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Thrashback Thursday: Ozzy Osbourne - "Steal Away (The Night)"

As mentioned when we first launched this column, despite the title, it's not exclusively dedicated to thrash metal. We're proving that this week with a look at a song from a man who doesn't have anything to do with thrash as such, but has everything to do with metal, Ozzy Osbourne. Today also marks the twenty third anniversary of the death of his guitarist, Randy Rhoads, also formerly of Quiet Riot, who would no doubt have become a bigger guitar hero than he already is, as he was unquestionably one of the most talented guitarists of the time, perhaps of all time.

Rhoads caught the world's attention when Ozzy Osbourne released his first album, "Blizzard Of Ozz," in September 1980. It was a fantastic debut by anyone's standards, striking a balance between high energy heavy metal and sixties influenced pop rock, interspersed with sentimentality on songs like, "Goodbye to Romance" and "Revelation (Mother Earth)" and Rhoads got his own spotlight on the instrumental piece, "Dee," a classical inspired work which clocked in at just under a minute but highlighted his talent tremendously.

He helped create some excellent rock songs too; "Crazy Train" and "Suicide Solution" being arguably the most well from the record, but songs such as "I Don't Know" and "Steal Away (The Night)" were no less stellar, the latter featuring a sound which perfectly blended the heavy metal at the beginning of the eighties, helping Ozzy to stay relevant and contemporary with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, which had really taken off that year. What makes it such a good song, is that while it's unquestionably a (then) modern heavy metal song, it has great undertones of the sixties music which shaped Ozzy's life so evidently. It features a highly catchy chourus and a generally positive vibe which was a staple of bands such as The Zombies and Status Quo, culminating in a very enjoyable closing track and a perfect snapshot of the "Blizzard of Ozz."