War pig, iron man, madman: Ozzy Osbourne's metal legacy in five tracks

Malay Mail

4 days ago

PARIS, July 24 — Britain's Ozzy Osbourne, who died Tuesday at the age of 76, was an pioneer of heavy metal music as lead singer of Black Sabbath, producing songs with a powerful and often sinister mix of distortion and dark lyrics.
Here are five of his most memorable songs, three of which are from Black Sabbath's most successful album Paranoid (1970).
'Paranoid' (1970)
Often listed as one of the greatest heavy metal songs of all time, Paranoid came about largely by accident, being written at the last minute because the album of the same name was too short.
Describing a man's depressed state, the 'rapid-fire chugging' of the song was 'a two-minute blast of protopunk', Rolling Stone has said.
After leaving Black Sabbath in 1979 and going solo, Osbourne continued to perform the classic at the end of his concerts.
'War Pigs' (1970)
Another icon from Paranoid, this is a classic anti-war protest song often associated with the Vietnam War of the period.
It was originally entitled Walpurgis — a reference to a satanist festival — but this was changed on the recommendation of Black Sabbath's record company.
Described as 'dense' by Rolling Stone magazine, it compares military commanders to 'witches at black masses' and criticises politicians for starting war and 'treating people like pawns'.
'Iron Man' (1970)
Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler said he wrote the lyrics to this piece, also from Paranoid, when Osbourne described a dark riff by guitarist Tony Iommi as sounding 'like a great iron bloke walking about'.
It tells of a man who is unable to communicate and feels rejected, and so wreaks revenge on the world.
Osbourne 'gave metal a sense of menace during his first 10-year tour of duty with Black Sabbath, approximating the sound of a nervous breakdown on songs like Paranoid and Iron Man,' Rolling Stone wrote in 2018.
'Crazy Train' (1980)
After being sacked by Black Sabbath in 1979 because of his abuse of drugs and alcohol, Osbourne reinvented heavy metal during an epic solo career, 'picking up the pace of his songs and injecting them with baroque noir,' Rolling Stone said.
Crazy Train, the first single from his debut solo album Blizzard of Ozz in 1980, deals with the Cold War pitting the West against the Soviet Union, and fears of mutually assured destruction.
In 2019, Osbourne was reported by US media, as having complained to US President Donald Trump after the Republican used the song unauthorised in a social media video which mocked the 2020 Democratic Party candidates at a debate.
'I Don't Want to Change the World' (1991)
Continuing his successful solo run into the 1990s, I Don't Want to Change the World appeared on the multi-platinum winning No More Tears album — his last before retiring for the first time.
Osbourne won a Grammy award for his live performance of the piece in 1993.
It deals with the attitude of religious-minded people towards him, and his own views of them. The lyrics say, 'Tell me I'm a sinner / I've got news for you / I spoke to God this morning and he doesn't like you'. — AFP