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Indian Express
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
From pioneering heavy metal to biting a bat, the controversial legacy of Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne, also known as the 'Prince of Darkness' for his work as vocalist of the English rock band Black Sabbath, passed away on Tuesday (July 22) at the age of 76. Just days earlier, on July 5, he performed his final show as part of an almost prophetic farewell concert in Birmingham's Villa Park. Seated on a throne, the vocalist performed solo classics and reunited with Black Sabbath for the finale. Osbourne's family did not reveal the cause of death; however, he had been treated for a variant of Parkinson's disease in recent years. His death marks the passing of a figure who shaped heavy metal and mainstream music for over five decades, but also left behind a controversial legacy, often over his public behaviour. Born John Michael Osbourne on December 3, 1948, in England, Ozzy co-founded Black Sabbath with Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward in 1968. This was also the year when another heavy metal legend, the band Led Zeppelin, was founded. Black Sabbath's self-titled 1970 debut album laid the blueprint for heavy metal as a genre — dark, riff-heavy and thematically intense. Tracks like 'Paranoid,' 'War Pigs,' and 'Iron Man' melded doom-laden lyrics with blistering riffs and earned Sabbath a loyal fanbase. The Rolling Stone magazine noted, 'Even when Ozzy wasn't the one writing the lyrics, they were inseparable from his quavering voice… pure in its earnest simplicity… He sang about the morbid sense of doom that Seventies and Eighties kids felt during the era of the superpower nuclear arms race, a topic he revisited far more than any other rock star'. The genre took inspiration from several existing sounds and themes, including rock, which grew in the '60s with the likes of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Just like rock, heavy metal had a focus on instrumentation and a streak of anti-establishment from the days of the counterculture movement. Sabbath dominated the 1970s, but internal conflicts and substance abuse led to Ozzy's departure in 1979. He rebounded with a solo career, releasing the multi‑platinum albums 'Blizzard of Ozz' (1980) and 'Diary of a Madman' (1981), featuring classics such as 'Crazy Train,' 'Over the Mountain,' and 'Mr. Crowley'. Ozzy continued producing successful albums throughout the 1980s and '90s and launched the hard-rock and heavy metal festival titled 'Ozzfest' in 1996. What made his stardom remarkable was that Ozzy never lost his appeal even after health setbacks and numerous controversies. A 2002 MTV reality show, 'The Osbournes', introduced him to a new generation with its glimpse into his family life. The show was a hit, as camera crews following celebrities around their homes was not the norm at the time. Black Sabbath reunited several times, most recently at the Villa Park concert that was attended by more than 45,000 fans and streamed worldwide. Rolling Stone's report said, 'He did more farewell tours than Cher, Elton, and the Who combined, following up No More Tours in 1992 with his Retirement Sucks tour, then going out again in 2018 with his awesomely titled No More Tours II.' Ozzy's public persona was defined by excess and shocking behaviour that made headlines. The most infamous incident occurred during a 1982 concert in Iowa, when he bit the head off a bat after someone threw the animal onto the stage. He later claimed he mistook it for a rubber toy, then rushed for rabies treatment. That same wild year, he urinated at the Alamo in Texas, a historical location and UNESCO World Heritage Site. The stunt led to his arrest and a 10-year performance ban from the venue, and Osbourne later apologised for it. Other bizarre tales from the man include 'snorting' a trail of ants and killing 17 cats under the influence of drugs. His lyrics also fueled controversy, with the song 'Suicide Solution' leading to a lawsuit claiming it incited a teen's suicide. Though dismissed, the case fueled moral panic over violent music. Additionally, religious leaders accused him of satanism and demonic influence — allegations he dismissed as ignorant. With chronic drug and alcohol abuse, his addiction battles nearly derailed his life and career. Black Sabbath broke with him due to behaviours like arriving late to rehearsals and skipping performances. However, he rejoined the band in 1997. In his MTV reality show, Ozzy oscillated between being a doting family man and a chaotic presence, reflecting his contradictory nature. In March, he and his wife, Sharon, were among the over 200 individuals from the entertainment and business sectors who signed an open letter, calling for an investigation into what they described as 'systematic bias against Israel' at the BBC. These controversies cemented Ozzy's image as a flawed person, someone whose transgressions often overshadowed his talents. For metalheads who paid teary-eyed tributes upon his demise, the fact that he remained unapologetically himself, in all his contradictions, is what added to their appreciation for the man. The writer is a student who is a summer intern at The Indian Express.
