For the next week I’ll run several posts as a tribute to the late, great Ozzy Osbourne. I will continue covering Ozzy-related stuff next week, but I’m doing this all off the cuff so I don’t know exactly what form everything will take. You’ll find out just after I do!
Today I’ll get into the song that became Ozzy’s most successful single. We all know that Crazy Train is ubiquitous with Ozzy and is his most-recognized track, but it was Mama, I’m Coming Home that took the highest chart position of Ozzy’s solo career.
This well-known and loved ballad came to form on the 1991 album No More Tears. The album is often cited as one of Ozzy’s best, he and his music partners did a marvelous job of retooling for the 1990’s and offering up an album that was heavy and real. The songs were MTV and radio staples, and are still in rotation over 30 years later.
The song was composed by Ozzy and Zakk Wylde. The lyrics were written by Lemmy Kilminster, one of four lyrical contributions he made to No More Tears. Lemmy stated many times that he made more money from Mama, I’m Coming Home than he did from his career in Motörhead.
This ballad granted Ozzy his only solo Billboard Top 40 single, it peaked at number 28. His only other entries higher on the singles charts were collaborations with Lita Ford and Post Malone. The single also hit number 2 on the Mainstream Rock chart and was certified platinum in Canada.
Today’s song is a ballad, but one with a lot of power behind it. The song begins with some clean picking from Zakk Wylde and Ozzy ruminating through the first verse before the full band kicks in and delivers a fair bit of heft for what is considered such a tender ballad. Ozzy sings very powerfully here and the chorus soars along with the keyboard enhancements.
Lyrically this is a pretty dense and tough affair. The song is Ozzy’s lament to Sharon, who put up with a lot of Ozzy’s shit. The years just before No More Tears had some especially bad moments, but Sharon stuck with her husband through it all. The years following this song and album would be much better for the couple, both personally and professionally.
Mama, I’m Coming Home had two videos filmed for it. The first one was weird and Ozzy did not like it at all, so they went back and filmed the far more familiar second cut. The original is also really, really hard to find – my digging has not turned up a version that I could post here, so I won’t bother.
This song took a special place at Ozzy’s final show on July 5th in Birmingham. The Back To Beginning concert featured a slew of acts inspired by Ozzy and Black Sabbath, as well as brief sets from Ozzy’s solo outfit and Sabbath. Mama, I’m Coming Home was the only song played in Ozzy’s five song set that was not from the Blizzard Of Ozz album. The song’s performance was very emotional for many and clips of the performance have been among the show’s most-viewed highlights.
And of course now the song takes on a whole new meaning, as on July 22nd Ozzy truly did go home for the final time. While we are left without the powerful voice and simple charm of Ozzy Osbourne, his legacy is immortal and is etched in his songs, perhaps none more fitting of the end of the line than this sweet and somber ballad.
Yesterday came the news we knew was coming someday but came much quicker than any of us anticipated. Ozzy Osbourne died at 76 years old after a five-decade long career as the singer of Black Sabbath and ringleader of his own highly successful solo career.
Ozzy had been dealing with a slew of health problems the past several years which deteriorated his quality of life. He had Parkinson’s disease, had injuries sustained in a fall in his home as well as old injuries from an ATV accident.
He had just recently performed his final concert, the massive Back To The Beginning event in his hometown of Birmingham, England, which wound up being biggest money raiser of any charity concert ever. While his mobility was severely impacted, he was able to pull through a short solo set as well as a Black Sabbath stint.
We all knew Ozzy was in rough shape and that we would be writing posts and tributes like this, but it does seem very sudden just a few weeks after he triumphantly bowed down from the live stage. I assumed he would live a comfortable retirement, or as comfortable as possible given his health issues. But this grand, sad day is upon us and now we are left to mourn the legend of rock and metal’s godfather.
Ozzy was one of the most significant figures in music, especially in the realm of metal. From Black Sabbath to his solo career, to his massive and at times monstrous reputation, and to his kinship with many of rock and metal’s iconic figures, Ozzy has loomed large over this scene since the beginning. He drew legions of fans across several generations and his influence on this scene will be felt for time eternal.
Like many I have been massively entertained over the years by Ozzy’s music as well as his crazy and charming personality. It is difficult to truly put it into words now that I have to think about it in terms of his death, but I am one of many who are in this game to any degree largely due to Ozzy Osbourne.
