Ozzy Osbourne
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Bella: "I know what you are." |
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Born John Michael Osbourne on December 3, 1948 in Aston, Birmingham. Also known as Ozzy. Or the "Prince of Darkness", if you want. As one of, or possibly the, first Heavy Metal singer, he has been called the "Godfather of Heavy Metal" while he prefers to call himself "The Prince of Darkness."
He's known in many circles as the original voice of Black Sabbath, the band who (arguably) created the Heavy Metal genre as we know it today. You can go to that page to know the rest of the details in his time with the band.
After his firing from the band, he started his own solo project and recorded his most critically acclaimed album, Blizzard Of Ozz. The rest is history.
If you want to read about The Osbournes, pick this way. To all the tropers: PLEASE, put the tropes referring to the show there, not here.
Discography
Black Sabbath
- 1970 - Black Sabbath
- 1970 - Paranoid
- 1971 - Master of Reality
- 1972 - Black Sabbath Vol. 4
- 1973 - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
- 1975 - Sabotage
- 1976 - Technical Ecstasy
- 1978 - Never Say Die!
- 2013 - 13
Solo career
- 1980 - Blizzard of Ozz
- 1981 - Diary of a Madman
- 1983 - Bark at the Moon
- 1986 - The Ultimate Sin
- 1988 - No Rest for the Wicked
- 1991 - No More Tears
- 1995 - Ozzmosis
- 2001 - Down to Earth
- 2005 - Under Cover
- 2007 - Black Rain
- 2010 - Scream
- 2020 - Ordinary Man
- 2022 - Patient Number Nine
Ozzy Osbourne provides examples of the following tropes:
- The Alcoholic: He went through issues with alcoholism, which is the focus of the songs "Suicide Solution" and "Demon Alcohol."
- Ass Shove: He went for a colonoscopy, and while the doctors kept trying to knock him out and failing, he was watching the display and commented that it was "like Journey to the Centre of My Arse!"
- Badass Beard: Zakk Wylde, former guitar player for Ozzy.
- Badass Boast: "Not Going Away"
- Badass Grandpa
- Badass Longcoat
- Berserk Button: He used to have some chickens, back when he was with his first wife. Said chickens never laid any eggs. One night, after having not slept for 24 hours, and doped up on cocaine and booze, the button was finally pressed, leading to one of the most hilariously twisted moments in his book.
- He blows a few chickens away with a shotgun, chases after the rest with a katana, sets the chicken coop on fire, and tosses the rest of his shotgun ammunition into the burning coop, causing many small explosions. And then his neighbor comes walking out, sees Ozzy wearing a tattered, chicken-bloodstained bathrobe, and simply says, "So...you've come back from touring, then?"
- Black Sheep Hit: "Close My Eyes Forever", "Mama, I'm Coming Home" (co-written by Lemmy!) and his duet with his daughter in his version of "Changes", his only #1 single.
- Body Horror: The cover of Ozzmosis depicts Ozzy's body covered with extra eyes and mouths.
- Break Up Song: "Goodbye To Romance", a song about him leaving Sabbath, and not, contrary to popular beliefs, about his first wife.
- British Accents: He has a very thick Brummie accent that is part of the reason he's so hard to understand when he speaks- the other reason being he's completely and utterly brainfried from so many years of hardcore drug abuse... though older videos prove he's almost always been The Unintelligible, even when sober, due to his accent.
- The Cameo: He appeared briefly in Little Nicky and sung in Motorhead's "I Ain't No Nice Guy" and Slash's "Crucify The Dead".
- Canon Discontinuity: The live albums Speak of the Devil, Just Say Ozzy, Live and Loud and the studio album The Ultimate Sin. The root of all these deletions, save for Speak of the Devil, is the song "Shot In The Dark". It was his biggest hit of the 80s, one of his most popular songs of his career and featured regularly in his live set from the time it was released until the mid-90s, when the legal rights to the song came into dispute. Ozzy deleted every album that featured it from his catalog except for a greatest hits package (where it was simply replaced by another tune). Recently, he's started playing it again though and the deleted albums are available for purchase on iTunes.