USA Today
5 hours ago
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Ozzy Osbourne taught kids to rebel by subverting Christianity
In Ozzy Osbourne's hands, Satan gave a middle finger to hypocrisy and fearmongering. The now-deceased rock star lifted up a mirror to a society obsessed with sin, and he laughed. Ozzy Osbourne is dead, and some Christians may believe that the devil ushered him straight to the gates of hell. Few pop culture icons were as important, or as controversial, as Osbourne. The British-born rocker became the avatar of American culture wars more than a half-century ago by attempting to showcase the hypocrisy of modern religion. Osbourne launched his career in the late 1960s. Sensitive to cultural currents, he recognized what was happening not just in music, but also in religion and politics. He used it to build on the image of rock as subversive and countercultural. Ozzy Osbourne saw society's fears and leaned into them From the start, Osbourne understood how to bring attention to his art. Calling his band Black Sabbath sent a clear message. He aimed to subvert, not honor, Christianity. He integrated crosses, demonic imagery and symbols of the devil such as bats into his performances to highlight what he saw as the absurdity of organized religion. Ozzy Osbourne tribute: Coldplay gives Ozzy Osbourne an emotional tribute at Nashville concert Osbourne sang lyrics in his first album about a 'figure in black' that directed him, and in another song, he took on the persona of Satan himself: 'My name is Lucifer, please take my hand.' In Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" album, released at the height of the Vietnam War, he sang 'War Pigs,' a song in which Satan laughed and spread his wings as political and military elites led the Western world to the doorstep of the apocalypse. Such allusions to the demonic continued in album after album. Osbourne's career developed parallel to a new understanding of Satan. In the post-World War II era, the devil assumed a more prominent role in American life. Anton LaVey's founding of the Church of Satan in 1966 celebrated Satan as a symbol of rebellion, individualism and secular liberation. In other words, Satan was the opposite of everything anxious Cold War parents wanted to instill in their kids. Artists drew on this revamped Satan in their work. Films like "The Exorcist" (1973) and "The Omen" (1976) brought Satan − and fears of Satan's ability to inhabit human bodies − into the imaginations of millions of people. Osbourne made those themes central to his music. Opinion alerts: Get columns from your favorite columnists + expert analysis on top issues, delivered straight to your device through the USA TODAY app. Don't have the app? Download it for free from your app store. In the 1980s, while Osbourne was still releasing albums, fears of satanic ritual abuse swept across the United States. Christian conservatives fretted that Dungeons & Dragons, Ouija boards and horror films were gateways to demonic influence. High-profile cases like the McMartin preschool trial and the publication of memoirs about escaping satanic ritual abuse fueled widespread panic. Law enforcement agencies conducted seminars on occult crime, therapists uncovered repressed memories of ritual abuse and talk shows amplified claims of underground satanic cults. The panic revealed deep anxieties about child safety, cultural change and the perceived decline of Christian values in American society. Perhaps, parents and religious leaders wondered, was Osbourne driving kids into satanism? Perhaps his music was brainwashing the nation's youth? Conservative Christians − including evangelicals, Catholics and Latter-day Saints − believe in a cosmic battle between angels and demons that directly influences human affairs. They believe that unseen spiritual battles determine real-world outcomes, particularly in culture, politics and morality. Many of them also believed they had to protect children from music like Osbourne's. This framework encouraged social conservatives to interpret issues like abortion, LGBTQ+ rights and the de-Christianizing of culture as evidence of demonic influence, necessitating counteraction through prayer, activism and political engagement. Osbourne and the genre of hard rock that he helped to promote contributed to their fears. In their minds, Osbourne was encouraging youth to rebel. And he was. Life on a 'Crazy Train': A timeline of Ozzy Osbourne's odyssey Osbourne saw the devil as a symbol of rebellion Osbourne's fans understood what the rock star was doing. They loved it. The more angry Osbourne could make their parents, and the more he could rile up moral crusaders, the better. And he agreed. Playing with the devil became a hallmark of his long career. From witch hunts in Salem to conspiracy theories driving QAnon, Americans have used Satan to facilitate a politics of fear. They have used him to justify persecution, fuel moral panics, shape political and cultural battles, and assess global crises and war. But there has always been another side to Satan, the one Osbourne captured. His devil wasn't the horned villain of Christian nightmares but a trickster, a rebel, a symbol of freedom from sanctimony. In Osbourne's hands, Satan gave a theatrical middle finger to hypocrisy and lifted up a mirror to a society obsessed with sin, and he laughed. His life reminds us that sometimes, dancing with the devil is really just refusing to march in lockstep with the saints. Matthew Avery Sutton is the author of the forthcoming "Chosen Land: How Christianity Made America and Americans Remade Christianity." He is the chair of the history department and the Claudius O. and Mary Johnson Distinguished Professor at Washington State University. You can read diverse opinions from our USA TODAY columnists and other writers on the Opinion front page, on X, formerly Twitter, @usatodayopinion and in our Opinion newsletter.