I think Ozzy deserves an extended tribute, and to make that happen I will preempt my planned content for the rest of July to honor the fallen Prince Of Darkness. I’ll cover some of his songs, albums and also try to offer up a more focused post that discusses his impact to me. This will all be on the fly but it’s not like any of us had anything in the can for this dark day.
I will do those posts over the next several days and I’m sure the world will overflow with tributes to Ozzy, that seems to already be happening. Until then, I raise a glass to Ozzy and thank him for everything he brought to us over all these years, and condolences to his family, friends, bandmates and fans worldwide. We have lost a legend among legends.
I’m now back to covering albums, and to kick this back off I want to head back to 1997 and have a look at this sometimes overlooked and other times hotly-debated album. It served as the final offering from one of alternative rock’s pioneering bands for nearly 20 years.
Faith No More – Album Of The Year
Released June 3, 1997 via Slash Records
By 1996, Faith No More seemed to be sputtering towards a breakup. While the band had planned on doing a new album, members became vested in other projects. Singer Mike Patton was more involved with Mr. Bungle. Keyboardist Roddy Bottum had launched a new band, Imperial Teen, that he had declared was his new main act. Drummer Mike Bordin landed the coveted Ozzy Osbourne gig, which also saw him assume the drum throne for Black Sabbath.
This left bassist Billy Gould holding the bag in terms of creating a new album. He began this effort with guitarist Dean Menta, but Patton did not enjoy the songs being created and Menta left the group. Menta was replaced by Jon Hudson, a friend of Gould’s. Eventually an album was formed, with the busy members circling back around to help complete the project.
Album Of The Year saw Faith No More pull back from some of their weirder blending of styles and offer up a more straightforward rock album, at least in comparison to their older material. The group introduced a fair bit of electronic elements into the mix as well, though these serve more as compliments to the music rather than being the driving force. The band described the album as being cinematic, replete with several references to old films in several songs. The record is, in general, a more atmospheric and “vibes-based” affair than previous FNM material.
Today I’ll cover the original album, though a few other versions exist – one saw a bonus CD of remixed songs, and a later reissue included several other bonus tracks.
Collision
Up first is what qualifies as the most straightforward rock track on the album. Fairly quiet verses give way to caustic choruses as Mike Patton screams about a car accident he had a few years prior. The wreck caused injuries he still apparently deals with to this day. Patton’s demented screaming lends a bit something extra to this song. Grade: A-
Stripsearch
A moody, atmospheric and electronic passage here. Very catchy and pleasant to listen to. The song deals with someone at a low point in their life, not sure exactly what it is. They seem ready to face the music for whatever they’ve done. A haunting and very nice piece of music. Grade: A
Last Cup Of Sorrow
Back to heavier rock here on another of the album’s singles. This is a quintessential Faith No More song – powerful, with riffs and keyboards blending seamlessly. It’s also a powerful message about getting over things and getting on with life. The video was an homage to Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film Vertigo. Grade: A
Naked In Front Of The Computer
Hard, heavy and brief here as Patton explores the idea of having a relationship with someone over a computer via email. This was when the Internet was just starting to take over life and would be a dead-on predictor of how things would go. Grade: B+
Helpless
This is a wistful ballad that strays toward country music territory. Someone is struggling with their life and lack of control of it at this point, they seem to try to find a way to slow things down and enjoy the moment. The songs gets more electric as it moves on and it descends into Patton screaming for help at the end. While the band did this style of ballad to greater effect on their prior album with Take This Bottle, this one does venture into other territory and is still a worthy listen. Grade: B
Mouth To Mouth
This one kicks off with some weird stuff that is very reminiscent of Patton’s other act Mr. Bungle. It is crazy circus music that briefly gets more conventional for its short chorus. Not a bad song by any means but one that feels like it belongs on a different band’s album. Grade: B-
Ashes To Ashes
Up next is the album’s lead single. This is another pretty straightforward rock track that doesn’t take any real twists or turns. And it shouldn’t, as it is the crowning achievement of the album. This song is powerful, with the chorus being massive and all-consuming. Patton’s lyrics seem to outline the coming end of the band, it is the simplest interpretation around. While the band were sputtering at this point by most metrics, they still were able to record a song that’s lauded as one of their best. Grade: A+
She Loves Me Not
This one is an R&B track of some sort, I’m not radically familiar with that music so I don’t know what I’m talking about. The song is ok but not anything I really asked for. Grade: C+
Got That Feeling
This one doesn’t linger long at 2:20. It’s a pretty hard and slamming track with Patton sort of scatting all over the place about whatever. The song seems kind of pointless but it’s not bad. Grade: C
Paths Of Glory
This is a bit of a trippy piece that is fairly interesting, even though the song doesn’t ultimately feel like it goes anywhere. It is a decent sounding track on an album that is definitely falling off the rails in its latter half. Grade: C+
Home Sick Home
This is another song that has an interesting premise but doesn’t do a whole lot. It’s really short so it doesn’t overstay its welcome – in fact, it’s like the song was never really even here. Grade: C
Pristina
The closer was thought up by Billy Gould when he was on a trip through the Balkans in the mid ’90’s. For those unaware, the Balkans had a lot going on at that time. Pristina is the capital of Kosovo, which was the final flashpoint of the Balkan Wars. The song is atmospheric and vague and doesn’t honestly communicate much of anything, it’s a pretty big dud to wrap up with. Grade: D
Album Of The Year did not quite live up to its lofty moniker. The album placed at 41 on the Billboard 200 and has sold around 220,000 copies in the US. It did place well in Australia and New Zealand, topping both charts and going platinum in Australia.
