OZZY OSBOURNE TRIBUTE

The world was rocked today with the news of his passing. Oddly enough, I'd had a premonition of sorts just two days ago. I was just about to go to sleep Sunday night and Oz popped into my thoughts and I said to myself, "I wonder how long before we are reading his obituary?" No lie.

It's hard to overstate the importance of Ozzy's music and his impact on popular culture. From his early days in Black Sabbath to his hit reality TV show on cable, "The Blizzard of Oz" has remained culturally relevant for decades, impacting generations of youth. I was one of those youth, when his breakout solo album (title above) debuted in the Spring of 1980. I was in the seventh grade.

I was familiar with Black Sabbath after hearing them fairly regularly in rotation on the Album Oriented Rock (now Classic Rock) station I grew up on in Indy, Q-95. I love the intro to "Iron Man" and Tony Iommi's memorable guitar riff! But once Blizzard came out and "Crazy Train" hit the airwaves all bets were off. I was a bonafide fan of his music. But it started almost as soon as the album came out. My friend and fellow misfit from the Junior High Group at Central Baptist, a kid named Owen, brought the vinyl to church one day. The cover, alone, got my attention. It seemed highly sacrilegious to have this in the basement of our church, let alone to be listening to it on the record player in the high school youth group room. I was blown away. I loved it, from the dark imagery to the music.

Of course, Owen loved Mr. Crowley and the dark theme of that classic tune. He had to explain to me who Aleister Crowley was and his connection to the dark side. By the end of that decade, Oz would be deemed the Prince of Darkness. I just loved the screeching guitars and fill-laiden heavy drums. Ozzy always featured the best guitarists, from the incomparable Randy Rhoades to Jake E. Lee to Zakk Wylde. And I loved everything those axemen brought to the metal table!

I don't know that I could pick a favorite Ozzy tune, but "No More Tears" and "Bark at the Moon" are in my top three, the latter coming out when I was in high school.

To highlight the multi-generational impact of the Godfather of Metal, let me share what happened just today as I learned of the news, around 12:30 PDT. I had just shared the sad news with a fellow musician on the bus who is in his 60's. He hadn't yet heard. Not ten minutes later, I'm standing outside a Ralph's Supermarket here in Venice, CA, and a guy pulls up blaring "Flying High Again" from his white SUV as he parked. The young dude steps out and is wearing an Ozzy t-shirt. We share our grief over his passing and he goes, "But we'll see him again one day." Another stranger walks up a few minutes later and in passing says, "Well, I guess he closed his eyes forever." Recognizing the Ozzy lyric, I share the same sentiments with him. He was my age or a couple of years older. The guy in the t-shirt before him was an early Millennial or late Gen Z-er, I'd say. Even my girls, now 24 and 21, know who Ozzy is.

I never got to see the legend perform live, to my dismay...never attended an OzFest. I anticipate we'll get a tribute album soon like we did in the wake of Ronnie James Dio's passing. Acts from Halestorm to Tenacious D lined up to record a track on that album. Can you imagine the line already forming for the Ozzy tribute?

And think about this...if Sabbath hadn't picked up on what Zeppelin was laying down at the beginning of the 1970's and going at it even harder and darker, would there even be a genre called Heavy Metal? "Crazy Train" has become a rock anthem played in nearly every sports stadium around the world. "ALLLLL ABOOOOARRRD!" Cue maniacal laugh. CLASSIC!

As I said, it's hard to overstate Oz's impact on the world at large, but more emphatically on the music world. Rest in peace, Ozzy.