Indian Express
13 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
When Ozzy Osbourne ate a bat – and became a heavy metal legend
Black Sabbath frontman John Michael 'Ozzy' Osbourne, father of heavy metal and one of its most enduring and outlandish figures, died on Tuesday at 76. Earlier this month, suffering from Parkinson's and unable to stand without assistance, Ozzy rose from beneath the stage at the jam-packed Villa Park in Birmingham, less than a mile away from his home in Aston, where he grew up, seated on a custom-made throne fashioned like a bat. Forty thousand metalheads, who had gathered for a final hat tip to the metal pioneer, roared to the theatrical nod to that shocking moment from 1982 when Ozzy chewed off the head of a bat thrown on stage. Ozzy's bat bite, while not deliberate — he later said he thought it was a rubber toy — clouded the line between performance and reality. The confusion allowed for the power of the absurd to prevail. Parents were worried if kids lined their eyes with kohl, wore black and blared the music of 'Satan's friends'. Ozzy, the freak, was the children's hero, their 'Prince of Darkness'. He himself grew up on a steady dose of The Beatles. After leaving school, he worked as a labourer and in a slaughterhouse before being recruited by bassist Geezer Butler as the singer for his band Rare Breed in 1967. With guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward, they became Black Sabbath in 1969. The eponymous debut album, followed by Paranoid, Master of Reality and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, shot through the charts. While Ozzy's substance abuse and alcoholism got him fired by the band in 1979, he embarked on a solo career and was off-balance thereafter musically, and otherwise. A strange Act Two came with The Osbournes, a reality-TV peek into his home. It had Ozzy roaming around in a robe, flinging profanities, trying to figure out a TV remote. While it took away the rock star myth, the vulnerability made it work the TRPs. It felt the same during the farewell concert, when he sang 'Mama, I'm coming home', struggling with the notes. The metalheads sang along, letting him feel the last song. Just before it was time to leave.
