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RTÉ News
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Ozzy Osbourne - the soundtrack to so many wonder years
I went on holiday once with Ozzy Osbourne. And Black Sabbath. To Portugal, when I was 15. It was late June 1988, and I was never the same again. I had just finished the Inter Cert and the first week of a summer job. Before I left, I asked a twentysomething co-worker who had already become a pal - we're still in touch 37 years later, as the super glue of music did its thing in minutes - about tapes I should buy for the trip. With no hesitation, he said: "The Black Sabbath compilation We Sold Our Soul for Rock 'n' Roll." It was in to Golden Discs in the ILAC that Saturday at 9am. I bought the tape and sold my soul too. A bargain at £6.99. Fast forward 48 hours to baking in the back of a hatchback on the motorways of Portugal. Strauss was on the car's tape deck, but I had the headphones on and the AIWA walkman in the lap, doing a crammer to rival anything for the Inter Cert - this time on Ozzy Osbourne's first six albums with Black Sabbath. I was all in from the first time I heard Paranoid. If ever a riff and an opening lyric - "Finished with my woman 'cause she couldn't help me with my mind" - told the novice everything they needed to know about a band and, indeed, a singer, it was that one-two. And the best was yet to come as I flipped Side A to Side B and back again. You cannot overstate the importance of Black Sabbath's first six records: their self-titled debut (1970), Paranoid (1970), Master of Reality (1971), Vol 4 (1972), Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973), and Sabotage (1975). They're the blueprints of heavy metal. They blew the minds of a generation. They still do, half a century later. By the age of 26, Ozzy Osbourne had secured his place in music history alongside guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Terence 'Geezer' Butler, and drummer Bill Ward because of not one but half a dozen records. Think about it: six classics in a row. We Sold Our Soul for Rock 'n' Roll saw as much winding action on that holiday as the sunroof in the rental car. I joined the dots and discovered how much of what I'd been listening to for the previous year and a half owed to Ozzy and co. I can still remember the exact moment on that holiday when I realised that the outro of Black Sabbath's Fairies Wear Boots was the start of Metallica's For Whom the Bell Tolls. You don't know what you don't know at that age, but you sense when you're on to something. Thanks to Black Sabbath, I came back from that trip a changed teenager. The penny dropped that getting into music was not all about the latest overhyped albums and that the old stuff from 15 years previously - a lifetime when you're only 15 - could be way better. And cheaper. Despite all the time that's gone by, two things never changed from that summer. I still regard those first six albums as the pinnacle of Ozzy Osbourne's career. Sure, he made some special solo stuff and Sabbath did sublime work with other singers, but 'The Six' have a life force all their own, and I know they're where most people went when they learned of his passing. The other constant is that the stories of excess and terrible behaviour never held any interest. I thought they were sad at the time, and now I think they're the tragedy of someone being their own worst enemy. As awful as they were, they never eclipsed what Ozzy Osbourne accomplished on those early records. And never will. It's no exaggeration to say every metal/hard rock band and fan that's out there today has their own version of the hatchback story above and what those albums did for/to their young minds. We've all been following a musical through line ever since we heard them for the first time. My own went a few months later to the Masters of Reality album The Blue Garden (they had me from their name alone) to Faith No More's The Real Thing (featuring a cover of Black Sabbath's War Pigs) the following summer to Nirvana's Bleach (it wouldn't sound like it sounds without you know who) in the summer of 1990 and on and on right up to the here and now and a Queens of the Stone Age gig in August. Watch: Ozzy Osbourne at Black Sabbath's farewell show at Villa Park in Birmingham on 5 July And on the subject of gigs, I didn't try to get tickets to Ozzy's farewell show in Birmingham last month because I'd already seen him with Black Sabbath at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark in July 2005. It was fine that summer night, but it felt after the fact. Put simply, it wasn't the back of the car in the summer of 1988. That was as good as it could ever be. I did go away the weekend of the gig, however, and arrived back into Dublin Airport on the Sunday night. There were loads of fans coming home with the t-shirt of the concert - some were older than me! Hand on heart, I was delighted they were there to see the curtain come down after all those years. There was no jealousy. No, no jealousy at all - but I wish I could be as Zen about another related matter. The kid who's hearing Ozzy Osbourne for the first time this week or next week or the week after? You bet your life that I wish I was them.
