Ozzy Osbornes died

[Bellenda Carlisle]

The timing is insane, Ultimate Warrior-esque. No one else will ever have a send off that good, just unbelievable. R.I.P

[Chili]

My friend the music critic and writer David Stubbs just wrote this about him when he interviewed him so I'm gonna repost it here.

"Ozzy Osbourne has joined my Death List. I have grave, grave issues with his wife but setting those aside . . . 

 

I interviewed Ozzy in, I think, late 1997 at his place in Beaconsfield. I remember the several layers of high security you had to pass through to reach the house, which did make me wonder when stories emerged in later years of an intruder having found his way through to the house and supposedly being physically fought off by Mr and Mrs Osbourne. 

 

The interview took place in a room furnished like that of a minor stately home. ("The wife's turned this place into a palace.") There were similar adjacent rooms. I think the interview was around some reissue of his solo work, of which I neither knew nor cared but he clearly did not give one remote toss about that and didn't seek out my opinion of it.

 

We spoke of this and that, his reflections on the death of Diana ("Blimey!") and the legal problems that had beset Sabbath ("Why don't we just get together and all them lawyers can go have a wank.") 

 

He was off the booze at this point. I got him to talk about the heights of his bibulous days. Was it true that he had a drink on the go from first thing in the morning until he finally fell asleep? 

 

"I used to get up in the middle of the night!" 

 

He was hilarious but did not see what was remotely funny about anything he said, which he delivered loudly, matter of factly. Apparently, when he saw Spinal Tap he didn't laugh - it was all common or garden to him, what was the joke? 

 

After the interview, we repaired to the kitchen. It turned out that that was where everybody spent all their time, on a mess of sofas, duvets, the dogs included. They lived in the kitchen.

 

He helped build something, something enduring from absolutely nothing."

[CTXRussomark]

Jesus, even Lance Storm would think twice about starting a tribute with "I have grave, grave issues with his wife..."

[SuperBacon]

16 minutes ago, CTXRussomark said:

Jesus, even Lance Storm would think twice about starting a tribute with "I have grave, grave issues with his wife..."

"But setting those aside" ???

Fucking hell.

[Cousin Jim Bob]

4 hours ago, SuperBacon said:

I rewatched most of it not long ago, and it's still very funny, and Ozzy is always the main reason why, unknowingly mostly

 

Do not underestimate Ozzy. He was always an extremely funny mother fucker and had fun playing with his image. He was perfect for The Osbournes.

 

 

This one hurts. It feels like when Prince went. One of the all time gods leaving us. 

Edited July 22, 2025 by Cousin Jim Bob

[Arch Stanton]

7 hours ago, CTXRussomark said:

Jesus, even Lance Storm would think twice about starting a tribute with "I have grave, grave issues with his wife..."

I was just about to mention Lance Storm myself! ? 

Fucking hell, what an atrocious opening. I didn't even read on.

[air_raid]

A sad loss of one of few people to ever make Birmingham, city of my birth, seem relevant. I think of him every time I sing “I am Ice Cream Man, running over children in my van.”

But ultimately it’s about his contribution to wrestling!

On 3/17/2025 at 10:32 AM, air_raid said:

WrestleMania II (1986)

TTT : DREAM TEAM VS BRITISH BULLDOGS

Lou Albano is with Dyno n Davey here, and so is Ozzy Osbourne. Okerlund claims Ozzy is from Manchester… you fuckin what, Scheme Gene????

THE BRITISH BULLDOGS FOREVER!!!

[Ironic Indie Lad]

I cant even really find the words for this one. What a huge loss. 

Has anyone been able to watch any of his final show back? I have tried and its just crushed me.

 

 

[cobra_gordo]

I was a complete mess last night, just completely derailed by the news. We so often say how shocking certain celebrity deaths are and, despite me telling my wife after Back To The Beginning I'd give Ozzy another 12 months to live, it still hit me like a ton of bricks when she told me he'd gone. I ended up knelt on our living room floor in tears, just overwhelmed.

