Image: Sony Music Entertainment
The passing of Ozzy Osbourne was something that I was not even sure if I should write about since I was sure many others would write about him, and almost all of them suddenly since he passed away. I did not want to come off as pretentious or suddenly join the bandwagon of mourners paying respect to him because I do not operate that way and never will. I am as real as they come, and I respect the reader, so right away, they can spot a fake or someone out of nowhere who had the impulse to write about his passing, because, to simply put it was breaking news and nothing else and nothing more to them.
Am I pissed? Damn right, I am. Some of these people have been writing for over 30 years, and they have never mentioned or talked about or written about Ozzy Osbourne, and they supposedly have the nerve to call themselves music critics. Whatever, that is all I can say to these imposters, fakes, brainless, ignorant posers. I have never felt this upset in a long time. Some even have the nerve to label him as “the bat-head biting artist”! What nerve these questionable people have. Imagine using that line as part of the title of your article. Poor taste, to say the least, these scum have. Don’t even bother to write if you can’t even be sincere in honoring him, but instead rely on a lame “clickbait” style of titles for your articles.
But the underlying question existed in my mind with many of these other people who suddenly wrote about him: Did you know of Ozzy Osbourne and his music, or genuinely have respect for the man? I had to ponder this a bit because, contrary to them, I knew of his music and respected the man, so I answered my question and knew this was what was right to do to honor Ozzy Osbourne in my own way.
I realized that if I, one of the few remaining legitimate music aficionados, don’t write about him, then who else is qualified? Because the grim reality is that there exists a shortage of us in all branches of mainstream media outlets. So, I told myself, “F*** it!” This has to be done because Ozzy Osbourne is the pioneer and source of metal, and without him and his band, Black Sabbath, most likely all the other heavy metal, hard rock, and alternative bands—many of them—would not have found the inspiration to even start as a band or found their sound.
Here we go: If you are in my age group, you most likely got exposed to the most to Ozzy Osbourne via his MTV reality show, The Osbournes. That is where I got to see how he was behind the scenes, how he was with his family, and how far apart he was from his onstage persona when he was touring as a solo artist supported by big-time musicians in the likes of Rob Trujillo, Zakk Wylde, and many others who served as a rotational batch of top-class musicians to serve as his bassist, guitarist, and drummer. It is how respected, supported, and beloved Ozzy Osbourne was that anyone who was not signed to a label, anyone who was not committed as a full-time member to any band, and anyone who had the time, would be there to be a member of Ozzy Osbourne’s as a solo act, because during those years in the early 2000s, Black Sabbath was no more for a long time already.
In that decade, Ozzy Osbourne was more than an elder statesman of rock. To be clear, when you say elder statesman of rock, that already overlaps into metal and other music genres that belong under the umbrella of anything to do with heavy-hitting music. So, it was an honor for Ozzy Osbourne to be bestowed that title, because it is only given to artists who have done so much, who have amassed so much credibility through their music (songs and albums), that their name has become synonymous with greatness and more than a household name. Certainly, Ozzy Osbourne belongs to that upper echelon of artists that only a good number are in. He was that essential to rock in general. A father figure, if you will.
I do remember that even back in those years, there was a visible difficulty already in how Ozzy Osbourne would move, and it was not just because of his advanced age; indeed, it turned out to be the earliest symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. But once he hit the stage, he was a guest musical act for any late-night show and was the headlining act for his music festival (Ozzfest). The shakes, the unsteady movements, and his difficulty in speaking and, what’s more, singing were gone. There was something there, indeed, in Ozzy Osbourne that he could turn off the physical manifestations of the disease during those times; perhaps it was because he knew he was in front of people, an appreciative audience, and most importantly, his fans. I believe he did not want them to worry about him and wanted them to enjoy the music.
When I think about it, Ozzy Osbourne didn’t care about the negative perceptions of him; he didn’t care or waste his time on the negative criticisms, because even back in the early 2000s, Ozzy Osbourne was many decades in as an active, recording, performing artist. He has been doing this since the ’60s, so he has seen everything, heard everything, and nothing could shake his foundation of trust and confidence in his artistry because he has proven everything already. At that point, people were just happy that he was still singing and releasing records and, importantly, touring, because here was a man who had been an inspiration to generations at that point. He was a living legend.
Ozzy Osbourne cared for the fans without question. He understood the immense value of it because he would not have reached the heights of his fame without them. I look back and try to recall the times I got to watch any interviews done with Ozzy Osbourne online, read articles about him in magazines such as The Rolling Stone, Spin, and others, because let us be real here, locally, unless you were part of the music community, were in a rock or metal band or a music aficionado, critic, historian, writer, etc., then the name of Ozzy Osbourne was nowhere to be found. That is a fact. Many people did not see eye to eye with his music, what he represented, and what his legacy was, because they would often blame him for the rise of artists like Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie, Henry Rollins, Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, Pantera, Alice in Chains, and many others.
What was wrong with any of these artists? Especially the last five? Nothing, but in the eyes of the naive, ignorant, and uninformed, these were the works of the Devil. With the first one, though, I kinda agree! Haha…. But I digress. The point is, Ozzy Osbourne was either their main musical influence or one of the major ones, and that right there shows the path of where his legacy began, a legacy that means he is their reason or a reason why they got motivated into becoming an artist themselves, because in their mind, if Ozzy Osbourne could do it, so could they. For me, that is positive in its influence when a person inspires you to chase your dreams and defy the odds involved with it.
Especially in the case of Ozzy Osbourne with Black Sabbath, I can still remember when he told a hilarious but scary story about how, in one town where they were supposed to perform in a famous venue, they were met with pitchforks by crazed people opposing the music of Black Sabbath. Haha…. Seriously, Ozzy Osbourne has so many funny stories that he has shared publicly via numerous interviews, and that is proof alone that the man lived a colorful life, took everything that comes with it, and saw that Black Sabbath was headed towards something big, something great, and something legendary down the line. He was right.
Well, anyway, Ozzy Osbourne is now gone, and I am happy that he is no longer suffering because of the disease. He has left us multiple lifetimes of music to listen to and continue to be inspired by after we are all long gone ourselves. Now, I wonder what single message he would tell all of us who listened to his music and respected the man and what he started. One thing is for sure: he would most likely tell us, in one form or another, to keep on rockin’.
There, that is the best way to honor Ozzy Osbourne. /ra