July 22, 2025

Goodbye to Ozzy Osbourne.

"Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath Frontman and Heavy Metal Legend, Dies at 76" (Variety).
He had performed just two weeks ago at what was billed as Black Sabbath’s last concert, a festival titled “Back to the Beginning,” in his and the band’s hometown of Birmingham, England, that amounted to a massive tribute to the legendary band, including from such legendary spiritual offspring as Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Slayer, Tool, Pantera, Alice in Chains and more.

I was a big fan of the "Osbournes" reality show, much (or all) of which is available on YouTube, here. Ozzy was a wonderful character. A highlights reel:

57 comments:

RCOCEAN II said...

Seems he's had lots of on-going health problems since he broke his neck in an accident 20 years ago. But he it made to 76, pretty good for a boomer R&R'er.

John henry said...

What language is that?

Rip, Ozzie

John Henry

Peachy said...

yikes - at around the 4:09 spot - I think some of that death started to kick in.

Peachy said...

on that second video - that's just elder abuse. The people selling over-tech - are all leaches.

Yancey Ward said...

I had hard time understanding a single word he said while talking but his enunciation when singing was amongst the very best in that genre of music.

RideSpaceMountain said...

"...including from such legendary spiritual offspring as Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Slayer, Tool, Pantera, Alice in Chains and more."

I have never in my life heard Tool and Alice in Chains referred to as Black Sabbath "spiritual offspring". I've never heard Maynard even mention Black Sabbath, or Staley for that matter. RIP, but weird.

John henry said...

Rock and roll in general and Ozzie Osborne in particular seem to have a bad boy image. I would have expected him to have been married multiple times.

He was, if you count two as multiple. But he was married to Sharon since 1982, 43 years. I am impressed. And warmed.

John Henry

Peachy said...

"If you're not familiar with the name Randy Rhoads, chances are you've still heard him play. As Kory Grow of Rolling Stone tells us, the musician was the virtuoso guitar player who shredded on Ozzy Osbourne's first two solo records, and a major part why the Ozzman managed to pick himself up from the slump he'd been in after getting fired from Black Sabbath in 1979. Unfortunately, the pair's creative relationship didn' t last long. In 1982, Rhoads' life ended in an almost unfathomably dramatic way in a fiery plane crash. As of 2018, the incident was still haunting Osbourne: "To this day, as I'm talking to you now, I'm back in that field looking at this f***ing plane wreck and a house on fire," he says. "You never get over something like that. You're in shock."

Read More: https://www.grunge.com/195505/the-tragic-story-of-randy-rhoads-death/

Randy Rhodes guitar work on Crazy Train - some of the best in hard-pop-rock - Imo

Readering said...

Hunter learned F word from watching Ozzie?

John henry said...

Yancey Ward said...

I had hard time understanding a single word he said while talking but his enunciation when singing was amongst the very best in that genre of music.

One of the things I learned in a special ed class was that singing and speaking speech are completely different. Also an impediment in one language is not necessarily present in another.

Mel Tillis made his (real) stuttering speech his brand. He could hardly string 3 words together but could always sing flawlessly.

Nevil Shute had a lifelong stutter in English but could speak French fluently without a stutter.

John Henry

rehajm said...

...i loved the show, too. sorry to hear...

Hassayamper said...

Damn. I was a pretty big fan back in the day.

As if I needed another reminder of the evanescence of youth and the inevitable approach of Eternity...

Quaestor said...

Ozzy eating a strawberry sorbet with an overhanded spoon was just precious, wasn't it?

Quaestor said...

Osbourne and the other members of Black Sabbath may not have been masters of spoken English, bout deyar fookin Edmund fookin Spencer compared to the the population of Birmingham today who can't say fookin shit widoot fookin allahu akbar init.

Quaestor said...

What lesson does the demise of Ozzy Osbourne at the not-quite-ripe old age of 76 have to teach us? Perhaps we should aside all pretense of irrepressible youth at some point in our lives. By age 35 at the outside, we should start thinking and speaking like adults, wearing shirts with buttons and without silkscreened graphics, shoes with sensible heels, and no dark glasses indoors after sundown.

Jim at said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jim at said...

I've never heard Maynard even mention Black Sabbath...

I've been listening to Tool for more than 30 years. They've cited Black Sabbath as one of their more influential bands from the start.

Tina Trent said...

I don't think I've ever heard his music, but The Osbournes television show seemed so ... family oriented. I enjoyed it. I understand he ate a bat once, but he just puttered around the garden. Contrasted with the Baldwins' family show, it was downright wholesome. Odd how both men have/had the same shuffling gait.

Tina Trent said...

I can just see them now, Quaester, Edmund Spencer and Ozzy Osbourne sitting on a bench together in whatsit, comparing notes on the downfall of Birmingham.

Limited blogger said...

Ozzy's performance of Mr. Crowley with Randy Rhoads on lead guitar is awesome.

RIP, Blizzard of OZ!


Kakistocracy said...

Nice that he got back to Birmingham one last time.

I hope he got to see an advance screening of Spinal Tap 2, the mockumentary send-up that couldn't have been made without his contribution to that sonic genre.

Old and slow said...

"By age 35 at the outside, we should start thinking and speaking like adults, wearing shirts with buttons and without silkscreened graphics, shoes with sensible heels, and no dark glasses indoors after sundown."

The only sensible thing I've seen on the Internet all day.

RideSpaceMountain said...

Jim at said, "I've been listening to Tool for more than 30 years. They've cited Black Sabbath as one of their more influential bands from the start."

