Remembering Ozzy Osbourne, rock's ‘conductor of mayhem'
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And he was not what you would call conventionally handsome; Osbourne was slightly doughy and his lank, shoulder-length hair often obscured his face on stage. (As the band rocked – and, boy, did
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At some point, Osbourne became a caricature, which mostly had to do with an incident, sure to be included in the many obituaries and testimonials to come, when he
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'All I am is a conductor of mayhem,' he would say later. 'I like to see people get off in a good way.' But Osbourne, it must be noted, was also prone to saying some profoundly vile things, which may or may not have been related to his longstanding issues with drugs and alcohol.
Not long after the bat incident, for instance, Osbourne – who was by then known as the 'Prince of Darkness' – gave a TV interview in which he expressed a certain admiration for Adolf Hitler. When asked during a 1982 episode of the cable TV show 'Night Flight'
about the inspiration for his stage performance, Osbourne
'He was a freak, he was a lunatic, but he had something about him, you know. It was bad what he did, it was terrible what he did, he killed all of these people and whatever, but it was like he had something about him…If somebody put that in a positive way, for the good of mankind… whatever anybody says about me, I might be the biggest lunatic that you've ever met in your life guys, but I'm here for you guys, I'm here for people…'
It'll be interesting to see how many of the obits and testimonials mention
that
bit of Osbourne's colorful background.
In the early 2000s, with his solo career stalled for the moment, Osbourne managed to become something of a TV star thanks to the
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He seemed grandfatherly; he shuffled more than walked and his speech was mumbled. Like so many reality shows of the time, '
Osbourne did not seem well at Black Sabbath's ballyhooed farewell show, held a few weeks ago in the band's hometown of Birmingham. Unable to walk without support, the singer sat in an oversized throne while his bandmates, Butler, guitarist Tony Iommi, and drummer Bill Ward, played four classic Sabbath tracks: '
Osbourne gamely sang along, but his voice, once so haunting, was thin and trembling.
It won't be how I or anyone else who heard Ozzy at the peak of his powers will
Mark Shanahan can be reached at
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