July 23, 2025
On July 22, 2025, John Michael “Ozzy” Osbourne, the Prince of Darkness, passed away.
I know it’s been far too long since I’ve written anything of importance, but this is such an impactful event for me, I had to post about it. And hey, who knows, I might be motivated to start posting here again after this.
It was late 1991 and Ozzy had just released his sixth solo album, “No More Tears” featuring the title track and Mama, I’m Coming Home, along with deep cuts like S.I.N. and I Don’t Want to Change the World (this after having recorded eight studio albums as the singer of some little band called Black Sabbath. To some, that alone is a career. To Ozzy, that was just the beginning.)
Not long after the release of the album, a tour was announced in support of the album, with an early stop in the small town in which I was living at the time, Las Vegas, NV.
I took my then-girlfriend to the concert where Ugly Kid Joe and Slaughter opened up for the Ozzman.
The setlist was a perfect mix of his previous works, songs from the new album and Black Sabbath songs from his youth. Now, in his mid-40s, he was out there, shirtless, running up and down the stage like the madman that he was. Dumping buckets of water on the crowd in the first few rows, and loving every minute of it.
Having an absolute blast, standing, jumping, singing along, I turned to the seat next to me to see my girlfriend asleep in her seat.
Ozzy. Fucking. Osbourne. Legend. SCREAMING Mister Crowley, and you’re asleep in your seat?
Yeah, that relationship didn’t last.
I was honored to have the chance to see Ozzy on his farewell tour before he hung ’em up.
…yeah, that didn’t last long.
After the No More Tours tour, he would go on to tour 8 more times as a solo artist, not to mention the nineteen Ozzfest tours he and Sharon created.
Seven years after having seen Ozzy on his “farewell” tour, I was lucky enough to attend the Ozzfest in 1999 at the Glen Helen Blockbuster Pavilion in San Bernardino, CA. That tour saw acts like Slipknot and Static-X on the second stage, and main stage acts like Primus, System of a Down, Deftones, Rob Zombie, and Slayer all opening for the grand finale, the final act on the final stop of Ozzfest ’99 was the final performance of the original lineup of Black. Fucking. Sabbath. Ozzy, Tommy, Geezer and Bill, on the same stage for the last time, ripping through their seminal hits like Paranoid and Iron Man. It was wonderful being able to say I saw the original Black Sabbath at their last performance.
…yeah, that didn’t last long.
Of course, Ozzy would continue to reinvent himself time and time again, from the godfather of heavy metal music, to the “madman” to reality TV star, to collaborator with artists like Rob Zombie and Post Malone, there isn’t really any other word to describe the life he lived, except, maybe…
“Ozzy”.
You’ll be missed.
