How Ozzy Osbourne's spirit of defiance changed music forever

RTÉ News​

3 days ago

Opinion: Ozzy Osbourne's death is not just the passing of another rock star, writes Douglas Schulz.
It marks the end of an era – the fading of a figure who helped shape an entire music genre and subculture.
Both as a member of Black Sabbath and as a solo artist, Osbourne's legacy lies not only in music history but how we understand performance, rebellion, and the expressive power of sound itself.
Despite a long battle with Parkinson's disease and several health setbacks over the years, the news of his death was a shock to the whole metal community. Just weeks before his death on July 22, Osbourne delivered his final performance with Black Sabbath in the place it all began – Villa Park in Birmingham.
In the hours following the announcement of his death, countless bands and musicians flooded their social media channels to pay their respects.
Osbourne's life was a testament to reinvention, grit, and the power of artistic authenticity – going from a working-class kid in Aston to the biggest name in heavy metal, writing the soundtrack to so many people's lives. His distinctive voice, theatrical presence, and sheer will and determination shaped heavy metal music – inspiring generations of musicians and fans.
The Prince of Darkness, as he was known, may have left the stage but his legacy will live on.
When Black Sabbath emerged in the early 1970s, they played a role in making rock music more menacing, grittier and heavier. The Birmingham band didn't just turn up the amplifiers and played louder guitars – they introduced a new aesthetic. They were known for their doomy riffs and lyrics about war, madness and the occult. Osbourne, with his uncanny voice and stage presence, was at the front and centre.
This sound was destined to become the blueprint for heavy metal. But Osbourne's contribution went beyond his voice. He gave the genre its face, theatricality – and above all, its spirit of defiance.
Whether he was biting off the head of a bat on stage, stumbling through reality television with absurd but relatable quotes, or delivering genre-defining performances, Osbourne embodied contradictions. He was a mix of menace and mischief, tragedy and comedy, myth and man.
Heavy metal music has existed in tension with mainstream culture ever since its emergence in the UK in the late 1960s. It has been regarded as too aggressive, too loud, too weird. But Osbourne's presence forced metal into the public discourse – whether through moral panics in the 1970s and '80s, or through his television appearances in the 2000s. The Osbournes, a reality show following the family which aired on MTV, was a huge hit in the US and around the world, making Ozzy famous to a whole new audience.
Throughout his long career, Osbourne helped shift heavy metal from the margins into the mainstream, without ever diluting its transgressive edge.
A symbol of inspiration
Osbourne's stage persona carved out space for other artists to follow. His willingness to be ridiculous, to speak openly about his addictions, health struggles and family dysfunction made him oddly relatable. It is that relatability that allowed Osbourne to be metal's court jester and elder statesman in one.
Over time, bands like Slipknot, Ghost, Sleep Token, as well as more introspective bands like Deftones or Gojira, owe much to the groundwork Osbourne and Black Sabbath laid: a template for authenticity, theatricality, and emotional openness wrapped in spectacle and distortion. They helped define the core rhythms, riffs, themes and aesthetics that generations of metal bands followed.
But Osbourne's cultural influence cannot be measured only in record sales (although those were plenty), Grammy wins, or his induction into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His influence lies in how his image, sound and attitude reshaped music scenes across continents.
In countries where metal is censored or underground, Osbourne was a symbol of resistance. In places where metal was accepted, he was the genre's most unpredictable ambassador.
The Prince of Darkness, as he was known, may have left the stage but his legacy will live on. His music is still looped on Tiktok videos, and memes still make rounds on social media.
Young metal-heads will continue to emulate his style and irreverence. As long as people pick up guitars and look for a way to scream back at the world, Ozzy will be there – in spirit, in sound, and in spectacle.