Irish Independent
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Ozzy Osbourne flung open hell's musical gates – and changed the world
Just two weeks before his death, Ozzy Osbourne rose from the stage at Villa Park in his home town of Birmingham for his final show, resplendent on a black throne crowned with bat wings. He was unable to stand due to his deteriorating health, but still more than capable of captivating a stadium with his maniacal glare and wild, lycanthropic performance. All day, at an event dubbed Back to the Beginning, this writer had watched rock icon after rock icon take the stage to pay tribute to Ozzy and Black Sabbath, the original lineup reforming for the first time in 20 years to mark Ozzy's last stand. Metallica, Guns N' Roses, Steven Tyler, Tool, Slayer, Billy Corgan, Tom Morello and dozens more put all status and ego aside to perform the music and hail the influence of this heavy metal originator and figurehead. 'I will get back on stage if it f***ing kills me, because if I can't do it then that's what's gonna happen anyway – I'm gonna f***ing die,' he told The Independent during a period he would later describe as being 'laid up' for six years. That Ozzy got his wish, and amid such a loud and star-studded outpouring of affection – arguably the most momentous single gig in metal history – was an amazingly Hollywood ending for a life and career of such drama, delirium and dark chaos. Such cultural significance, too. After all, barely a handful of musicians could be said to have both originated and encapsulated a vastly successful genre that changed music forever. Ozzy Osbourne was among them. In 1969, when this former labourer, car-horn tuner and abattoir worker and his band Earth (guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward) renamed themselves Black Sabbath after a cult 1963 horror movie – drenching their 1970 debut album in the sounds of thunder and church bells, occult narratives, and references to Satan, Tolkien, death and paganism – they captured the murky essence of the post-psychedelia comedown. In this world, for some reason, you have to do some pretty bizarre things before people begin to know what you're about Within Iommi's down-tuned guitar and Ozzy's swooping banshee vocal, the darkness of the heroin-infested late-Sixties blues-rock scene met the societal paranoia that followed the Manson murders and the Stones at Altamont. Add a knowing, somewhat schlocky adoption of the increasingly violent and Satanic imagery of the era's horror cinema and, somewhere deep in the tarry earth of Seventies rock music, a black egg cracked and out crawled heavy metal. Black Sabbath's influence was legion. The lower Iommi tuned his strings on 1971's Master of Reality album – in order to make it easier to play guitar, having lost the tips of two fingers in a sheet metal factory accident aged 17 – the more Sabbath became responsible for doom metal in all its sonorous, tentacles-across-the-ocean-floor forms. The faster Ozzy squealed on 1970's Paranoid, the quicker he summoned speed and thrash rock – and even punk – into being. But such sounds, no matter how evocative, would never have stuck so deeply into rock's flesh had Ozzy not been so deranged and diabolical a conduit. Though Sabbath's lyrical intention was often quite hippie-leaning, Ozzy himself personified metal as a raving, hell-bound lunatic, fully devoted to the nightmarish conceit. He sang of black masses and apocalyptic iron men with genuine menace and soul-staring intensity, a wild-eyed wolfman with a liver of steel. 'One of the problems I found with alcohol was I only had one f***ing mouth,' he told me in 2010. While other rock'n'roll hedonists lived fast and died young, this cackling maniac kicked away the claws any time the devil came to claim him. When he was thrown out of Sabbath in 1978 due to his excessive substance abuse (he admitted to taking LSD every day for two years in Sabbath's heyday), he spent his pay-off on a three-month 'last party' of cocaine and alcohol. Yet he re-emerged with 1980's landmark solo debut Blizzard of Ozz to multi-platinum success that was the envy of his fading former band. Ozzy's sheer survival gave credence to the unearthly metal myths, and offered all the proof that fans needed that there really might be some dark arts at work. That solo success was maintained for decades. No matter how corny or Tales From the Crypt-esque the aesthetic of records like Diary of a Madman (1981) or Bark at the Moon (1983) became, they sold by the tomb-load, contributing to a total of over 100 million album sales in Ozzy's lifetime. And, whether they were built in his image or hard-rock culture tuned to his untamed wildman mentality, the 1980s were made for Ozzy Osbourne. Playing up to his semi-comic Hammer Horror image, he became an icon and totem of hard-rock insanity, his stories the stuff of legend. The line of ants he snorted with Motley Crue. His arrest for unknowingly urinating on the Alamo while dressed in his wife Sharon's evening dress. Biting the head off a dead bat he thought was a rubber toy, thrown onstage in Des Moines, Iowa, during his 1982 tour. And of that unfortunate dove intended to be released during a CBS meeting in 1981 but chewed to bits as a shock tactic once Ozzy realised it was already deceased. 