I am glad I got to enjoy the iconic Black Sabbath’s music and Ozzy Osbourne’s vocals live at least once in my life.
Photo by
Megan Fisher
In the nosebleeds at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday, April 19, 2016, I was gobsmacked watching Ozzy Osbourne’s body completely betray his voice.
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As I held my breath each time he stepped over a lead hoping he wouldn’t trip, I was astounded at how flawless this old metal rocker’s voice remained; it was epic.
That was nine years ago.
When I checked into the event on Facebook with a caption ‘Ozzy, Ozzy, Osbourne!’, a friend commented: “Sh*t... is he even still alive?”.
I think many of us, fans of his music or people who happened to watch his family’s reality TV show, The Osbournes, were shocked that he survived to 76, not because of the rare form of Parkinson’s disease he had, but because of his excessive substance abuse in his early days.
He might have been dubbed the Prince of Darkness, but he could just as easily have been crowned the King of Shock after several alarming moments throughout his career, not least the moment he bit the head off a bat in January 1982.
In interviews that followed, Osbourne revealed he believed the creature that had been thrown on stage by a fan was made of rubber, but quickly realised that was not the case when a foul taste saturated his mouth.
Ozzy Osbourne performs on the Hawaii stage at the Hultfred festival in Sweden in 2007.
Photo by
Fredrik Sandberg
The man, who once publicly relieved himself in a potted palm in a Sydney hotel lobby and snorted a line of ants, was not the kind of man anyone’s parents want them to bring home, yet still, he endeared himself to millions of fans around the world through his music.
He sold over 100 million albums, including his solo work and Black Sabbath releases, during his 76 years earthside.
And for all the questionable things he did in his lifetime, there’s no denying that his Parkinson’s research benefit concert a few weeks ago — where he performed with Black Sabbath for the final time alongside a star-studded line-up — which raised a record-breaking $190 million, was one of the greatest.
Love or hate him, he is the epitome of the word icon.
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