As I write this post, I find myself unable to conjure the words necessary to pay tribute enough to the legendary Ozzy Osbourne. He was simultaneously the biggest madman of rock n’ roll, a founding member of the genre we know as heavy metal, one of the funniest TV dads of all time, and a great human being to boot. Nobody is without their faults, as Ozzy well knew, but he carried with him an air of humbleness and humility. I’m reminded of a clip from The Osbournes when Elton John gifts Ozzy an extravagant diamond necklace, at the strong behest of the Ozzman. In fact, Ozzy was so ashamed and embarrassed by Elton’s gift, he retreated to his bedroom pleading for Sharon to help him give the gift back because he didn’t feel he deserved it.
I read that at the end of Ozzy’s final concert, after it was all over, exhausted from the performance and surely in pain, Ozzy turned to Sharon and remarked, “I had no idea that so many people liked me.”
There are only a handful of musicians that have left a highly successful band to go on to form another, arguably bigger, band in its wake. Ozzy’s tenure in Black Sabbath revolutionized music as we know it, ushering in an era of heavy, blues-driven, gain-drenched riffs that inspired a plethora of bands after them. Without riffs such as Vol 4’s ‘Supernaut’, a song which Frank Zappa is reported to have loved, Master of Reality’s ‘Children of the Grave’, or the proto-thrash stylings of ‘Symptom of the Universe’ from Sabotage, bands such as Metallica, Slayer, Type O Negative, and an innumerable amount of others would never have formed. Ozzy and Black Sabbath’s influence can even be felt within the hip hop world. From Cypress Hill sampling Black Sabbath’s “The Wizard” on their incredible track, “Ain’t Goin’ Out Like That”, to T-Pain recently covering “War Pigs”, Black Sabbath’s influence on music as a whole cannot be overstated.
I can only imagine the shock as a Black Sabbath fan in 1981 buying Ozzy’s first solo album, having no idea what was going to come out of the speakers, only for the intro riff from ‘I Don’t Know’ to melt your face down to the ground.
Ozzy Osbourne will never truly die. His influence is undeniably ingrained in music history as we know it. Despite his flaws, despite any of the stories you may have heard about him and how crazy he is, Ozzy Osbourne was a gem of a human. He may be gone, but he lives forever in all of those who loved him, family and fans alike.
Horizon sends our love to Sharon, Jack, Kelly, and everyone else who celebrates and loves Ozzy as much as we do.
” I was down, but now I’m flying,
straight across the great divide,
I know you’re crying, but I’ll stop your crying,
when I see you on the other side”
– See You on the Other Side, Ozzy Osbourne
