Jared DuBach
Daily Egyptian
Before he played "The Dad" on MTV's hit reality show "The Osbournes," Ozzy Osbourne was a struggling musician coming to terms with a changing music industry and an ever-increasing drug addiction.
Ozzy Osbourne started out his career as John Michael Osbourne, the front man for the legendary heavy metal act Black Sabbath. After ten years of performing with Sabbath, Osbourne and the group parted ways, leaving Osbourne without a band or a form of income. For six months, Osbourne was secluded in a Los Angeles hotel room pondering the future and doing tons of cocaine. Eventually, his future wife, Sharon Arden-Osbourne discovered him and took him under her wing.
Ozzy's first solo album, "Blizzard of Ozz" was released in 1981 after almost two years of desperately shopping the master recordings from one record company to the next. The album was finally picked up by Epic Records, and the rest of Osbourne's career is history.
Controversy surrounded the album in 1986, when Ozzy was sued by the parents of a teenager who had committed suicide while allegedly listening to the song, "Suicide Solution" off of "Blizzard of Ozz." Even when Osbourne came forward and admitted that the song was written about a friend who killed himself with alcohol, many Christian organizations labeled him as the antichrist. Writing the tune "Mr. Crowley," a song about the black magic practitioner, Alistair Crowley, didn't help matters either.
The songs "I Don't Know," "Crazy Train," "Suicide Solution" and "Revelation (Mother Earth)" are songs about recognizing one's faults and correcting worldwide problems, the album is still considered by many to be a satanic album. This hasn't stopped Ozzy from including "I Don't Know" and "Crazy Train" in his current set of songs that he performs at the annual Ozzfest. For more than 20 years, these songs have entertained crowds and have been regularly requested on hard rock radio stations throughout the United States.
One of the things that "Blizzard of Ozz" is credited with is being one of the first rock albums to incorporate the complexity of classical music and opera with the loud raucousness of heavy metal. This operatic metal sound was a result of guitarist Randy Rhoads' prior musical education, combing classical piano and classical guitar. The same musical complexity is found on Ozzy's second release, "Diary of a Madman."
"Blizzard of Ozz" was recently remastered and reissued by Epic Records with a new bonus track, "You Looking at Me, Looking at You." The song was originally intended to be released on "Blizzard of Ozz," but was used instead as a B-Side to the "Mr. Crowley" single. In 1995, the entire Osbourne catalog was reissued with remastered versions. So essentially, the current 2002 re-issue of "Blizzard of Ozz" is just the 1995 remaster, but with an added song.
Without the initial impact of "Blizzard of Ozz" on the record industry, and its follow-up, "Diary of a Madman," Ozzy Osbourne might not be where he is today, and had it not been for Sharon discovering him, Ozzy's career might have ended twenty years ago lying in his own filth at that sleazy hotel room in Los Angeles.
Ozzy will be performing Aug. 19 at Ozzfest at UMB Band Pavilion in St. Louis. For more information, go to http://www.ozzfest.com
Reporter Jared DuBach can be reached at jdubach@dailyegyptian.com
Published on 11/17/05; 12:24:44 PM