'In this world, for some reason,' Ozzy told NME at the time, 'you have to do some pretty bizarre things before people begin to know what you're about.' Rock is a deeper, darker, louder and more cathartic place because of Ozzy Osbourne What Ozzy was about – extreme freedom; visceral entertainment; the fascination of the ancient, mystical and macabre; battling all manner of modern and classical evils – often bypassed those who didn't want to look beyond the bared teeth and lyrical witchery. Condemnation inevitably plagued him. Religious groups picketed his gigs and denounced his work, inaccurately, as promoting suicide, murder, cannibalism and Satanism. 'The only evil spirits I'm interested in are called whisky, vodka and gin,' he later joked. There were death threats and attempted attacks. At one Sabbath show in Memphis he remembered a hooded figure invading the stage with a knife, only to be knocked unconscious by a roadie with an iron bar. In 1988 and 1991, he found himself in court defending his 1980 anti-alcohol song Suicide Solution against charges that it had influenced the suicides of fans by means of subliminal messaging. 'If I was going to put hidden messages on a song,' he told me, 'they'd say 'buy more records'.' Torment followed him too, as it will the reckless rocker. On a 1982 tour, his guitarist Randy Rhoads was killed when the small plane he was in crashed while trying to 'buzz' the tour bus where Ozzy was sleeping. Ozzy told me he had 'the Egon Ronay guide of rehabs' and numerous arrests on his charge sheet, most terrifyingly for attempting to strangle Sharon in a drunken blackout in 1989. Yet, throughout, his persona remained a charmingly fatalistic one, a well-meaning Brummie tearaway dragged through life by his demons. As much as his rebirth as a confused, doddering reality TV star phenomenon in The Osbournes punctured his dark prince mystique, the metal scene's respect for him never faltered. When the emo and nu-metal festivals shunned him in the 1990s, metalheads flocked instead to his Ozzfest events, launched in 1996 and grossing $100m over the next 22 years. His chart-topping, million-selling 2003 re-work of Sabbath's Changes as a moving mid-life duet with his daughter Kelly was received as a towering anthem of the genre. And, as Back to the Beginning hammered home, Ozzy's revered standing as metal's founding father endured to the very end.
Indian Express
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
When Ozzy Osbourne ate a bat – and became a heavy metal legend
Black Sabbath frontman John Michael 'Ozzy' Osbourne, father of heavy metal and one of its most enduring and outlandish figures, died on Tuesday at 76. Earlier this month, suffering from Parkinson's and unable to stand without assistance, Ozzy rose from beneath the stage at the jam-packed Villa Park in Birmingham, less than a mile away from his home in Aston, where he grew up, seated on a custom-made throne fashioned like a bat. Forty thousand metalheads, who had gathered for a final hat tip to the metal pioneer, roared to the theatrical nod to that shocking moment from 1982 when Ozzy chewed off the head of a bat thrown on stage. Ozzy's bat bite, while not deliberate — he later said he thought it was a rubber toy — clouded the line between performance and reality. The confusion allowed for the power of the absurd to prevail. Parents were worried if kids lined their eyes with kohl, wore black and blared the music of 'Satan's friends'. Ozzy, the freak, was the children's hero, their 'Prince of Darkness'. He himself grew up on a steady dose of The Beatles. After leaving school, he worked as a labourer and in a slaughterhouse before being recruited by bassist Geezer Butler as the singer for his band Rare Breed in 1967. With guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward, they became Black Sabbath in 1969. The eponymous debut album, followed by Paranoid, Master of Reality and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, shot through the charts. While Ozzy's substance abuse and alcoholism got him fired by the band in 1979, he embarked on a solo career and was off-balance thereafter musically, and otherwise. A strange Act Two came with The Osbournes, a reality-TV peek into his home. It had Ozzy roaming around in a robe, flinging profanities, trying to figure out a TV remote. While it took away the rock star myth, the vulnerability made it work the TRPs. It felt the same during the farewell concert, when he sang 'Mama, I'm coming home', struggling with the notes. The metalheads sang along, letting him feel the last song. Just before it was time to leave.
