Music news: celebrating Ozzy Osbourne in death is saying goodbye to an old friend
Music is like an emotional sledgehammer to our lives; it’s the soundtrack to moments, to milestones. Everyone has those songs that, upon hearing them, transport them back in time. Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” is that time machine for many, a raucous small rip of mind fuck that fuels speeding cars, hot sex, or wild montages of cocaine and whiskey medicine. It’s a few moments of perfection, which the band never intended to be anything but album filler. That’s the majesty of the band – they created a genre: Heavy Metal. And the four lads from Birmingham experienced their fruits in real-time. Yesterday, Ozzy Osbourne, the King of Metal, passed on at 76.
Celebrating Ozzy Osbourne isn’t horns in the air; it’s saying goodbye to an old friend. For many of us, his music has been the soundtrack to our lives, certainly all nine of his. It’s sad to see legends fall, especially ones with the nasal strength to out-snort Motley Crue to the point of pissing yourself and snorting ants off a log. Crazy, that’s how it goes according to Ozzy in “Crazy Train.” Now, he’s off with Randy Rhoads in the cosmos, still flying high.
He was one of the last true cowboys. He pissed on the Alamo, sang with Miss Piggy, was feared by both bats and doves, but also loved a good burrito. He gave us OzzFest and “War Pigs”, “A National Acrobat”, and “Perry Mason”. He was Lord of This World and created a body of work that defined a genre.
Black Sabbath was the coolest, darkest pack of four freaks to rock the world. The cover alone to the first album is grim and iconic. Opening with the song Black Sabbath? Those bells, the howling, everything, everyone’s tried to find that magic; no one has come close. You can only conjure the spell once in a lifetime, no matter how many times you recite the incantation.
For his last performance, I was lucky enough to be home with my family in Chicago. The “Back to the Beginning concert” was live streamed globally. Together with my brothers, my girlfriend, sister in-laws, and friends, we made a day of the event, chatting, bbqing and celebrating legacy together, celebrating an artist we love. It was a shared moment that we knew was important as fans. I’m thankful we share that memory, that we didn’t catch it later on YouTube clips.
Ozzy Osbourne will live on forever. There will always be new kids finding a Metallica tape or wondering about a Lamb of God shirt, what a Slipknot sticker is, and soon, they’ll join a community of happy freaks who act like an inclusive family, all bound by the music. And soon, as they always do, that same kid will check out Sabbath or they’ll know “Crazy Train,” and as the puzzle pieces fit in, his legacy will continue forever, or maybe, “after forever”, as the song goes. Goodbye Ozzy.
“The earth cannot move without music.” – Sun Ra
Featured photo courtesy of Ozzy Osbourne
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