Express Tribune
14 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Ozzy Osbourne dies at 76
Ozzy Osbourne, the legendary frontman of heavy metal group Black Sabbath, died on Tuesday at the age of 76, his family announced in a statement, as per AFP. "It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning," read the family's statement. "He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time." The British singer leaves behind his wife Sharon, six children, a host of grandchildren and a permanent legacy in the annals of rock'n'roll. Heavy metal maestro Osbourne will go down in rock history as the "godfather of heavy metal" who fulfilled his hard-living dreams as the frontman of Black Sabbath. After decades of debauchery and more than 100 million albums sold, his death came a little more than two weeks after Black Sabbath played a farewell concert to 40,000 fans at Villa Park, in his native Birmingham. Rock royalty lined up to pay tribute to him including Metallica, Guns N' Roses and members of Aerosmith and the Rolling Stones at the stadium that is the home to his beloved Aston Villa football team. Ozzy, as he was routinely referred to, attracted legions of new fans in the 2000s after appearing as the hard-of-hearing, slightly crazy but doting grandfather in MTV's hit reality show The Osbournes, a far cry from the excesses that defined his 1970s heyday. Until his renaissance, he was best known in the mainstream for biting the head of a live bat during a concert and for urinating in the wine glass of a record-label chief – as well as on the Alamo monument in Texas. But for hard-rock fans he will forever be remembered as the "Prince of Darkness" leading Black Sabbath, the band that helped launch heavy metal, a blend of rock and blues drenched in distortion and dark lyrics. 'Girls ran out screaming' The band enjoyed immediate success on the release of its eponymous debut album in 1970. Hundreds of thousands around the world continued to flock to hear rock hymns such as Paranoid, War Pigs and Iron Man at the band's riotous live shows for almost 50 years, until the band brought down the curtain a first time with a gig in Birmingham in 2017. Ozzy, like many of his contemporaries, suffered from gaps in his memory due to drink and drugs on the road, but few can claim to have such monumental black holes. He said that he had forgotten attempting to strangle his wife Sharon the year their eldest daughter was born, adding that he had very few recollections from the 1990s as a whole. In 2010, scientists even analysed his genome to try to understand how he had survived so much self-inflicted punishment. Ozzy said he could not remember where he performed Black Sabbath's debut album for the first time. "But I can sure as hell remember the audience's reaction: all the girls ran out of the venue, screaming," he recalled in his autobiography I am Ozzy. His wild lifestyle led to run-ins with the law, including visits to court on charges of satanism and encouraging suicide, though his criminal career started before he joined the band, spending time in jail for stealing a television and baby clothes. Born John Michael Osbourne, the singer came from a working-class family in Birmingham on December 3, 1948. He inherited his nickname in primary school. Dyslexic and angry with homework, he left school at 15 before working in manual jobs, including at an abattoir. But he decided he would become a rock star after hearing the Beatles on the radio, a fantasy he realised incredibly quickly. 'Everyone around me is dying' Shortly after meeting guitarist Tony Iommi, the two decided to "stop doing blues and write scary music instead", inspired by horror films. The resulting sound of heavy riffs accompanied by Ozzy's droning voice singing lyrics exploring the dark side of human nature became the template for heavy metal. "Pink Floyd was music for rich college kids, and we were the exact opposite of that," he said. Albums followed at a frantic pace, often shunned by critics but acclaimed by fans. Ozzy left the band in 1979, going on to have a successful solo career and releasing 11 albums while juggling a turbulent personal life. His first marriage to Thelma, with whom he had two children, Elliot and Jessica, was by his own admission a disaster. In 1982 he married Sharon, his manager, who quickly became his rock. They had three children – Aimee, Kelly and Jack – and adopted another boy, Roberto. Despite his seemingly carefree personality, the deaths of his rocker friend Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead and David Bowie left him in a reflective mood. "Everybody's dying around me, but I'm at that age," he told Rolling Stone magazine in 2016. He was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2019, with all profits from his last concert on July 5 going to charities including Cure Parkinson's and Birmingham Children's Hospital. The Prince of Darkness clung on for another six years after his diagnosis, before joining his peers in the pantheon of late, great British musicians.