Pink Villa
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Pink Villa
Who Was Ozzy Osbourne? All About Black Sabbath Rock Legend and Prince of Darkness as He Passes Away at 76
Trigger Warning: This article contains references to an individual's death. Ozzy Osbourne, known as the 'Prince of Darkness' and a pioneer of heavy metal, has died at the age of 76. A statement from the Osbourne family said, "It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning. He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time." Osbourne had been struggling with multiple health issues in recent years, including Parkinson's disease and spinal injuries. No official cause of death has been shared. The rise of a rock legend from Birmingham Born John Michael Osbourne in 1948 in Aston, Birmingham, Ozzy grew up in a working-class family. He faced a troubled childhood, including poverty, abuse, and jail time. "I was no good at that. Fucking useless," he once said of his short-lived career as a burglar. His environment shaped the sound of Black Sabbath, the band he co-founded with Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward. Their self-titled debut album, released in 1970, along with classics like Paranoid and Master of Reality, became blueprints for heavy metal. After being fired from Black Sabbath in 1979 due to substance abuse, Ozzy launched a successful solo career starting with Blizzard of Ozz in 1980. He released 13 solo studio albums, the latest being Patient Number 9 in 2022. He was known for shocking stunts like biting the head off a bat during a 1982 concert and once biting off two doves' heads at a record label meeting. His wife, Sharon Osbourne, managed his career, and together they launched Ozzfest in 1996, a major metal festival that ran for years. Here's what you may not know about his personal struggles Ozzy married Sharon in 1982, and they had three children: Kelly, Jack, and Aimee. He had two other children, Jessica and Louis, with his first wife Thelma. In 1989, he was arrested for attempting to strangle Sharon while under the influence. "I woke up in this little single cell… 'You're charged with attempting to murder Mrs Sharon Osbourne,'" he recalled in 2007. The couple later reconciled. He also survived a quad bike accident in 2003 and numerous health challenges, including Parkinson's, which he revealed in 2020. "You wake up the next morning and find that something else has gone wrong," he told The Guardian in May 2025. Just weeks before his death, Ozzy reunited with Black Sabbath at the Back to the Beginning farewell concert on July 5, 2025, in Birmingham. Performing from a bat-themed throne, he told the cheering crowd, 'I am Iron Man: go fucking crazy!' The event also featured Metallica, Guns N' Roses, and Elton John, who paid tribute, saying, 'He was a dear friend and a huge trailblazer…one of the funniest people I've ever met. I will miss him dearly.'
