Released: August 7, 1983

Songwriter: Ian Gillan Geezer Butler Tony Iommi Bill Ward

Producer: Robin Black

[Verse 1]
Accept the fact that your second rate life is easy for you
It's all served up on a gold plated plate
And we don't even have to talk to you
Your face is normal, that's the way you're bred
And that's the way you're going to stay
Your head is firmly nailed to your TV channel
But someone else's finger's on the control panel

[Chorus]
What you gonna be, what you gonna be brother?
Zero the hero
Don't you wanna be, don't you wanna be brother?
Zero the hero
When you gonna be, when you gonna be brother?
Zero the hero
Impossibility, impissibolity, mother
Really a hero

[Verse 2]
You sit there, watch it all burn down
It's easy and breezy for you
You play your life to a different sound
No edge, no edge, you got no knife have you
Your life is a six lane highway to nowhere
You're going so fast you're never ever gonna get down there
Where the heroes sit by the river
With a magic in their music as they eat raw liver

[Chorus]
What you gonna be, what you gonna be brother?
Zero the hero
Don't you wanna be, don't you wanna be brother?
Zero the hero
When you gonna be, when you gonna be brother?
Zero the hero
Impossibility, impissibolity, mother
Really a hero

[Verse 3]
You stand there captain, and we all look
You really are mediocre
You are the champion in the Acme form book
But I think you're just a joker
Your freedom life ain't so much of a pity
But the luv-a-ducking way you're walking around
The city with your balls and your head full of nothing
It's easy for you sucker, but you really need stuffing

[Chorus]
What you gonna be, what you gonna be brother?
Zero the hero
Don't you wanna be, don't you wanna be brother?
Zero the hero
When you gonna be, when you gonna be brother?
Zero the hero
Impossibility, impossibility, mother
Really a hero

Black Sabbath

From their start as a heavy blues-rock band called Earth in 1968, Black Sabbath survived over four decades with a total of 19 studio albums and numerous hits, but only “Paranoid” reached the top 10 UK Singles Chart, putting together one of the greatest rock bands of all time and setting the standards for music in their genre.

Virtually every single heavy metal band has cited the early Black Sabbath albums as a major musical influence and Black Sabbath have at least played some part in laying the foundations for most of heavy metal’s sub-genres, including thrash metal (“Symptom of the Universe” and “Into the Void”), doom metal (“Black Sabbath”) and stoner metal (“Sweet Leaf”). The band also explored many rock sub-genres, including hard rock (“Paranoid”), blues rock (“N.I.B.”), psychedelic rock (“Planet Caravan”) and, of course, the traditional heavy metal, being one of the precursors of this genre.

They were ranked by MTV as the “Greatest Metal Band” of all time and placed second in VH1’s “100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock” list. Rolling Stone magazine ranked them number 85 in their “100 Greatest Artists of All Time.” They have sold over 70 million records worldwide. Black Sabbath were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. They have also won two Grammy Awards for Best Metal Performance.