I first discovered Ozzy in 1999 when I was 14. I'd been a classic rock fan, then in to prog, then hard rock and had started getting in to metal properly the year before when Nirvana and Metallica came crashing in to my life and opened the door for Korn, Deftones and the like. I knew who Ozzy was, I'd heard of Black Sabbath due to family members telling me how they'd seen them at Sheffield City Hall in the 70's but I'd never heard a note of his or their music. And then I heard Crazy Train for the first time on a free CD included with a guitar magazine. Who the fuck was this man? Why was his vocal style so odd yet so engaging? Who the fuck was that guitar player? I was an instant fan, the rabbit hole opened up and that was that. I was obsessed with Ozzy's solo work for a couple of years before I heard anything by Sabbath that wasn't Paranoid, War Pigs or Iron Man. And when I did, the rabbit hole opened up again.

The influence of Ozzy and Sabbath on my life as a musician and a metal fan cannot be understated. As a guitar player I've been saying for years that four of the biggest influences on my playing as a teenager and in to my early 20's were all guitarists associated with Ozzy. The man surrounded himself with the absolute best and his joy watching them play was infectious. To 18 year old me Randy Rhoades was God, Jake E Lee had these incredible flourishes that I'd try and replicate and Zakk Wylde had the swagger and pinch harmonics I've been humbly lifting from for years. And then there's Iommi. Ugh, when he goes I don't know what I'm going to do. Of the four Sabbath lads, those two were always my guys. All four are amazing in their own right but I was always drawn to Tony as the riff master and Ozzy for his energetic yet haunting vocal style.

When The Osbournes came out in 2002 I was the happiest man alive to be able to see my hero in real life and realising what a funny cunt he was. That show really made them all household names but I was just glad for the backstage insight, like the famous bit with the bubbles. I'll also never forget being on an exchange trip in February 2003 to Germany and our coach driver, a grizzled old rocker, asking if we had any requests for music to put on. I asked him if he had any Ozzy on and a girl in our class decided to accuse me infront of everybody of only liking him because of The Osbournes tv show. She cockily said there was no way I could even name three of his songs. 15 songs in to me rattling out a list of titles (which I now understand can be attributed to The Autism) she said "I get it, I get it, you're a fan. That's enough". And I said no and continued naming songs until I got bored. 

As I got more and more in to metal, the more I realised every sub-genre I loved could all be traced back to those four lads from Birmingham. This image has been my background on my works laptop since the Villa Park show. The fact that so many bands, no matter how different the musical styles ultimately may be, would simply not exist without Tony Iommi managing to chop his fingertips off and Ozzy Zig needing a gig (and happening to own his own P.A system) is simply frightening. Could we have got to this point if Zeppelin or Blue Cheer or Hawkwind or whoever had been hailed as the forefathers of metal? Maybe, but I don't think we'd have anywhere near the landscape of bands we do now.

As much as I love Ozzy and Sabbath the stars only aligned twice for me to see them live. Either I was too young and too poor or grown up and too poor or there was something I had to take our kids to or we were on holiday. And when I could go, the tours got cancelled. It felt like it was never going to happen. I finally managed to see Ozzy solo live in 2010, a couple of weeks before me and my now wife got married. There was a small article in the Metro about iTunes Festival at The Roundhouse in London and an email address to contact to win two tickets. We managed to win a pair so I postponed my stag do and the two of us set off on a 5 hour coach ride to London. Ozzy was on unreal form that night. If memory serves it had been some time since his last solo show over here and this was something of a homecoming. We were on the barrier for the full set, the highlight being him looking me and my wife dead in the eyes as he chucked a bucket of water in our faces. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect moment. The eyerolls from Gus G as Ozzy kept calling for more Sabbath songs during the encore was hilarious. The Blizzard did not want to leave the stage that night. As a sidenote, Ozzy at that show was responsible for me accidentally punching my wife in the face. Repeat, accidentally. Everybody attending the show had been given a cardboard mask of Ozzy's face on arrival at the venue. It had the eye holes cut and his mouth wide open in a scream. There was a sea of Ozzys during the gig which was both cool and unsettling. After another 5 hour coach journey home to Sheffield the next day after the gig to we flopped on the settee, chucked our bags down and turned the telly on. Ghostbusters had just started. We're just getting to the scene where the librarian goes all scary when I turn to my wife who has, without me noticing due to exhaustion, slipped the Ozzy mask on and has been staring at me from around 3 inches away from my face without me realising for around 5 minutes. Me, eventually turning to talk to her and being in a knackered, delirious state simply assumed a burglar or zombie had crept in and taken my wife's place so I punched it in the nose. She wasn't happy but shock gave way to laughter and I'm now not allowed to watch Ghostbusters anymore. We still giggle about it after 15 years of marriage so thanks for our favourite anecdote Oz.

