R.I.P. Ozzy Osbourne, 1948 – 2025

2025-07-28

A lot of words for an occasion where words are futile

We all knew the day would come. But it was impossible to fully imagine. And the magnitude of the loss is impossible to fathom.

I was at a meditation retreat when it happened, only learning the tragic news after I'd come out. This is probably for the better, because if I'd been out in the real world and not immersed in calm inner exploration, I woulda lost it.

Born on December 3rd, 1948, John Michael "Ozzy" Osborne grew up with five other siblings in a humble home in dreary, industrialist post-war Birmingham. Struggling with dyslexia and bullying as well as pulling pranks and causing mischief of his own, the young Osbourne quit school at 15 to dabble in menial low-skill jobs, alcohol abuse, and crime, eventually earning him a 6-week incarceration at age 17.

While for most people with a background like this, a normal middle-class life would be a somewhat lofty aim, it was Ozzy's love for music – particularly The Beatles – that drove him to pursue a different path which would ultimately grant him more success than he or anyone else could have ever imagined.

In 1968, Ozzy formed a band with local peers Terry "Geezer" Butler, Bill Ward, and Tony Iommi, calling themselves Black Sabbath after the 1963 horror film. Anyone reading this should be well aware of their practically unexaggerable importance and influence: Throughout the 1970s, Sabbath laid the ground work for what soon became known as heavy metal. Standing on the shoulders of the '60s hard rock groups that came slightly before them, Sabbath trimmed away Led Zeppelin's acoustic folk and Deep Purple's lengthy jams, and instead added hitherto unheard-of levels of heaviness, intensity, and pummelling brawns.

Though not a technically proficient singer, Ozzy still managed to convey both manic desperation, stoic equilibrium, unsettling lunacy, and genuine human melancholy.

Butler's playful and improvisational, yet rock-solid bass drive provided the immovably heavy foundation along with Ward's loose, semi-jazzy drumming sensibility. While Iommi's historically unique and ingenious crushing riffs remained the cornerstone, Sabbath would have never been their complete, unmistakable self without Ozzy's distinct voice front and center. Though not a technically proficient singer, he still managed to convey both manic desperation, stoic equilibrium, unsettling lunacy, and genuine human melancholy.

In the midst of global musical surroundings characterized by peace, love, and wearing flowers in one's hair when going to San Francisco, Sabbath stood out as the black sheep, flirting with occultism and reminding everyone that war, corruption, poverty, pollution, and madness were still prevalent. While critics tended to hate them, the audience was enthralled by the new, dark, and heavy face of rock music, resulting in millions of album sales, extensive touring worldwide, and copious amounts of money spent on doing more copious amounts of drugs than possibly any other band at the time.

Although hugely successful, Sabbath soon became driven by drug (ab)use rather than by their creative muse. Not the least of all their vocalist cut loose and disengaged more and more from the band. So much so that by 1979 after a couple of uninspired releases clearly reflecting the unit coming apart, his band members had to let him go. While this was a tremendous blow for Ozzy – as insecure and humble on the inside as he was a wacky loose cannon on the outside – it also marked the beginning of a long and fruitful solo career. Having recently started dating the daughter of Sabbath's then-manager Don Arden, Ozzy, then, got help from Sharon Arden (later marrying him and adopting his last name), who took over his management and assisted in assembling a backing group consisting of former Rainbow and Uriah Heep members along with, not the least, former Quiet Riot guitar prodigy Randy Rhoads.

The line-up of Ozzy's solo band would switch throughout the years, and the quality of his albums fluctuated, but armed with as many hits as Sabbath, the self-proclaimed Prince of Darkness irrevocably took on the world. This, not the least of all, also happened due to his ever-crazy demeanor and antics both on- and off-stage – too many to recount here. But while these, along with his ever-ongoing flirtations with horror and all things dark, earned him unwanted attention from various conservative Christian groups and the PMRC, this, in turn, granted him tenfold wanted attention from fans and media, eventually resulting in 30 million solo albums sold worldwide.

Ozzy's continued popularity, however, was largely due to his wife and manager who arranged the Ozzfest tour, held yearly from 1996 and +10 years onwards, attended by more than four million people and generating more than $170 million. Apart from this, it was also Sharon who created the MTV reality series "The Osbournes", documenting the daily lives of the couple and two of their children. This generated controversy among fans, partly due to its spurious, popularized format, its focus on everyday trivialities rather than music, and its framing of the main character as a mumbling, shambling, semi-dysfunctional, decadent has-been. However, Ozzy continued to release solo albums up until 2022. And in spite of what one might say about his wife and her focus on business, media presence, and all-round money-making, Ozzy himself would tell you that he owed her his life.

Ozzy was ever grateful for being on stage; always clearly having a good time, and always expressing his gratitude and reverence for the audience who granted him his tremendous life and career.

After a 5-year struggle with Parkinson's, Ozzy died peacefully on Tuesday, July 22nd, surrounded by family. Only 17 days before this, he performed a final one-off show with the original other three members of Black Sabbath in their native Birmingham.

On a personal note, this signature has always considered, and will most likely always consider, Black Sabbath's reunion show in 1998 as my all-time best concert. Only a scrawny kid at the time, I had to see them, well aware of their importance as a young metalhead. And while I have witnessed many arguably more spectacular shows since then, seeing metal's godfathers on stage and experiencing the overwhelming power of their uniquely monumental, mountain-solid proto-metal masterpieces, I am as sold today as I ever was – if not more. Nothing has ever pulled harder at my neck muscles than when they played "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" that night. I've been blessed with seeing both Sabbath and Ozzy solo several times since then, and while the man's vocal faculty and mobility deteriorated by the year, he was ever grateful for being on stage; always clearly having a good time, and always expressing his gratitude and reverence for the audience who granted him his tremendous life and career.

The 2010 autobiography "I Am Ozzy" is highly recommendable. Virtually every single page explicates tales of shenanigans and debauchery covering the spectrum from thigh-slappingly hilarious to jaw-droppingly unbelievable, movingly poignant, and downright unsettling. Since 2018, a film adaptation has been in the pre-production stages.

There are no words to fully account for the significance of Ozzy Osbourne in metal history. But aside from his artistic legacy, he was known as a sincerely kind and humble personality, seemingly never fully comprehending his own massive success, and ever regretful of his many past misdeeds. Indeed, his 2001 solo album was cleverly dubbed "Down to Earth" – an album scorned by many, but loved by yours truly. And these lyrics from opening track "Gets Me Through", prosaically straightforward as they may be, exquisitely encapsulate the man's entire sentiment towards his beloved listeners:

I try to entertain you the best I can
I wish I'd started walking before I ran
But I still love the feeling I get from you
I hope you'll never stop 'cause it gets me through

Rock in peace, maestro. You were just a poor boy from England, but you rose to become the Prince of Darkness. And today, the world is a poorer and darker place without you. As much as you were simply one of us, there will never be another like you.

Sources:

Photo of Ozzy Osbourne at BlizzCon 2009 by Jen Scott, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. Source: Wikimedia Commons

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