- Cluster F-Bomb: Averted in his music. While he's portrayed as a language blasphemer in The Osbournes, you won't hear much of this in his work. In his concerts, on the other hand, you will hear it, as his stage banter is typically filled with it.
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"I can't fucking hear you!" |
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- From a live performance of "Mr Crowley":
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"Let me see your fucking cigarette lighters!" |
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- Cool Old Guy
- Cool Shades: A key part of his overall look.
- Cool Train: "Crazy Train", duh.
- Corrupt Church: "Miracle Man", about televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, who had been caught in a prostitution scandal that same year.
- Cover Version: Several.
- Cover Album: Under Cover.
- In the Style Of: Osbourne-Dweezil-Zappa, doing "Staying Alive".
- Domestic Abuse: Ozzy and Sharon's marriage has turned violent on multiple occasions. He has knocked out her two front teeth; she retaliated by throwing a full bottle of Scotch at his head. Nevertheless it is clear that they do love each other very much.
- The worst incident of domestic abuse for the Osbournes happened when, in a cocaine and alcohol-fueled rage, Ozzy attempted to strangle Sharon. This led to Sharon threatening to leave Ozzy unless he entered rehab.
- Epic Rocking: Over the 6-minute mark:
- "Revelation (Mother Earth)", (6:09) from Blizzard Of Ozz.
- "You Can't Kill Rock and Roll" (6:59) and "Diary of a Madman", (6:14) both from Diary Of A Madman.
- "Fire In The Sky", (6:24) from No Rest For The Wicked.
- "No More Tears" (7:23) and "Zombie Stomp", (6:13) from No More Tears.
- "Thunder Underground", (6:29) "See You on the Other Side", (6:10) "Tomorrow" (6:36) and "My Jekyll Doesn't Hide", (6:34) from Ozzmosis.
- "The Almighty Dollar", from Black Rain, at 6:57.
- "Let It Die", (6:06) and "Diggin' Me Down" (6:03) from Scream.
- Everyone Has Standards: He was kicked out of Black Sabbath for his drug and alcohol use. Really, when a heavy metal band in the 1970's (especially them) thinks you're overdoing those, you know you have a problem.
- Evil Laugh: From time to time, and not just in songs. He can sound pretty evil when he's just laughing at something he finds amusing, without even trying. If not evil, than at the very least a bit crazy.
- Forbidden Fruit: In "Walk on Water" he sings about sharing this with the daughter of a magic man.
- Green Aesop: "Revelation (Mother Earth)" from Blizzard of Ozz and part of "Dreamer" from "Down To Earth".
- Heterosexual Life Partners: First with Randy Rhoads (until he died), then later with Zakk Wylde. Ozzy and Zakk have been close friends ever since Ozzy hired him in 1987, despite Zakk getting fired from the band twice. Ozzy is also very close with the drummer from Black Sabbath, Bill Ward.
- Heroic BSOD: Had one when Randy Rhoads died. See also Creator Breakdown in the Trivia tab.
- He had another one when he was fired from Black Sabbath. Ozzy being Ozzy, he assumed that his life as a rockstar would be over and he'd have to move back to his hometown to be a bartender or plumber or something. With this in mind he decided to go on the ultimate bender. He rented a hotel room, got all the drugs and booze he could afford and went to town. Sharon stopped by three months later and said he was curled up on the ground surrounded by bottles, cocaine wrappers and empty pizza boxes and at a total loss of dignity or self-preservation.
- I Am the Band: Pretty much the reason of his solo career. Slightly averted by the fact he's always had a show-off (in a good way) guitarist going mental alongside him in concert.