Time of India
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Who is Ozzy Osbourne? See complete details about musical legend's real name, nickname, age, family, homes, net worth, musical career, reality television stint and legacy
Who is Ozzy Osbourne? The legendary singer became a major name in music as the frontman of Black Sabbath and as a solo performer. He was often called the ' Prince of Darkness .' Known for his unique voice and stage presence, his work helped shape the heavy metal genre. Ozzy Osbourne Early Life and Real Name Ozzy Osbourne was born as John Michael Osbourne on December 3, 1948, in Birmingham, England. He was raised in a working-class family. He left school at age 15. Before his music career, he worked in factories and even served prison time after a robbery conviction. Explore courses from Top Institutes in Please select course: Select a Course Category AP Ozzy Osbourne gave his final Black Sabbath performance at Villa Park, Birmingham, on July 5, 2025. Ozzy Osbourne Nickname 'Prince of Darkness' The nickname 'Prince of Darkness' started during his time with Black Sabbath in the early 1970s. The band's sound and the dark themes in their music made fans associate them with satanic imagery. During live performances, especially the song 'Black Sabbath,' audiences reacted strongly. Osbourne's stage persona reinforced this image. In a 2016 interview, he said the label came from those early reactions. He did not choose the name himself, but it became a lasting part of his identity. Also Read: Ozzy Osbourne Nickname Prince of Darkness Explained: Here's how Black Sabbath frontman earned it Live Events Ozzy Osbourne Age and Death Ozzy Osbourne was 76 years old when he died. He passed away on a Tuesday, surrounded by his family. The official cause of death was not disclosed. However, Osbourne had experienced multiple health issues in recent years, including Parkinson's disease, neck injuries, and COVID-19 complications. Also Read: Ozzy Osbourne Cause of Death: Black Sabbath lead singer dies at 76. See family's complete statement Ozzy Osbourne Musical Career and Legacy In 1969, Osbourne helped form Black Sabbath with Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, and Bill Ward. Their debut album came out in 1970. Although critics were not supportive at first, albums like Paranoid and Master of Reality gained major commercial success. AP FILE - Ozzy Osbourne poses with a prop at the "Black Sabbath: 13 3D" maze at Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights on Sept. 17, 2013, in Universal City, Calif. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP, File) In 1979, Osbourne was removed from Black Sabbath due to substance abuse problems. He soon launched a solo career starting with the album Blizzard of Ozz. Over the years, he released several successful albums and later reunited with Black Sabbath for select performances. AP FILE - Ozzy Osbourne, left, performs, Jan. 17, 1985, at the Rock in Rio music festival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (AP Photo, File) He sold more than 100 million records. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received awards as both a band member and solo artist. Ozzy Osbourne Family and Personal Life Ozzy Osbourne was first married to Thelma Riley. They had three children. In 1982, he married Sharon Osbourne, who also became his manager. Together they had three children. The family lived between the United States and England. AP FILE - Rock singer Ozzy Osbourne poses for a photo in Los Angeles on Dec. 21, 1981. (AP Photo/Douglas Pizac, file) AP Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne: Ozzy Osbourne, legendary rock icon, passes away at 76. AP FILE - Rock musician Ozzy Osbourne embraces his fiancee, Sharon Arden, in Los Angeles, on Dec. 21, 1981. (AP Photo/Douglas Pizac, File) Ozzy Osbourne Net Worth and Homes At the time of his death, Ozzy Osbourne's net worth was estimated at $220 million. His earnings came from music, television, real estate, and other ventures. Over the years, Ozzy and Sharon made several property deals. They sold homes in Malibu and Hidden Hills and purchased two units in Los Angeles' Sierra Towers for $6.3 million. In 2022, they listed their Hancock Park mansion for $18 million. Also Read: Ozzy Osbourne & Family Net Worth: Black Sabbath lead vocalist's earnings, early life, children, family and their net worth Ozzy Osbourne Reality Television Stint Ozzy became known to a wider audience through reality television. He starred in The Osbournes, a show about his family life. He also appeared in Ozzy & Jack's World Detour. Along with Sharon Osbourne, he created Ozzfest, a touring metal festival. AP FILE - Heavy metal rock star Ozzy Osbourne poses at the Peninsula Hotel in New York, July 27, 2000. (AP Photo/Jeff Geissler, file) He appeared in commercials, video games and online platforms. In 2009, he published his autobiography I Am Ozzy. His presence reached beyond music into popular culture. FAQs What was Ozzy Osbourne's real name and nickname? His real name was John Michael Osbourne, and his nickname was Prince of Darkness, which came from his stage presence with Black Sabbath. How much was Ozzy Osbourne's net worth at the time of his death? Ozzy Osbourne's net worth was $220 million, earned through music, television, and real estate over many years.