The second time seeing him live was three weeks ago at Back To The Beginning. I'd missed out on tickets in all four presales and the general release and had pretty much resigned myself to the fact I wouldn't be going to the show. A couple of weeks before the event a handful of tickets appeared on Ticketmaster, I panicked, bought a golden circle standing ticket and got to see so many of musical heroes on one stage. I mentioned it in my review of the show in the metal thread but Ozzy seemed to be having the time of his life. It was clear he was struggling, his voice cracking in places due to how emotional he was but the energy was there. You could tell he wanted to prowl the stage screaming COME ON and ROCK AN ROLL. The whole crowd was in the palm of his hand for both his solo set and the Sabbath set. The whole day was a real tribute to him and Sabbath and you could see how much it meant to him to be able to say goodbye to the fans on his terms, it's just a shame none of us realised we were saying goodbye to him too.

I'm so, so gutted. I've been on a weird emotional rollercoaster since yesterday evening but I'm now sat at work, blasting The Ultimate Sin and smiling typing this out. Gonna miss you Oz, thanks for everything.

Edited July 23, 2025 by cobra_gordo

[Ironic Indie Lad]

Imagine putting on a gig at a sold out football stadium and its a stones throw from your childhood home.

Loads of the coolest bands ever show up, they play your songs, they talk about how much they love you and how you changed their life.

Despite your age and illness, you manage an hour of your best music spanning decades. You have the crowd actually weeping as you mean so much to them. Literally millions around the world are watching at home and getting choked up.

In the process you raise a crazy amount of money for charity.

The greatest final bow there could possibly be.

Just tried (again!) watching a few bits. Got as far as "Its so good to be on this fucking stage! Youve got now idea how I feel" and I am gone again. 

 

 

Edited July 23, 2025 by Ironic Indie Lad

[BomberPat]

I grew up with an older half-brother who was heavily into grunge and metal, and my dad being quite into classic rock, so while Sabbath weren't a huge touchstone for either of them, their music was always in the mix somewhere. And, weirdly, I was really into the song "No More Tears", from it appearing in an old PC puzzle game called Vid Grid. I first really started getting into music off my own back in 2000/2001; while there were some embarrassing interests along the way, I managed to navigate the choppy waters of nu-metal and pop punk and very quickly find my way to stuff that appealed to me more, which in those days was largely informed by dirt cheap compilations of classic rock and metal. And I might not listen to all that much Saxon or Manowar any more, but Sabbath and Motorhead were the big ones that stuck with me and I never let go of.

My tastes moved on to all kinds of other stuff in the years to come, but classic metal always feels like a bit of a comfort blanket to come back to. I DJ'd at a metal night for years, and I always played the opening two hours, and then the other DJ would take over for the last two - I knew he would have to play a lot of requests, and that his last hour would be taken up by a lot of the same "end of the night" songs in sequence ("Halo", "Down With The Sickness", "Chop Suey", "Master Of Puppets", etc.), which I saw as giving me quite a lot of freedom to play what I wanted that wouldn't step on his toes, and I figured that early in the night would be more classic rock. I had a golden rule that I wouldn't play the same artist twice, but I would quite often fit in Ozzy and Sabbath separately, and maybe even some Ozzy era Sabbath and Dio era Sabbath, as they sounded more than different enough (and, at seven minutes, "Heaven And Hell" made for a good piss-break song in an emergency). 