- Immune to Drugs: To the point where he's having his genome mapped to figure out how he's still alive. The Cambridge project that did so found several genes that allow him to metabolize opiates and alcohol far more efficiently than most humans.
- Ink Suit Actor: Ozzy's undead warlock in the World of Warcraft "What's Your Game?" ad. Granted it was crafted out of the actual in-game models, but you have to admit that the resemblance is spot-on and that only an undead warlock character would fit the man.
- His character as the Duke of Dreary in Disney's Snow White spin-off The 7D was clearly modelled after him (both his wife and daughter also played recurring roles in the series as well).
- International Pop Song English: When singing.
- Irony: When news of the robbery at the Osbourne residence broke out, some noted the ironic twist of fate Ozzy had based on his prior criminal history when he attempted to rob a store in his teens. Ozzy made the following rebuttal in his memoirs: "I was just a stupid kid when I broke into Sarah Clarke’s; I was hardly the fucking night stalker. And I learned my lesson."
- Kill the Cutie: What happened to Randy Rhoads. Depending on your view, Randy and the other passenger (the band's hairdresser, who was also killed in the crash) not noticing the pilot was on cocaine at the time might be Too Dumb to Live.
- Knuckle Tattoos: He has "OZZY" in his left knuckles.
- Large Ham: Not as large as Ronnie James Dio, but he's a pretty close second.
- Made of Iron / Made of Indestructium: Probably Ozzy's brain and liver. Nobody's really quite sure how they both lasted for more than 35 years of hardcore drug abuse and alcoholism. But as noted above, geneticists at Cambridge University, who wanted to study that very question, found part of his genetic structure really is Made of Indestructium. He's literally a genetic mutant.
- Mohs Scale of Rock and Metal Hardness: Despite his reputation as the King Of Heavy Metal, Ozzy's music is usually only a 6 or a 7. With some songs in the 2 or 3 range and a couple (such as Dee) even dropping to a 1.
- Moral Guardians: Not so much a target of them anymore since he's not quite as shocking as he once was, but he was a frequent target of them in The Eighties.
- Nobody Thinks It Will Work: He and Sharon were practically the poster couple for this trope, and now they're regarded as one of the few bastions of hope for celebrity marriages, having been married 29 years.
- One Man Wail: "Black Rain".
- Only Known as Ozzy: This nickname has its origins in his childhood. It was given to him by schoolyard friends/bullies. He later lengthened it to "Ozzy Zig" and then shortened it back to Ozzy. He has said that his first wife Teresa never called him Ozzy, only John, and that the only people who do it now are his brothers and sisters.
- Do Not Call Me "Paul": His real name is John Michael Osbourne, but he doesn't like it, to the point that he doesn't even respond to it anymore.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: "Bark at the Moon"
- Power Ballad: "Mama I'm Coming Home", "Close My Eyes Forever", "Goodbye To Romance", "So Tired"
- Rated "G" for Gangsta
- Rated "M" for Manly
- Refuge in Audacity: "I Don't Wanna Stop"
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- Rockstar Song: "Hellraiser".
- Sanity Slippage Song: Several examples.
- Scary Musician, Harmless Music: While he did make a tongue-in-cheek remark "thanking" his infernal beliefs for being able to dodge COVID-19, this video giving a young percussionist a heartwarming "God bless you!" is one proof he's far from the evil shock rocker persona he adopted in his career.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: While some have speculated about tax-related issues, Osbourne expressed his intentions to leave America in a 2022 interview, citing disillusionment over the country's sociopolitical climate and intense partisanism as well as his fear and disgust over the epidemic of mass shootings throughout the States due to lax firearms laws and the deeply-seated gun culture keeping any meaningful firearms reform from ever taking place.
