The thing about music is that it all comes from somewhere else. Someone decides to play a chord a different way or does a different beat on their drums and the rest is history. In Tom Hanks’ directorial debut That Thing You Do!, the drummer speeds up the tempo and what would’ve been a slow dance love song turns into a vibrant rock-n-roll beat.
How exactly heavy metal music was born is debatable. The Beatles, The Who and The Rolling Stones all play a certain type of rock-n-roll during the British Invasion that attracted a lot of people. But the psychedelic scene of The Grateful Dead appealed to hippies and acid freaks. On the other part of the country, The Velvet Underground had a sound that was loud and twisted.
And then there was Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple reinventing the British rock-n-roll sound by the end of 1960s. Listening to Sabbath’s “Iron Man,” it’s hard to distinguish it from the psychedelic sound as Tommy Iommi lays on the guitar riffs and then things change. But it’s Ozzy Osbourne’s vocals that took the movie on a different direction.
It’s probably no surprise the British accent would become a staple of heavy metal parodies such as The is Spinal Tap. Born John Michael Osbourne, the man who would call himself “Ozzy” “The Prince of Darkness” and “The Blizzard” would change music for the next 60 years. And he was just barely in his 20s when this happerned.
Heavy Metal gave rise to Punk Rock (Ramones, Sex Pistols, The Clash) which gave rise to Glamour Hard Rock (Van Halen, Bon Jovi, Motley Crue) and then there was Alternative Rock (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Sonic Youth, R.E.M.). But Ozzy wasn’t going to fade into the ether for a while as he was fired from Sabbath in 1979 in a controversial move that was reportedly because of Ozzy’s excessive alcohol and drug use.
Yet, some people believed it was because their manager Don Arden did it because Ozzy had googley-eyes for his daughter, Sharon. It didn’t matter. Ozzy and Sharon were married in 1982 and stayed together through thick and thin for over 40 years. Unfortunately, both Ozzy and Sharon had both been raised in toxic, abusive households. Ozzy admitted to being bullied as a child to the point that he was sexually assaulted by his bullies.
After Ozzy was fired from Sabbath, Sharon became Ozzy’s manager and worked on his solo career leading to some of the most strangest moments in music history. During a meeting with record executives, heavily under the influence, Ozzy bit the heads off of doves that were supposed to be used for a totally different purpose. In 1982, there are reports during a live concert in Des Moines, he mistook a real bat for a toy and bit its head instantly realizing it wasn’t a toy when he felt its blood in his mouth.
Biting the heads off things would be a joke that would be later used in a South Park episode where Ozzy grabs Kenny McCormick and bites his head off as the series’ had a running joke at the time where Kenny dies every episode. He also appeared in a hilarious cameo in the Adam Sandler comedy Little Nicky where he saves the whole world when Adrian (Rhys Ifans), the son of Satan, is trying to take over Hell and has turned himself into a bat to escape capture. The movie also made another joke about how people believed Ozzy’s songs had subliminal demonic messages when played backwards. Yet, it’s actually Chicago who plays more demonic songs.
Ironically, Ozzy would become a member of the Church of England in 1992 and would religiously pray before every performance. The launch of MTV in the 1980s brought Ozzy to a wider audience as he continued to have success in a solo career. But in 1996, Ozzfest was born. Found by Sharon, it was a music festival consisting of Ozzy and other heavy metal/hard rock bands traveling all over North America, Europe and Southeast Asia. It would operate annually until 2018.
But eventually Ozzy would come into the homes of millions of people as MTV’s The Osbournes premiered on March 5, 2002. The concept seemed outrageous at the time as people got to see Ozzy, Sharon and their kids, Kelly and Jack, as they go through everyday events and swear like sailors. In his early 50s, the man people thought was a spawn of Satan just liked to sit in his living room, watching the History Channel and sipping on a Diet Coke. He even holds up a pack of cigarettes toward the camera saying they’re worse than crack before throwing it in the trash.
While Kelly and Jack said the whole dog therapist sequenced was staged, a lot of viewers could’ve probably agree with him as he suggested the best way to keep your pets from going to the bathroom inside is to put them outside. People got to see Ozzy and Sharon as normal parents and Jack and Kelly as normal teens and siblings. It made them all instant celebrities and Ozzy was presented at the White House Correspondents Press Association Dinner in 2002 where President George W. Bush gave him a shout-out.
Ozzy became more well-known during a Pepsi Lemon Twist ad aired during the 2003 Super Bowl where Jack and Kelly reveal they’re really Donny and Marie Osmonds. Florence Henderson also appeared. However, The Osbournes would only run for about four seasons as Ozzy suffered a neck injury and Sharon was diagnosed with colon cancer.
Many critics have said the show’s success led to other reality TV shows about celebrities, most infamously Keeping up with the Kardashians and the Anna Nicole Show. Ozzy would also be diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2003 and it would affect him for the rest of his life as cell phone footage showing him struggling to walk straight went viral. He actually lost the ability to walk earlier this year. But he still managed to perform to a sold-out crowd at the Back to the Beginning farewell concert 17 days before he died on July 22.
While their marriage had its ups and downs and reports of substance abuse and domestic assault, Ozzy and Sharon still managed to stay together. Both were products of their environments so naturally they would carry that over into their own relationship. But at least they broke the cycle. Marriage isn’t always easy. Relationships are two-way streets and they’re not always 50/50. You have your good days, your bad days and your trying days. But you work through the it all to have more better days.
Good night, sweet prince of darkness!
What was your favorite song of his? Please comment.
Zane Says 