The Prince Of F*****G Darkness : RIP Ozzy

Imagine being 6 or 7 years old. Still quite impressionable and easily rattled by the creepy, eerie, and otherwise “dark” side of existence. Your older brother, 12 or 13, throws a record on mom and dad’s turntable and says “Listen to this.” The needle drops and from out of those Pioneer tower speakers comes 100 watts of church organ playing the most Gothic, dark, and dreary melody you’ve ever heard in your life. It was like being transported from the cornfed Midwest to Dracula’s castle. Lamps replaced by candelabras, your Star Wars cup filled with Hawaiian Punch replaced by a goblet of blood, and your brother seemingly transforming into some sort of ghoul. Light goes dark, warm summer air goes deathly cold, and you’re wondering if you’ll make it through the night. Then suddenly, the organ ends and a ripping guitar riff comes in with this voice singing “Mr. Crowley/What went on in your head” and all was right in the world.

This was my first experience with Ozzy Osbourne. My parents copy of Blizzard of Ozz played louder than those speakers had ever been pushed before. From that point on I was forever indebted to Ozzy for showing me the proper heavy metal path. A few years later I was buying music for myself and the first few purchases were Diary Of A Madman, Bark At The Moon, and of course my own cassette copy of Blizzard Of Ozz. Not more than a few months later The Ultimate Sin dropped and “Shot In The Dark” and “Lightning Strikes” soundtracked the summer of ’86. I was also a big fan of “Killer Of Giants”.

My brother started listening to a lot of Black Sabbath a couple years later, which led to me getting interested in that era of Ozzy which to this day is still my favorite. Christmas of ’88 I had an import/bootleg cassette release titled Best Of Black Sabbath which I played till it no longer worked. “The Writ” made a huge impression on me, as did “Hand of Doom”. There was something both menacing and inviting about Sabbath. The band made truly heavy music; d-tuned guitars, Satanic imagery, and song titles like “Rat Salad” and “Fairies Wear Boots”. Yet Ozzy’s vocals were lighter. His love of the Beatles and pop music came through in his delivery. One of the most beautiful metal ballads ever is “Changes”, and “Am I Going Insane” is pretty much a pop song…albeit with a leather-clad twist. “Goodbye To Romance” and “Steal Away The Night” were also fantastic pop songs, respectively.

I think the last Ozzy album I bought was in my senior year of high school. No More Tears was a HUGE album my senior year. The title track of course(“is just a hand in the bush”), and “Mama, I’m Coming Home” is a great ballad with Ozzy sounding so good vocally. He’d cleaned up and his voice was the better for it. Of course, “Mr. Tinkertrain” was a killer opening song, too.

I got to see Ozzy live once. It was July of 1996 at the Fort Wayne War Memorial Coliseum. Filter and Prong opened the show. Zakk had moved on to Pride & Glory by then, so it was guitarist Joe Holmes filling the guitar spot. It was a great show with bits from all his albums, including a Black Sabbath set.

In the last 20 years I think people really began to forget the mark he left on heavy metal and hard rock music. The various reality shows painted him in such a different light that we lost sight of the monumental figure he was in heavy metal and hard rock. He was a wild man, sure, snorting ants and biting the heads off winged creatures. But he was also this amazing vocalist and front man. A working class bloke from Birmingham that got into Black Sabbath because he had a PA system his dad bought for him. But once he got in front of the mic the PA was just a perk of bringing him in. His presence was as mighty as Iggy Pop or Robert Plant. Except Ozzy still held onto that child-like wonder the others didn’t have. He was a music fan, worshipped by music fans. Still a working class bloke till the day he died.

This day was coming, but a mere two weeks after his final performance seems “too soon”, really. I’m so happy that he got that final bow, man. And fans both in the crowd and sharing the stage with him got to experience the Prince Of Fucking Darkness one last time. It makes his final performance of “Mama, I’m Coming Home” that much more beautiful and heavy.

RIP to one of the all time greatest, and to nearly every metal fan’s gateway into heavy metal.

And I don’t care about the sunshine, yeah
‘Cause mama, mama, I’m coming home
I’m coming home, I’m coming home
I’m coming home