- Sesame Street Cred: Surprisingly enough, he also played roles in a number of film and television productions aimed towards children, like in The 7D, Bubble Guppies, Trolls World Tour (where a toned down version of "Crazy Train" was featured), and in Gnomeo and Juliet (Elton John, who contributed to the film's soundtrack, would later lend guest vocals with Ozzy in his song "Ordinary Man" in 2020) among others.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: "Bark At The Moon":
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Years spent in torment |
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- Serial Killer:
- The song "No More Tears" is about a serial killer who kidnaps strippers, has sex with them, then tortures and kills them.
- Specifically, Ozzy Osbourne has said that the song is about Jack the Ripper.
- The song "Bloodbath In Paradise" is about the Manson family.
- The song "No More Tears" is about a serial killer who kidnaps strippers, has sex with them, then tortures and kills them.
- Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll: Ozzy is one of the most notable examples, especially in the drugs department. Indeed, in his later years his doctors concluded that according to all medical logic, he should have dropped dead years ago. As a result, they started running a series of blood tests on him to see how he managed to survive his heavy substance abuse as well as he did. Keep in mind that "well" is a relative term (when compared with death), and Ozzy still has a slew of health problems from his overindulgence in his early years. For his part, there's a poignant part in the TV series when Ozzy says to the camera that while it might be fun to joke about how he was a wild child taking all kinds of drugs, he's not at all proud of any of it. He realizes he nearly killed himself and hurt the people he cared about, and urged the audience that the whole myth of becoming a rock star and living the "high life" with money and drugs is really just a myth.
- Shout-Out: "Mr. Crowley", "Perry Mason".
- Sickeningly Sweethearts: For all the craziness in their marriage, it's pretty clear Ozzy and Sharon really do love each other. And they are not afraid of showing it. As opposed to being diabetes-inducing, it's just sweet enough to be absolutely adorable. The video for his cover of "In My Life" is even dedicated to her.
- Signature Song: "Crazy Train"
- Sinister Minister: The title character of "Miracle Man", which is a Take That toward Real Life Sinister Minister, televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, with whom Ozzy feuded in The Eighties.
- Soprano and Gravel: With Lita in "Close My Eyes Forever", and with his daughter Kelly in "Changes".
- Start My Own: Twice. After getting fired by Sabbath he started his own solo project and after being told he wasn't cool enough for big rock festivals he started Ozzfest.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Before Zakk Wylde got buff and grew a beard he was considered to be one of these for Randy Rhoads, what with the long blond hair and cream Les Paul. He himself admits this (on the grounds of hero worship) and says that when he got hired for Ozzy he had a bullseye painted on his guitar so people wouldn't just assume he was a Randy Rhoads clone. He's since become the longest lasting member in Ozzy's band, having played on five studio albums released between 1988 and 2007.
- Sure, Let's Go with That: As is mentioned above, Zakk Wylde had a white Les Paul that was nearly identical to the one Randy used, so he got it repainted. He wanted it to have a hypnotic black and white swirl, but the luthier messed up and painted a bull's eye instead. Zakk thought it was cool, and now it's his trademark.
- Take That:
- "Miracle Man", towards Jimmy Swaggart.
- Ozzy has said that the lyrics of "Crucify the Dead," the song he sings in Slash's solo album, are what he would tell to Axl Rose if he was Slash. The lyrics have also been interpreted as being directed towards his former bandmates in Black Sabbath.
- The songs "I Don't Wanna Stop" and "Not Going Away" from Black Rain are Ozzy's responses to critics who say he should retire.
- Theme Naming: Blizzard of Ozz, The Ozzman Cometh, and Ozzmosis. Diary of a Madman could count as well.
- The Unintelligible: Though he's actually way more coherent nowadays than the character he was portraying in The Osbournes or who shows up in some of his endorsements.
- Unlimited Wardrobe: Subverted. Ozzy is rarely seen in colors that aren't black or dark blue. In the '70s and '80s, he played this trope much straighter with tassels, tight pants, and everything else that made the eighties as ridiculous as they were.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Ironically, not with bats. It's rats that drive him crazy.
- Ozzie's In a Pickle!