Heavy metal pioneer Ozzy Osbourne died on July 22 after battling with Parkinson’s disease for years, his family confirmed this week. He was 76.
Also known as the “Prince of Darkness,” Osbourne took the world by storm alongside his Black Sabbath bandmates in the early 1970s, blazing a trail for heavy metal music to ride on.
Their pioneering music was full of dark themes such as those heard in the songs “Paranoid,” “Children of the Grave,” “Heaven and Hell” and “War Pigs” — but Ozzy and the band also frequently ventured into science fiction and space.
Songs like “Into the Void” and “Iron Man” expanded the heavy metal genre beyond our Earthly realms. For example, lyrics from the song “Into the Void” from Black Sabbath’s 1971 album “Master of Reality” take listeners on a journey through space and time:
Rocket engines burning fuel so fast/ Up into the night sky, they blast/ Through the universe, the engines whine/ Could it be the end of man and time?
Ozzy’s unique high pitched vocals stand out over the thick distorted guitar of Tony Iommi, meaty bass tone of Geezer Butler and thunderous drums of Bill Ward. Black Sabbath was a truly collaborative effort with all members involved in the songwriting process.
“Iron Man” is one of the most iconic heavy metal songs ever written. Speaking from over 20 years of performing within the genre, if you didn’t play the song at least once, you likely weren’t a hard rocker. The song is a true sci-fi epic, featuring standout lyrics describing the cosmos and time travel:
He was turned to steel/ In the great magnetic field/ When he travelled time/ For the future of mankind
Other cosmic tunes from the band included “Planet Caravan,” “Symptom of the Universe,” and “Hole in the Sky” to name a few.
Ozzy went on to have a lucrative solo career after leaving Black Sabbath, featuring an assortment of amazing players including legendary guitarists Randy Rhoads, Zakk Wylde, and Jake E. Lee. During those years, his songs touched on skywatching themes with lyrics like “I told them I had ridden shooting stars” from the song “Over the Mountain” and who can forget the ominous “Bark at the Moon” from the album of the same name?
Osbourne also got cosmic with the tunes “Revelation (Mother Earth)” and “Civilize the Universe.”
Music didn’t seem to be enough later in his career, so in the early 2000s Ozzy took his family on a reality TV spin with MTV smash hit “The Osbournes.” He would also go on to star in more reality shows that also took on space and sci-fi. For example, “The Osbournes Want To Believe” on the Travel Channel featured Ozzy venturing into the realm of the paranormal and UFOs.
Osbourne and family got even closer to space travel on onother reality show on the A&E network named “Ozzy and Jack’s World Detour.” One episode featured the father and son duo visiting NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston where they test drove a Mars rover prototype and suffered an anomaly of sorts while driving over some rocks.
In another episode, Ozzy and Jack visited Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama where they were given a tour by NASA astronaut Shannen Walker.
Having closely followed Ozzy’s incredible journey through stardom, the upsetting news of his passing so soon after his moving last ever performances with Black Sabbath and his solo band at the “Back to the Beginning” tribute show has been hard to process for his fans. Ozzy’s music has been and will continue to be incredibly influential. You can see that with the outpouring of emotions from his band mates and colleagues.
If there is a “great gig in the sky,” we can truly expect to see Ozzy reunited with Randy Rhoads rockin’ the “Crazy Train” forever.