Faith No More toured the album through April of 1998, when members finally pulled the plug and cast the band into hiatus until 2009. The group toured and released one more album in the 2010’s and have now gone on hiatus again, this time seemingly for good.
The album has divided opinions among critics and fans. It received some good reviews and more than a few bad ones. For me, the album contains a handful of really nice songs and then a bunch of stuff that really isn’t up to snuff. Overall the record proves its worth in the songs that do work, as they work very well, but this is dragged down some by a lot of filler and directionless stuff.
Album Grade: B
My grade might be generous, as this isn’t an album I really seek to put on and play through. But there is enough quality here to listen to, and the top-heavy stuff is pretty fantastic. It probably was the right decision to put the band on ice after this, but Faith No More did leave some songs worth the trouble before they first bowed out.
The Back To The Beginning event on July 5th in England was a historic send-off for Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath. The show took place in Birmingham, Sabbath’s hometown. My write-up of the show can be found here.
While Birmingham is where Black Sabbath hail from, Sabbath aren’t the only heavy metal institution from the area. This city is also where Judas Priest were founded, giving Birmingham the “home of heavy metal” moniker.
It would have been a natural fit for Judas Priest to appear at Back To The Beginning, but scheduling conflicts sadly kept that from happening. Priest had already agreed to appear at another landmark show – the Scorpions held their 60th anniversary concert in Hannover, Germany on the same evening as the Black Sabbath gig, and Priest were opening for the Scorpions. Former guitarist K.K. Downing was on hand for the Ozzy event, and Judas Priest sent in a video message honoring Ozzy and Sabbath.
As an additional gift of sorts, Priest also surprise released a cover of Black Sabbath’s seminal War Pigs on July 2nd. War Pigs is one of Sabbath’s top songs, as evidenced by the song’s placement as the opener at the group’s final gig. It is also the song Judas Priest have used as stage “walk-on” music for several years now.
Not that there was any doubt, but Judas Priest execute War Pigs in massive fashion. This sounds spectacular – The band is tight and this has a huge and heavy feel to it. This sounds just as War Pigs should with no huge deviations or embellishments, but also has an extra kick in the ass from a Judas Priest group that has been insanely fresh and vital sounding in their later years.
It was a total bummer that Judas Priest were unable to make the gig honoring Ozzy and Sabbath. The bands have long had a close relationship, to the degree that Rob Halford is actually a former Black Sabbath singer. Rob filled in under emergency conditions twice for Sabbath – he did two shows in 1992 when then-Sabbath singer Ronnie James Dio refused to perform, and then in 2004 Halford filled in when Ozzy was ill.
While Black Sabbath’s legacy is now likely sealed for good, Judas Priest are still kicking with no discernible end in sight. It is nice to have this memento that commemorates Sabbath’s metal immortality from another of heavy metal’s greatest practitioners.
Back on Saturday the 5th we had the Back To The Beginning concert, which was the final live bow for Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath. I have a huge post detailing that event here. Today I want to get into a song performed both live at the show and also released in digital studio form afterward in a bit of a surprise freebie.
Lamb Of God were one of the many acts to perform a min-set at the event. The band played their two most beloved songs, Laid To Rest and Redneck, then offered up a cover of Black Sabbath’s treasured song Children Of The Grave. It’s a song that easily could have been in Sabbath’s own set, but Ozzy had to power through both his own solo material and then the Sabbath portion so they kept things a bit shorter.