Along with classic rock, I filled a lot of those early sets with doom metal. I wasn't very popular with some of the shittier elitist metal fans when I started that gig - I didn't really look the part of a "metal fan", and I played other genres at the same club, so they seemed to think I didn't know the music and was just doing it for the money (which would be a laugh, given some nights I didn't even make my taxi fare home) - but I saw one of them on a night out one time, and he bought me a drink and explained that a lot of his mates didn't get what I was doing, but he listened and could tell that I was really into doom, and that it might not be his thing, but he recognised that I knew my shit and that's what I wanted to be playing. That's increasingly where my tastes went, as far as metal was concerned; downtuned, slow, meaty riffs. Eventually, if anyone asked what kind of metal I was into, I used to say that it was "anything that sounds like the opening bars of Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath" - it was a bit of a joke, but genuinely, within Sabbath was the germ of absolutely everything I still love about metal, and very little of what I over the years came to dislike about it. And then, when I'm in the mood for a bit more silly bombast and the more OTT side of classic rock, there's always solo Ozzy, always Mr Crowley and Diary Of A Madman. It's all there.

 

I didn't manage to get tickets to Back To The Beginning. I was at work when pre-sale opened, and had people in the office really egging me on to buy them, but they were obscenely expensive, and I just couldn't have afforded to buy two tickets and then however much accommodation would have gone for - I'm saving up to buy a flat, it's exactly the kind of thing I need to be avoiding. It was probably for the best - my health being what it is, I think I'd have struggled with the full show, whereas watching the stream at a mate's house was, personally, a much better way for me to experience all that, even if I was profoundly jealous of everyone I knew that was actually there. It amazed me how good Ozzy sounded, though you could tell that he was giving it everything. There's an Instagram reel from a vocal coach of Ozzy's isolated vocal track from Mama, I'm Coming Home, and it's heartbreaking - he's obviously struggling and slurring his words, but the power and the drive is still there. I had tears in my eyes watching that performance, and knew I'd have been crying my eyes out had I been there in person - the significance of that song, in that setting, in Birmingham, and knowing that it had been co-written by Lemmy, all really struck me, and I haven't really stopped thinking about it since, and have listened to it a lot since that show. For whatever reason, despite being a much bigger Sabbath fan than I am a solo Ozzy fan, and despite thinking at the time that Back To The Beginning maybe leaned too heavily into being just about Ozzy at times more than celebrating Sabbath as a whole, it's Ozzy's solo stuff that I've kept coming back to since that show.

Ozzy's performance at that show had a sense of saying goodbye. You knew he would never be able to do this again, and that it was a bit of a miracle he was able to do it at all. The timing now makes it feel all a bit like that last Ultimate Warrior promo. 

[Kfogg1991]

My fiance woke me up when the news broke and I've been in tears since....this man was my hero my idol and my god.

Two fucking weeks after the last ever show it's like his body wouldn't let him go until he did it. 

R.I.P to the prince of darkness 

He's reunited with Lemmy and his brother randy Rhodes 

[I Bent My Wookie]

I wanted to reflect on everything before posting because I think there's probably a lot of people who could and have put it so much more eloquently but also because I wanted to make sure anything I did write did itself justice.

Ozzy and Sabbath, and The Osbournes as a whole probably gave more to my life growing up than at the time I think I really understood. Thinking back last night after the news broke, I began to realise just how much I listened to them, in the pubs, at home, chatting to the metal head teachers during Art class, and that, as many bands took influence from Sabbath and Ozzy, how much time in my life I've heard something inspired by them.

When The Osbournes started in 2002 I would have been 9 but it was the repeats and viral clips and how just utterly bizarre and fantastic the family were that I'd suggest bridged a big gap for me when I began listening to rock and metal during secondary school with the "popular" kids because they saw the Osbournes as this entertainment experience, I got to enjoy the music but we had a common ground at a time I probably struggled to chat to people. 

