Ozzy Osbourne Has Sung His Last Note – But His Echo Remains Eternal
Ozzy Osbourne, the rebellious godfather of heavy metal whose wild stage presence and unmistakable voice shaped generations of rock music, has died at 76.
First rising to fame as the frontman of Black Sabbath, Osbourne later carved out a solo career that blurred spectacle and sincerity, chaos and control.
His solo albums, from the haunting elegance of Diary of a Madman to the immortal riffs of Blizzard of Ozz, cemented his legacy not just as a performer but as a cultural force.
Though the final curtain has dropped, Ozzy’s sound still roars through and here are 5 of his best solo albums in my opinion.
5) Ultimate Sin (originally called Killer of giants) Released in 1986 during the ‘hair metal’ period, (Ozzy himself briefly had this hairstyle too) this album had a slicker arena production style. Whilst very consistent, some fans felt Ozzy was ‘selling out’ with his more ‘pop’ infused tunes such as the single, Shot in the Dark. This was Jake E Lee’s last album with the band.
4) Bark At the Moon. Released in 1983 with two different coloured covers. Jake E Lee replaced the late Randy Rhodes on this album. A very consistent album that had a synth pop/rock tinge to it. A good example is the single, So tired. The backing track of this song sounds like ELO.
3) No More Tears. Released in 1991, this was Ozzy’s best album for several years and it became his biggest seller. Lemmy from Motorhead wrote the lyrics for 6 tracks (although only four featured on the album). Best known track was, Mama I’m coming home. The track A.V.H stands for Aston Villa Highway.
2) Diary Of A Madman. This was Ozzy’s second album released in 1981. Compared to its predecessor it had a more eerie mystical sound in places. Randy Rhoads was killed in a plane accident during the supporting tour and his replacement for the rest of the tour was Bernie Torme (of Gillan fame.) Torme himself a clone of Mick Ronson.
1) Blizzard of Ozz. The name, Blizzard of Ozz was originally intended to be the name of Ozzy’s new band when he left Black Sabbath first time around. Sharon Osbourne wanted Gary Moore for the band, but Randy Rhoads was chosen instead. This is easily Ozzy’s best solo album featuring some of his best songs like Mr. Crowley, Crazy train, and the controversial Suicide Solution. The media had a field day with this latter song as a lawsuit claimed it caused a 19 year old to take his own life. This was never proven
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Dave Barcroft
Rock Vinyl Revival
