Lifeforce

In the late 1960s, Black Sabbath created a genre - HEAVY METAL - and the world was never the same again.

I believe in few things in this life, and 5 of those things are the first 5 Black Sabbath records. To me, heavy music doesn’t get any better than that, and everything else that has come since is sprouting from the roots which Tony, Geezer, Bill and Ozzy planted back in the late 60’s.

What does it mean to be a legend that produces legends?

Only a few people can tell you that, and not a lot of them are left.

I feel a disturbance in the force… I am sad with little to no words - I’m writing this on the morning of the 23rd after reading yet another tribute on Instagram - Ozzy Osbourne sadly left the mortal realm yesterday (reported yesterday evening), just a few weeks after appearing on the Aston Villa stage with his original bandmates and friends.

Today the world collectively mourns, and I have personally been reminded as to how far Ozzy and Black Sabbath’s music has travelled. For me, Sabbath and Ozzy has always been a “thing” - I remember being a young kid and hearing Iron Man for the first time, and this was my introduction to something I came to soon love. Ozzy’s solo career really is as big as it could get, and he introduced the world to many great musicians including Randy Rhoads, Zakk Wylde, Jake E. Lee & Mike Inez (to name a few) and all of them went on to become legends in their own right. I remember fumbling through Bark at The Moon on the original Guitar Hero game, and always struggling with Jake’s solo - good memories. So many good memories have the soundtrack as Ozzy or Black Sabbath. A lot of bands wouldn’t exist without Ozzy and Black Sabbath, and all of them are not shy of telling you this - this speaks volumes really.

It was only around 3 weeks ago when my family and I rushed home to watch the “Back to the Beginning” show, and my 6 month old daughter got her first introduction to a Black Sabbath show - even seeing Ozzy then, you would have expected the man to outlive us all. Ozzy was one of those people that everyone knows and has their own individual memory with - whether it’s Sabbath, Ozzy’s solo records or The Osbournes - the amount of people who I never thought would have “been into Ozzy” are already posting tribute posts, and even through bittersweet sadness, it’s amazing to see a collective outpouring of love for Ozzy and the Osbourne family.

Does it get any better than the first 5 Black Sabbath albums?

To have lived in the same time as Mr. John Osbourne is a privilege and an honour.

“Flying high again”

God bless Ozzy Osbourne. Your roots are endless, and long will you exist in our collective memories, for eons to come. Thank you Ozzy Osbourne.

End.