Much is made of Black Sabbath’s influence on heavy metal and here with Lamb Of God we have a case that illustrates just how long the timeline is. Lamb Of God formed in 1994 (originally known as Burn The Priest) and are now 31 years into their career. They took time to honor Sabbath, who just wrapped up 57 years in the business.
This is a faithful rendition of the original, it does a good job of retaining what makes the original work while also “sounding” like Lamb Of God. The song does suit Lamb Of God very well anyway, with the chug-a-long rhythm working great with LoG’s groove metal blueprint. It’s also interesting to hear vocalist Randy Blythe do more singing than growling here, it’s not something you get everyday.
Heavy metal covers of Black Sabbath songs are a dime a dozen, it’s pretty logical that many bands cover the band at the root of metal. But Lamb Of God offered up a very nice cover of one of Sabbath’s best songs and it commemorates the special event of Ozzy’s retirement wondefully.
This was supposed to be last Friday’s post. Go figure that a holiday and an extra day off would cause me to miss a post. But I digress.
Here we are. This is my weekly series where I pick five of my favorite songs from a given year. This time around, that given year is 1991.
It’s safe to say that 1991 is the most important music year of my life. I have all the love in the world for 1984, as I put on display a lot of last year. But nothing was as earth shattering and life altering as everything that happened in 1991.
It wasn’t just everything that happened in music, either – I turned 14 and started my freshman year of high school in 1991. In fact, my birthday was about a week after Metallica released their megalithic self-titled album. Everything was changing fast and I honestly wasn’t even on top of it all – both in life and in music. It would all come together eventually (in music, not in life…)
But today’s exercise is pretty simple – I will select five of my favorite songs from the year. Five is barely a drop in the bucket in terms of the music of 1991, but I’m going to keep this series on the rails and just handle it like any other year. If/when this site gets to 2031 I will dedicate the bulk of that year’s posts to reminiscing about 1991, and probably in a big blowout way that dwarfs even what I did for 1984. Something to look forward to in 5.5 years, I guess.
Sepultura – Dead Embryonic Cells
We kick off with this slice of obliteration from the album Arise, often regarded as the Brazilians’ magnum opus. It is equal parts thrash precision and a savage beating, with Sepultura crafting a sound that would serve as a bridge into extreme metal. The song is about being born in a world that is essentially dead and the brutality of the music captures the sentiment perfectly.
Skid Row – Wasted Time
The closing track from the seminal Slave To The Grind album is a ballad by which the bulk of other ballads can be judged. This haunting tale captures someone in the throes of drug addiction, the song was written about former Guns N’ Roses drummer Steven Adler. Sebastian Bach’s vocals soar here and everything comes together for a song that is simply beautiful.
Ozzy Osbourne – No More Tears
The tides of music were shifting in grand fashion in 1991, but the Prince of Darkness could still be counted on to deliver a worthy tune. Ozzy had a bit of a renaissance year in ’91 with the No More Tears album being a huge hit and this title track becoming one of his several signature tracks. This song is the twisted tale of a serial killer, but not told in open terms. Still it’s ominous and creepy.
Mötley Crüe – Primal Scream
Hair metal was being cast out by the second half of 1991, but no one gave Crüe the memo. They put out a greatest hits set with a handful of new songs on it, and this new track was electric. This was heavy, gritty and pounding, seeing the band move up a weight class in the heavy department. It foretold a massive new decade for Crüe, which did not pan out at all, but this kick ass song was a welcome drop in the minefield of ’91.
Carcass – Corporal Jigsore Quandary
By ’91 Carcass were on their third album and had shifted their sound from grindcore to death metal. This prime cut saw the band incorporate a bit of technicality into a very smooth death metal vehicle. And while the title and lyrics are overly wrought, as usual for earlier Carcass, the song is essentially about someone putting a human body back together. It is likely that the person doing the re-assembly is the same person responsible for the body’s dismembered state.
And that does it for five songs from the crazy year of 1991. I had originally thought picking a further five songs as I did for 1984, but in the end I decided against it as I want my focus to be on pushing on with the series.
Next week – I was originally going to restart album posts, but last week’s historic gigs have given us a handful of songs to go over so I will spend a few posts looking at stuff from both the final Ozzy show and the Oasis reunion instead. And I’ll press on with this, jumping in to 1992 where rock and metal were off to the races in many different directions.
So Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath’s final show this past Saturday took up a lot of my attention, but a very historic gig happened just a day before. Cardiff, Wales was ground zero for the thing a lot of people thought would never happen – Oasis are back together, and have played their first (and second) show in 16 years.
