Distressed man in a skull-design shirt holds his head amid a moody

About this image

A painterly illustration of a young man in a black shirt with a skull graphic, clutching his head in distress as a crowded, moody dance floor swirls around him. The cool, desaturated blues and grays create a somber, cinematic atmosphere with a strong emotional tone and painterly texture.

Comments (9)

• @CaylaCatz · Feb 9, 2026

  Very cool! The image embodies the song of feeling frustrated with his anguish while people around him can be happy. New song for me.

• @CaylaCatz · Feb 10, 2026

  @DavidP Wow! That Deep Purple concert is awesome! Thank you. Yeah, I read the lyrics before I listen to any of the new songs I'm being introduced to with this challenge. My hearing is compromised a bit so I like to know what they are saying before. That way if words drop out for me, I can kind of fill it in mentally. I'm not deaf but these days certain sounds like s, f, th drop out for me sometimes. I thought Sabbath was metal. I didn't realize they were a precursor. Mostly with metal I liked their power ballads but not their regular songs. My youngest brother used to love them and play them a lot. At that time I was very into pop so I'd play pop. My dad would play country and crooners. We were a very mixed family musically.

• @DavidP · Feb 10, 2026

  That's tough, to lose some of the hearing acuity - back when Sabbath and Purple did first did their thing, the term heavy metal was still to be coined and they were just hard or heavy rock - I agree with you on the power ballads. Here's one from Sabbath, though light on the power https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrnV8aGoOdQ and one from Purple https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l2QD2fbOkA I sang that last Saturday night live in our virtual OM, of course a far simpler camp-fire strummed version 😂 - As a rule pop is not my thing, though through all the eras of pop there are great songs. Lovely to have heard different genres. My parents were generally more jazz and easy listening

• @DavidP · Feb 10, 2026

  @CaylaCatz I never really thought about the lyrics of Paranoid, just love the riff, and relentless energy. Picked up on the depression angle when looking closely into the lyrics for your challenge. - I think Sabbath are among the original bands that are the influence for modern metal, bands like Metallica - LZ do have many great songs. Just musically I think Blackmore and Lord combined is just the best. - And Purple did this, which I think is pretty amazing, chek it out, I think you'll be surprised https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnA1IMnLZr4

• @DavidP · Feb 9, 2026

  Thanks. The song is about depression and anxiety, again influenced by drugs. - Sabbath is the heaviest of the so-called Unholy Trinity. And paranoid, is pretty light weight hard rock compared to some of their other early classics - Purple for me the most musical - And Zeppelin is probably the one most critically acclaimed. Of course there is Stairway to Heaven, but many other great songs as well.

• @CaylaCatz · Feb 9, 2026

  @DavidP I definitely prefer Purple to Sabbath but my opinion is based on your introduction of them as that's my sampling, lol. Zeppelin, I knew, mostly from Stairway to Heaven. The thing about this song is that for me I felt he was jealous other people could be happy while he was in anguish so I felt he could go either way -- either towards suicide or flip towards shooting people from the top of a building. It's a pretty dark song that captures not just feeling anguish but knowing he can't escape it while it destroys his life. I didn't know the drug connection but that makes sense considering what can happen in the music industry.

• @DavidP · Feb 11, 2026

  Glad you enjoyed them - yes, the difference is live vs studio. And I probably could have found a shorter live version. The beauty of the live performances is when they go into extended improvisional play, at least I like that - Yes, here's the link. Off you take a look, seek out the 4th performer Alexey, he is incredible https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=de5gRrxwgSo

• @CaylaCatz · Feb 11, 2026

  @DavidP I listened to both. They are both cool but different. The Deep Purple one was 11 minutes but there was another version at less than 4 minutes. Why is there such a difference? Was one for radio play? That's cool that you sang it. Are they going to put the virtual OM on yt?

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