Ozzy Osbourne (1948-2025)

> Born in filth
> Goes to school only to fight with his bully
> Makes peace with the bully and they start a band
> Invents a genre and a whole subculture
> 50+ years on the road as the most influential man in the scene
> Gets Parkinson's and emphysema
> Organizes a huge charity event as his farewell show which closes with the last ride of the legendary band he was part of, in their hometown
> Delivers a great performance despite the diseases overcoming him
> The event raises £140 millions in charity for the Birmingham's children's hospital and Cure Parkinson's
> Plus other £20 millions for the local economy due to the huge crowd attending
> Dies surrounded by his family

Never been a boring one.

Goodbye Ozzy. Heavy metal has lost its big brother today.
 
Ozzy's death hit me way harder than I expected it would. Without him, none of what we consider the heavy metal subculture would exist. But I also have to get out another thought I'd been developing: My honour as a Maiden fan demands that I consider Sharon the devil, but I have to admit that she is one impressive woman. She kept Ozzy alive for many years and held a family together with him. She successfully managed him and other artists. She launched a successful festival brand after Lollapalooza didn't want Ozzy. The fact that I despise reality TV is irrelevant if you consider what a massive, game-changing success their show was. Through all this, Sharon was always seen by Ozzy's side, and I really do believe they loved each other. I don't like her, but I can't help but respect her.
 
Perun said:
Ozzy's death hit me way harder than I expected it would. Without him, none of what we consider the heavy metal subculture would exist. But I also have to get out another thought I'd been developing: My honour as a Maiden fan demands that I consider Sharon the devil, but I have to admit that she is one impressive woman. She kept Ozzy alive for many years and held a family together with him. She successfully managed him and other artists. She launched a successful festival brand after Lollapalooza didn't want Ozzy. The fact that I despise reality TV is irrelevant if you consider what a massive, game-changing success their show was. Through all this, Sharon was always seen by Ozzy's side, and I really do believe they loved each other. I don't like her, but I can't help but respect her.
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A sad moment for sure. Check this video youll have a smile on your face again

 
Two things have struck me in the past couple of days, one good, one slightly less good:

1) Lots of people from all different backgrounds and areas (podcasters, actors, etc) have been affected by Ozzy's death, a fair few of them have very little interest in metal or Ozzy's music (more on that in a moment), like they only know him as a pop-culture icon or from the reality show. I wondered if a lot of people saw him as a bit of a joke and past his prime, it's nice to see so many do still have genuine respect for him and are sad to see him go.

2) Whenever anyone talks about, or I think about "Ozzy's music", I can't help but feel it's... not an entirely accurate statement. Yes, he was an incredibly charismatic and recognisable frontman (I wanna say "iconic" but Gen Z have ruined that word for me, thanks kids) and yes, Black Sabbath and metal in general would absolutely not have been the same without him, but pretty much all of my favourite aspects of his music is due to other people. Tony, Geezer, Randy, Jake, Zakk, Bob Daisley, Lemmy (who co-wrote four songs from my favourite Ozzy album). I follow a few YouTube guitarists who are paying tribute to Ozzy by playing their favourite solos and riffs, which Ozzy likely had no hand in writing. Again, I don't want to downplay his contributions to metal at all, but I can't help but feel he's getting a tiny bit more credit than is due.
 
Edington said:
I follow a few YouTube guitarists who are paying tribute to Ozzy by playing their favourite solos and riffs, which Ozzy likely had no hand in writing. Again, I don't want to downplay his contributions to metal at all, but I can't help but feel he's getting a tiny bit more credit than is due.
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I get your point, but picking the right people and creating hits from their riffs and ideas is also an underestimated talent. David Bowie was also very good at picking the right people to work with and using their ideas to create great songs. Not sure about how Ozzy worked, but I do think I read an interview with Zakk, where he was impressed with how Ozzy would pick certain riffs and immediately be able to come up with a melody line and make a great song from his riffs.
 