I've memories of jamming out with some of the older musicians at school playing Paranoid, because their parents had introduced them to this awesome band in the same way the old rockers at my local pub did while my Da played cards. Hereford and Birmingham aren't a million miles apart and those that grew up on rock music in the area in the 70s probably have their own Sabbath live story to tell.

I never got to see him live, or in person I guess, because YouTube is a wonderful thing for going back and watching old performances and I regret that, because in hindsight I've always had a thing about not wanting to see a lifetime band or artist and worry that it doesn't hold up. But I think that is where the magic of Ozzy truly was, you watch back the Villa Park performances, and for a guy having his heart rate checked 15 times a day and unable to stand or walk, its the passion he had for entertaining, for inspiring and doing what he loved, that no matter what the performance sounded like, it was a performance you were witnessing. 

It's a strange feeling to feel gutted and heartbroken by something that seemed so inevitable for so long. But its a loss for culture, for art and for a large society of people. In a way I don't think even The Beatles or The Rolling Stones or any of those instrumental bands of the 60s and 70s could muster, Sabbath were multi generational. They were bold and exciting as much back in 1970 as they are to people I played music for the first time yesterday. They inspired a whole sub culture of music, of fashion, of friendships and of being okay with who you are. 

Something tells me there's a hefty bar tab and building damages fee up in heaven this morning, because Lemmy's been waiting for his mate to raise hell.

[Chili]

1 hour ago, cobra_gordo said:

I was a complete mess last night, just completely derailed by the news. We so often say how shocking certain celebrity deaths are and, despite me telling my wife after Back To The Beginning I'd give Ozzy another 12 months to live, it still hit me like a ton of bricks when she told me he'd gone. I ended up knelt on our living room floor in tears, just overwhelmed.

I first discovered Ozzy in 1999 when I was 14. I'd been a classic rock fan, then in to prog, then hard rock and had started getting in to metal properly the year before when Nirvana and Metallica came crashing in to my life and opened the door for Korn, Deftones and the like. I knew who Ozzy was, I'd heard of Black Sabbath due to family members telling me how they'd seen them at Sheffield City Hall in the 70's but I'd never heard a note of his or their music. And then I heard Crazy Train for the first time on a free CD included with a guitar magazine. Who the fuck was this man? Why was his vocal style so odd yet so engaging? Who the fuck was that guitar player? I was an instant fan, the rabbit hole opened up and that was that. I was obsessed with Ozzy's solo work for a couple of years before I heard anything by Sabbath that wasn't Paranoid, War Pigs or Iron Man. And when I did, the rabbit hole opened up again.

The influence of Ozzy and Sabbath on my life as a musician and a metal fan cannot be understated. As a guitar player I've been saying for years that four of the biggest influences on my playing as a teenager and in to my early 20's were all guitarists associated with Ozzy. The man surrounded himself with the absolute best and his joy watching them play was infectious. To 18 year old me Randy Rhoades was God, Jake E Lee had these incredible flourishes that I'd try and replicate and Zakk Wylde had the swagger and pinch harmonics I've been humbly lifting from for years. And then there's Iommi. Ugh, when he goes I don't know what I'm going to do. Of the four Sabbath lads, those two were always my guys. All four are amazing in their own right but I was always drawn to Tony as the riff master and Ozzy for his energetic yet haunting vocal style.

When The Osbournes came out in 2002 I was the happiest man alive to be able to see my hero in real life and realising what a funny cunt he was. That show really made them all household names but I was just glad for the backstage insight, like the famous bit with the bubbles. I'll also never forget being on an exchange trip in February 2003 to Germany and our coach driver, a grizzled old rocker, asking if we had any requests for music to put on. I asked him if he had any Ozzy on and a girl in our class decided to accuse me infront of everybody of only liking him because of The Osbournes tv show. She cockily said there was no way I could even name three of his songs. 15 songs in to me rattling out a list of titles (which I now understand can be attributed to The Autism) she said "I get it, I get it, you're a fan. That's enough". And I said no and continued naming songs until I got bored. 

