ and ‘Electric Funeral’ left off. War is bad. Love is all. And the future is lost if we don’t realize that. Add in some swirling extra percussion and a looped, whispered “Children of the grave…” at the end for spooky effect, and the doom warning is complete. Ozzy also called it “the most kickass song we’d ever recorded,” in his ‘I Am Ozzy’ autobiography. Three nails verses and no chorus will do that!
Lyrics:
Revolution in their minds the children start to march
Against the world in which they have to live
And all the hate that’s in their hearts
They’re tired of being pushed around
And told just what to do
They’ll fight the world until they’ve won
And love comes flowing through, yeah
Children of tomorrow live in the tears that fall today
Will the sun rise up tomorrow bringing peace in any way?
Must the world live in the shadow of atomic fear?
Can they win the fight for peace or will they disappear, yeah
So you children of the world
Listen to what I say
If you want a better place to live in
Spread the words today
Show the world that love is still alive you must be brave
Or you children of today are children of the grave, yeah
—
‘Protest 100’s mission is two-fold: dispelling the myth that heavy metal is a brainless, socially unaware music genre, and raising awareness of the issues facing our country in the Nov. 3, 2020 election. The path won’t be exclusively metal—some punk and rap and other stuff will be in here too, including the classics—and is not a ranking. All songs are songs I’ve heard while putting this list together, ordered in a manner designed to entertain and educate.
Chris Smith, Author 