Perun said:
Ozzy's death hit me way harder than I expected it would. Without him, none of what we consider the heavy metal subculture would exist. But I also have to get out another thought I'd been developing: My honour as a Maiden fan demands that I consider Sharon the devil, but I have to admit that she is one impressive woman. She kept Ozzy alive for many years and held a family together with him. She successfully managed him and other artists. She launched a successful festival brand after Lollapalooza didn't want Ozzy. The fact that I despise reality TV is irrelevant if you consider what a massive, game-changing success their show was. Through all this, Sharon was always seen by Ozzy's side, and I really do believe they loved each other. I don't like her, but I can't help but respect her.
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The turning point for me came when I turned up this Janick interview, circa AMOLAD:
https://radiotangra.com/en/interviews/iron-maiden-janick-gers/

Key takeaway:
Actually, we had a fantastic time on that Ozzfest, the reactions from the audience was again tremendous, the reviews were outstanding. Black Sabbath were also fantastic and it was very good to listen to them. It was Sharon who seemed to have a problem with us – she turned the power off and did a few silly things that were not very professional, but that’s just the way she is, you know, and we got on with it. Ozzy’s crew was very embarrassed about it, but if somebody walks behind the stage and turns all your equipment off, there’s not a lot we can do about it. Anyway, that’s something that happened in the past and I don’t want to think about it. God bless them and may they have a happy life. I don’t have a problem with them at all.
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When I read that I felt about half an inch tall - if someone who was actually on the receiving end was able to forgive so quickly, what gave me the right to keep being snarky, many more years after the event?

So at that point I made a concious decision to forgive Sharon which, in turn, eventually made it possible for me to appreciate that she does have many good qualities. Yes she's done a few daft things in her time (Eggfest, not quiting the plastic surgery before she got behind, complaining that comparatively minor things were ruining her life etc). But then sometimes she's just a normal wife and she has looked after Ozzy and their family, she has stuck by him through thick and thin (through circumstances when a lot of wives would simply have walked out) as well as being a shrewd and effective manager for him. She's complex: I think that ultimately most of us are.

I also despise reality TV: it's not my bag at all but, more importantly, I just don't think it appeals to anything really good in human nature. And, more disturbingly, I sometimes wonder if that is actually the point of it ... :(
 
Edington said:
1) Lots of people from all different backgrounds and areas (podcasters, actors, etc) have been affected by Ozzy's death, a fair few of them have very little interest in metal or Ozzy's music (more on that in a moment), like they only know him as a pop-culture icon or from the reality show. I wondered if a lot of people saw him as a bit of a joke and past his prime, it's nice to see so many do still have genuine respect for him and are sad to see him go.
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Classic FM did have a surprising amount to say about it - and not just because of the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra this morning:
Edington said:
2) Whenever anyone talks about, or I think about "Ozzy's music", I can't help but feel it's... not an entirely accurate statement. Yes, he was an incredibly charismatic and recognisable frontman (I wanna say "iconic" but Gen Z have ruined that word for me, thanks kids) and yes, Black Sabbath and metal in general would absolutely not have been the same without him, but pretty much all of my favourite aspects of his music is due to other people. Tony, Geezer, Randy, Jake, Zakk, Bob Daisley, Lemmy (who co-wrote four songs from my favourite Ozzy album). I follow a few YouTube guitarists who are paying tribute to Ozzy by playing their favourite solos and riffs, which Ozzy likely had no hand in writing. Again, I don't want to downplay his contributions to metal at all, but I can't help but feel he's getting a tiny bit more credit than is due.
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Ozzy's contribution is Ozzy's contribution - irrespective of the contributions of others to the same thing, that thing would not have become what it is without Ozzy and his contribution. And as for "iconic" being an overused word, the actual definition of an icon is something that conveys a lot of information in a very small amount of detail. And Ozzy fits the definition exactly: you see a picture of Ozzy and you KNOW what he represents - that's iconic in a nutshell ;)

#reclaimingiconicforozzy
 
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