Noel Gallagher did what he seemed dead set against doing – rejoined with brother Liam Gallagher and brought Oasis back for what has been called a “victory lap.” This tour does several more shows in England and a few in Ireland before hitting up North and South America and Australia, Japan and South Korea. Nothing has been confirmed for next year yet, but a tour of the European continent as well as a possible 30th anniversary show at the Knebworth grounds are strongly rumored.
Joining the Gallagher brothers are a handful of Oasis past members from various points, as well as a new face. Original member Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs is back, as are 2000’s era guitarist Gem Archer and bassist Andy Bell. Debuting on drums is Joey Waronker.
This is the part where I mention that I am one of the many unlucky ones who did not get a ticket to any of the shows (I only tried for Chicago). In all reality I’m ok with that now since I have a mortgage to wrestle with. I will suffice with whatever live album eventually comes from this, as well as the mountain of bootleg vids and audio already out there.
Anyway, the Oasis machine is back in business and business sounds pretty good. There are a ton of clips and vids from the shows out there. Quality varies by phone and angle, of course, but in the better-filmed clips I have to say the band is sounding really good. They sound vital and hungry, not like they’re just out doing a cash grab. While they are raking in money hand over fist and have truckloads of merch for sale, they came out and made sure people got a show worthy of the premium ticket prices.
There isn’t a whole lot more to say right now – the shows will (most likely) roll on, hopefully they don’t have to pause for some unforeseen issue and hopefully they hold it together and make it through the gigs. Word on the street is that they have contract clauses that make it very, very financially un-viable to cancel shows due to old fashioned brotherly love, so I would assume the gigs go on as planned.
I know that some people are unhappy that Oasis are back together, but judging from the live clips I’d say plenty more are very, very happy. Oasis themselves seem happy to be back, and I’m quite happy they’re back at it even if I won’t take it in. Here’s to ya.
Note – I am putting a few video clips in, no clue how long these will stay up
Last Saturday on July 5th, Ozzy Osbourne hosted a special event in his hometown of Birmingham, England. This concert, dubbed “Back To The Beginning,” was a huge, star-studded affair that marks Ozzy’s final live performance.
This massive show was staged at Villa Park, the home of Aston Villa Football Club. Given attendance was 40,000. The event was also streamed, though it was a two-hour delay. This stream was how I took the show in. The event raised a considerable amount of money for a handful of Birmingham area charities.
There was a lot of buzz going in to the event – many wondered if Ozzy would be able to perform at all. The answer was a resounding yes. The concert’s somewhat unusual itinerary was also a source of concern – most bands were getting very short 15 minute sets with a bit more time afforded to a few marquee acts at the end. Many wondered how the show was going to go off with all the logistics involved, but a rotating stage and other accommodations made it run like clockwork.
A final source of controversy revolved around an act that Sharon Osbourne said was thrown off the show. This is a whole story unto its own so I won’t get into it here as it’s not relevant to the show itself. As of my writing in the afternoon of Sunday, July 6th, we do not yet know the identity of the jettisoned act. Sharon is supposed to reveal this information at some point soon.
Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine fame was the musical director for the event. The show also had a host – you could be forgiven if you thought you were supposed to acknowledge your tribal chief Roman Reigns as the host, but no that was his clone, actor Jason Momoa.
This massive concert lasted ten hours so it was a hell of a time commitment. For me I had to miss the first portion of the stream as I had stuff to do around the house, like mowing the lawn in 85 degree hell heat. I picked up on the first all-star jam and watched through to Metallica’s first song, when I had to split because I was due at the theater for a showing of This Is Spinal Tap. Thankfully there was a few days of replay time for the stream so I was able to catch everything I missed, especially the main event of Ozzy and Black Sabbath.
I won’t run down the entire show as that would just be wasting words for the sake of it. I thought all of the bands did fantastic. For such a huge logistical challenge, most everyone sounded fine and the few hiccups there were weren’t glaring or show-ruining.
The time between the brief set changes was filled with video clips of fans as well as some tributes from musicians. Those included Dolly Parton, Def Leppard, AC/DC, Elton John as well as Judas Priest, who were unable to play the show due to already being booked for the Scorpions’ 60th anniversary concert the same night. Jack Black and Fred Durst each sent in pre-recorded performances of Mr. Crowley and Changes, respectively.
For a complete rundown of who performed what, the Wikipedia article on the show is honestly the most concise and easiest to read of the lists out there.