Welp I completely missed that. I only ever heard Maynard talk about King Crimson's inspiration and a few others. I learned something new today, I'll have to find that.

wendybar said...

I loved that show!! RIP Ozzy. Quite the character...

Heartless Aztec said...

Who among us had Ozzy still alive in '25 on their Black Sabbath bingo card?

Iman said...

Yep… at the age of 76, but really 103 in Ozzie Years.

Had a work colleague who drove others (tight asses!) nearly mad when they’d walk by his office and his Mac laptop would howl with the beginning (cough) of “Sweet Leaf”) when a new email came in) or the end of Beatles’ “Helter Skelter” (I got blisters on my fingers!) when an email was sent. Good fun!

Howard said...

Free at Last

Iman said...

“The worst of the counterculture on a plastic platter--bullshit necromancy, drug-impaired reaction time, long solos, everything. They claim to oppose war, but if I don't believe in loving my enemies I don't believe in loving my allies either, and I've been worried something like this was going to happen since the first time I saw a numerology column in an underground newspaper. C-“

—— Robert “Major Wanker” Christgau capsule review of Black Sabbath’s eponymous first album

Iman said...

“Teachers and critics all dance the Poot”

Butkus51 said...

1999 Sabbath and Pantera. 3rd row. I would have preferred the 70s Sabbath version, but all good.

RIP

Lexington Green said...

A great career, a great performer, he came as close to actually dying on stage as he could. Bravo, sir.

mezzrow said...

RIP, Ozzy. What a guy, what a pro.
Here's a tribute from a neighbor and a friend. Great for those who want to get to the heart of the lyrics.
Pat Boone - Crazy Train
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sl7rkIc9b24&ab_channel=PatBoone-Topic

Leland said...

I guess they were right about billing it as their last concert.

Craig Mc said...

RIP Ozzy. Saw the Sabs in '74 and '13. That '74 gig was one of life's great ones.

Dude1394 said...

Man I hope i can go out that well.

YoungHegelian said...

An under-appreciated entry in Ozzy Osbourne's body of work is the series Ozzy & Jack's World Detour. It is a unironic a love letter to the American heartland as can be imagined, and is all the more amazing coming from this crew. It's funny, and father & kids seem to be having a hell of a time throughout. Needless to say, everyone they meet along the way is just thrilled to have Ozzie Osbourne walk among them! Rest in Peace, Ozzie!

Link to series description.

Peachy said...

Ozzy was naturally pro-American - until the corrupt evil left got to him

Rocco said...

One of the legends.

Bill The Cat must be devastated.

D.D. Driver said...

Remember when Ozzy made George Bush look likable? (Also, that was a hell of an applause at the WH correspondence dinner.)

https://youtu.be/5done2uQ5mA?si=qDTRCcIpeIfvaUWm&t=92

Clyde said...

Ozzy Osbourne has replaced the Coldplay Cheaters all over my Facebook feed. RIP, Ozzy!

gspencer said...

And that's why you shouldn't smoke, drink, do drugs or bite the heads of bats off.

Jamie said...

I understand he ate a bat once,

Story I heard was that he thought it was either fake or dead, depending on who's telling it. Unfortunately it was better. I know that if I were he, I would wake every morning feeling that CRRRRUNCH.

[shudder]

Jamie said...

Of course, if I were he, I would no longer be waking at all.

Jamie said...

Aaargh! Unfortunately it was NEITHER.

Peachy said...

I think it was a dove.

David53 said...

For years I thought it was “Gravy Train.”

Blair said...

"Tina Trent said...
I don't think I've ever heard his music..."


That's like saying "I've never heard the Beatles", or "I've never drank coca cola", or "I've never eaten a Big Mac"! Really? Please, for the love of God, listen to Black Sabbath!

chickelit said...

I saw Ozzy perform in Madison in ‘74. I was 13 and was really into Black Sabbath. The show was actually terrible. They were over a hour late. Ozzy came onstage and slurred into the mic “ where fuck are we?” They played for all of about 45 min and then the lights came up. I still recall watching from stage left as someone hurled an empty square of Jack at the stage from the back of the floor. The square bottle flew over the crowd and scored a direct hit at the face of Bill Ward’s bass drum and bounced off. If I had access to the Cap Times archive, I’d look for Dave Wagner’s review the concert date was Feb 10, 1974.
RIP Ozzy!

Iman said...

@creepydotorg
Ozzy Osbourne decided to stop using acid while recording Black Sabbath’s Vol. 4. He said “I took 10 tabs of acid then went for a walk in a field. I ended up standing there talking to this horse for about an hour. In the end, the horse turned round and told me to fuck off. That was it for me.”

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

Knowing next to nothing about him, I decided to look him up on Wikipedia to learn that Ozzy wasn't his real first name which came as a little bit of a letdown.

donald said...

Crazy Train was Chipper Jones’s walk music.

donald said...

Whoops. Walk up music.

gspencer said...

Okay, I've added another rule to follow from here on out. Never bite of the head of a live bat. Haven't decided whether I should extend that rule to dead bats.

gspencer said...

Overall I think I'm better off never having paid any attention to this Ozzy guy.

Curious George said...

"donald said...
Crazy Train was Chipper Jones’s walk music."

Also what the Patriots played when they took the field at Gillette.

Will Cate said...

Only watched the TV show occasionally, but as a spindly pre-teen in the early 70s I spent hours zoning out to Black Sabbath on the headphones. Rest in peace, Oz-man...

Iman said...

Some days, the bat bites you.

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