OpEd

The Prince Of Darkness Is Now The King Of Darkness

Like the rest of the heavy metal universe, I feel numb after learning that Ozzy Osbourne passed away just a mere couple of weeks after his Back To The Beginning farewell show. I felt this exact same way when Lemmy passed away. I always believed that both Lemmy and Ozzy were invincible. But it's not rocket science to know that decades of excess paired with a rock n' roll lifestyle will eventually catch up with you someday. I knew deep down inside that this day would eventually arrive, but I never wanted to entertain the idea at all.

Any metalhead will tell you how much they were influenced by The Prince of Darkness, but my personal Ozzy/Black Sabbath story didn't begin until after my long hair was replaced by a career and other boring adulting nonsense.

When I was in jr. high school, the rockers would wear Ozzy and Black Sabbath shirts as their preferred wardrobe choice. I have to admit, the cover of Diary of a Madman is sick, but I didn't really care for Ozzy's solo material and thought Black Sabbath was for old dirty hippies. I was into Iron Maiden, AC/DC and Rush, those bands were my jams. I would soon start worshiping Venom, Slayer, and Metallica during my freshman year of high school. From there on, everything I listened to just got faster, heavier and just more extreme. The irony here is that most of these bands wouldn't even exist if there was no Black Sabbath!

I didn't "get" Black Sabbath until I was in my 30s. I've seen Ozzy's solo shows but only because I went to see the opening bands (Metallica and then Anthrax) and just stayed at the concerts because I was with someone that was there to see Ozzy. It was a blessing in disquise because looking back at it now, I was able to see Cliff Burton play with Metallica and watch one of my favorite guitarists of all time shred live, Jake E. Lee. Ozzy was in his glam mode during that time and I really wasn't a fan. I was fortunate to see Black Sabbath at least once in 2005 at Ozzfest. The only way I could top all of this if I had seen Randy Rhoads in person.

By the time Zakk Wylde joined the fray, big changes were happening in my life and I had moved to live with my brother (I was living in Phoenix, Arizona previously) in New Orleans, Louisiana. I was paying zero attention to Ozzy at the time. That wasn't until my late brother (who absolutely hated heavy metal) asked me if I had ever watched a television show called "The Osbournes." I told him that I didn't even know that show existed and asked him if he knew that Ozzy Osbourne was a heavy metal legend, that he bit the heads off of bats and that he had pissed on The Alamo. He said he didn't but he loved the show. I rolled my eyes and we started watching the show together. He loved show so much that he forced me and his wife to sit down and watch it together with him. It was one of the ways our relationship bonded over this silly yet hilarious show. I miss that time in my life and it saddens me when I recall those moments.

At some point in my 30's, out of nowhere, I started to listen to Electric Wizard and Sleep with reckless abandon. Both of these bands are obviously directly influenced by Black Sabbath. Some might even say they are Sabbath ripoff artists. I disagree, they just borrowed the riffs. Black Sabbath owns them. I had to revisit the source of said riffs and eventually I owned the whole Black Sabbath catalog. I loved it all. It didn't matter if it was Ozzy, Dio or even Ian Gillian and Tony Martin's versions of the most influential band in heavy metal history. Sabbath is one of those bands that has a signature sound that you can pick out from a crowd of wannabees. I love the rawness and the sonic attack of the doom sound. I don't think I'll ever grow out of it, and the thanks goes to the "King of Darkness", Mr. John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne.

And so here is where this article comes to an end. Our heroes are slowly disappearing, but their music and memory lives on forever. Cheers and horns up to you Ozzy, you'll be missed immensely. WE LOVE YOU!!! More...

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