As I got more and more in to metal, the more I realised every sub-genre I loved could all be traced back to those four lads from Birmingham. This image has been my background on my works laptop since the Villa Park show. The fact that so many bands, no matter how different the musical styles ultimately may be, would simply not exist without Tony Iommi managing to chop his fingertips off and Ozzy Zig needing a gig (and happening to own his own P.A system) is simply frightening. Could we have got to this point if Zeppelin or Blue Cheer or Hawkwind or whoever had been hailed as the forefathers of metal? Maybe, but I don't think we'd have anywhere near the landscape of bands we do now.

As much as I love Ozzy and Sabbath the stars only aligned twice for me to see them live. Either I was too young and too poor or grown up and too poor or there was something I had to take our kids to or we were on holiday. And when I could go, the tours got cancelled. It felt like it was never going to happen. I finally managed to see Ozzy solo live in 2010, a couple of weeks before me and my now wife got married. There was a small article in the Metro about iTunes Festival at The Roundhouse in London and an email address to contact to win two tickets. We managed to win a pair so I postponed my stag do and the two of us set off on a 5 hour coach ride to London. Ozzy was on unreal form that night. If memory serves it had been some time since his last solo show over here and this was something of a homecoming. We were on the barrier for the full set, the highlight being him looking me and my wife dead in the eyes as he chucked a bucket of water in our faces. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect moment. The eyerolls from Gus G as Ozzy kept calling for more Sabbath songs during the encore was hilarious. The Blizzard did not want to leave the stage that night. As a sidenote, Ozzy at that show was responsible for me accidentally punching my wife in the face. Repeat, accidentally. Everybody attending the show had been given a cardboard mask of Ozzy's face on arrival at the venue. It had the eye holes cut and his mouth wide open in a scream. There was a sea of Ozzys during the gig which was both cool and unsettling. After another 5 hour coach journey home to Sheffield the next day after the gig to we flopped on the settee, chucked our bags down and turned the telly on. Ghostbusters had just started. We're just getting to the scene where the librarian goes all scary when I turn to my wife who has, without me noticing due to exhaustion, slipped the Ozzy mask on and has been staring at me from around 3 inches away from my face without me realising for around 5 minutes. Me, eventually turning to talk to her and being in a knackered, delirious state simply assumed a burglar or zombie had crept in and taken my wife's place so I punched it in the nose. She wasn't happy but shock gave way to laughter and I'm now not allowed to watch Ghostbusters anymore. We still giggle about it after 15 years of marriage so thanks for our favourite anecdote Oz.

The second time seeing him live was three weeks ago at Back To The Beginning. I'd missed out on tickets in all four presales and the general release and had pretty much resigned myself to the fact I wouldn't be going to the show. A couple of weeks before the event a handful of tickets appeared on Ticketmaster, I panicked, bought a golden circle standing ticket and got to see so many of musical heroes on one stage. I mentioned it in my review of the show in the metal thread but Ozzy seemed to be having the time of his life. It was clear he was struggling, his voice cracking in places due to how emotional he was but the energy was there. You could tell he wanted to prowl the stage screaming COME ON and ROCK AN ROLL. The whole crowd was in the palm of his hand for both his solo set and the Sabbath set. The whole day was a real tribute to him and Sabbath and you could see how much it meant to him to be able to say goodbye to the fans on his terms, it's just a shame none of us realised we were saying goodbye to him too.

I'm so, so gutted. I've been on a weird emotional rollercoaster since yesterday evening but I'm now sat at work, blasting The Ultimate Sin and smiling typing this out. Gonna miss you Oz, thanks for everything.

God I loved reading this, lovely stuff!

[SuperBacon]

I think it goes to show that even people who weren't into Ozzy/Sabbaths music are absolutely gutted by this. 

I've never been a fan of the "traditional" metal bands and my journey into rock music doesn't include them at all to be honest, but it's a cultural icon gone isn't it?