Miami Herald
15 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
Sharon & Ozzy Osbourne's net worth as metal's greatest frontman passes on
Ozzy Osbourne, prince of darkness and metal's most iconic frontman, passed away on July 22, 2025, after struggling with his health for the previous six years. Osbourne, who first achieved stardom as the vocalist of English metal band Black Sabbath in the early 1970s before launching a longstanding solo career, is survived by Sharon, his wife and manager of over 40 years, as well as his six children. When 76-year-old Osbourne died, "he was with his family and surrounded by love," according to a statement released by his immediate family. While an exact cause of death has not been released, the "Paranoid" vocalist had struggled with his health since early 2019, when he had to cancel a tour due to an extended bout of the flu that advanced to pneumonia. Shortly after this, Ozzy suffered serious injuries from a fall in his home and then received a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease, a degenerative neurological ailment that affects motor function. View the original article to see embedded media. Just weeks before deboarding the crazy train for good, however, Ozzy blessed his legions of fans with one last live performance in his hometown of Birmingham, England. The concert saw Osbourne, seated in a skull-clad black throne, sing some of his biggest solo hits like "Crazy Train" before ending his set with four Black Sabbath classics alongside the rest of the Birmingham metal outfit's original lineup - guitarist Tommi Iommi, bassist and lyricist Geezer Butler, and Drummer Bill Ward. Per usual, the show, dubbed "Back to the Beginning," was booked by Ozzy's wife and manager, Sharon. 42,000 metal fans attended Ozzy's sonic sendoff in person, while an additional three million tuned in for the event's online stream. Suffice it to say, Osbourne's impact on his fans-and on the rock genre at large-is the stuff of legend, and the mumbling crooner who brought metal to the masses will not soon be forgotten. Here's a look at what Ozzy was worth at the time of his death, how much Sharon is worth now, and how the pair built and spent their the time of his death in July 2025, Ozzy Osbourne's net worth, which has long been combined with that of his wife, Sharon, was widely estimated to be $220 million. In March of 2024, however, Cosmopolitan reported that Ozzy and Sharon's combined wealth totalled $440-exactly double the current estimate. How the pair's net worth could have halved in little over a year is unclear, casting doubt on the accuracy of both current and previous $220 million sum mentioned above, whether accurate or not, reportedly refers to the shared wealth of the late singer and his longtime wife and manager, Sharon Osbourne. After Ozzy's death, Sharon's net worth likely remains mostly unchanged, pending any payments that may result from expenses, bequests, or donations associated with the late singer's passing. Sharon had been Ozzy's partner, confidant, and biggest supporter for more than 45 years. The two began a romantic and professional relationship in 1979, when Ozzy was kicked out of Black Sabbath (reportedly by the band's manager, who was also Sharon's father) due to unreliability stemming from his substance abuse issues. Once Ozzy set out on his solo career, Sharon became his manager, and the two married in 1982. 20 years after the pair's nuptials, the often-comical home life of the couple and two of their three children was immortalized in the MTV reality show, The Osbournes, which ran from 2002 to 2005. The show shone a playful light on Sharon's loving role in Ozzy's day-to-day life, cementing her stardom alongside her husband's. Related: Kendrick Lamar's net worth in 2025: Drake feud earnings & more Unsurprisingly, much of the wealth Ozzy and Sharon have built over the course of their careers comes from music-album sales, tours, merchandising, licensing, events, and other aspects of Ozzy's legendary musical empire have proved longstanding sources of income for the couple. But Sharon's efforts outside of Ozzy's musical career have also been quite lucrative. In addition to managing Ozzy's solo career (which spanned a remarkable 13 albums) since 1979, Sharon also orchestrated the launch of Ozzfest with her husband in 1996. The event brought together a number of bands spanning the hard rock, heavy metal, and punk genres, and its success led to it becoming a near-annual occurrence through 2018. The festival reportedly sold over 5 million tickets and brought in over $100 million over the course of its tenure. Related: Billie Eilish's net worth: How the pop icon makes her millions Sharon's television career and earnings Since her rise to public prominence with The Osbournes, Sharon has continued to appear on television regularly, and her business acumen, developed over decades working in the entertainment industry, has continued to serve the couple well financially. According to Cosmo, each of the four family members featured in The Osbournes earned $5 million per season of the show beginning with season 2, which would amount to $60 million across three seasons, plus whatever the family earned for season one. According to a no-longer-published article in The Times UK, Sharon earned around $13.5 million for her role in the show. From 2004 to 2007, Sharon served as a judge on the reality singing competition show "X Factor," for which she earned £2 million per season, according to The Sun. From 2010 to 2021, Sharon also cohosted The Talk, reportedly earning $1 million per season plus a severance of between $5 and $10 million for a total of $16 to $21 million. Despite Ozzy's passing, his music remains as relevant as ever, and with the renewed spotlight his death has cast on his career, album and merchandise sales are likely to see a resurgence. His name and music will no doubt continue to be invoked in pop culture and media as they so often were during his life (his cameos in Ghostbusters and Little Nicky are among his fans' favorites), providing additional royalties for his family. As Ozzy's enduring popularity continues to generate revenue, his widow Sharon and celebrity children Jack and Kelly, each of whom has their own successful career, will no doubt do their best to honor Ozzy's impact as a husband, father, and rock-and-roll legend. Related: Miley Cyrus' net worth: A look at the 'Something Beautiful' singer's wealth The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