Both of the all-star jams were of special interest. The first one was especially cool as Jake E. Lee took the stage after not having contact with Ozzy in decades and just eight months after being shot multiple times in a botched robbery attempt. It was also nice to hear two songs from The Ultimate Sin album, a record that Sharon especially has run down over the years. Lzzy Hale did a fantastic job singing the title track from that album, it was one of the highlight performances of the show. Later in that same set, Whitfield Crane of Ugly Kid Joe came out and did a stellar rendition of Ozzy’s Believer. And the first all-star set concluded with a somewhat unlikely figure, as Yungblud performed Changes in one of the most talked-about and pleasantly surprising moments of the show.
The second all-star jam opened with Billy Corgan, K.K. Downing and others offering up a Judas Priest song, then having at Sabbath’s Snowblind. Sammy Hagar then came out with Vernon Reid of Living Colour for Flying High Again and Montrose’s classic Rock Candy. Following a rendition of Bark At The Moon from Ghost’s singer Tobias Forge (I don’t know what he’s calling himself these days), we got what was, at least to me, a surprise guest as Steven Tyler took the stage. Tyler sounded great and while his guest shot was only three songs, it does give hope that he might be able to pilot Aerosmith through their own farewell show of some sort.
After several hours of bands and all-star jams, it was finally time for the show’s reason for being. There wasn’t a ton of build-up or anything – after the set change, Ozzy was on hand for his solo set. Ozzy came out from the stage floor in a huge throne from which he’d perform. He is left unable to walk after Parkinson’s disease and spinal injuries. His band included a cast of his former associates, including Zakk Wylde, Mike Inez, Tommy Clufetos and Adam Wakeman.
Ozzy’s set comprised five of his classic songs – I Don’t Know, Mr. Crowley, Suicide Solution, Mama I’m Coming Home and the ubiquitous Crazy Train. Everything went off without a hitch and Ozzy sounded really good despite his physical condition. While the affects of age and debilitation are there, he still sounded strong.
And Ozzy was ever the showman – as he has always done, he implored the crowd to get into it by yelling, showing their hands and the like. The Prince of Darkness is clearly able to still command an audience. The power and energy of an Ozzy Osbourne performance was present and accounted for, any concerns about his ability to make it through the set vanished as he ruled over his domain.
After the solo set there was one more set change, and it was time for the final event – Black Sabbath, with all four original members present. While Black Sabbath bowed out on a farewell tour in 2017, drummer Bill Ward was controversially not included in that tour. Everyone had expressed regret for that decision in the years since, and for this final bow, Bill Ward was on hand alongside Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Ozzy Osbourne.
Sabbath performed four songs – War Pigs, N.I.B., Iron Man and Paranoid. Before going into Paranoid, Ozzy mentioned that it would be Sabbath’s final song ever and thanked the fans for everything over the years. With the stone cold classic knocked out, it was all over.
The film crew chose to focus on fireworks over the stadium rather than what was going on with Ozzy. Apparently the other members of Sabbath gave him a cake to commemorate the occasion. It was kind of odd not to show any real interaction with the rest of the band, but I guess those fireworks weren’t cheap.
And with that, Ozzy Osbourne’s live performance career is now over. He has mentioned still being able to record so we’ll see if the book’s shut or not on his studio output yet. Sharon Osbourne did relay that she is now happy to leave the music industry, so we’ll see if Ozzy will get to recording or not.
I will admit I was a bit concerned at how this event would go off, but after watching it I have to so it went off great. It was a fitting tribute to a man and band that have been the influence to several generations of heavy metal, rock and beyond. It is sad to think that the Prince of Darkness won’t be electrifying stages and terrorizing the populace, but this man definitely earned his rest at this point. Cheers to you Ozzy, may your retirement suit you well.
Super quick one today – kind of pointless post but I figured I’d take a moment to discuss this.
We are a few months away from the release of Spinal Tap II: The End Continues. This flick will be the sequel to the much-loved 1984 masterpiece This Is Spinal Tap, the great mockumentary that put rock and metal under a hilarious and critical lens.
While Spinal Tap II isn’t coming until September, there is a treat coming this weekend for fans. The first film This Is Spinal Tap will get a limited theatrical run over the July 4th holiday. This will only be for the few days following the holiday as far as I know – one local place is showing it on the 5th, 6th and 7th.
There are a few bonus features tossed our way, in case the thought of watching a 41 year old film you’ve seen dozens of times isn’t that appealing. First, Rob Reiner will reprise his role as Marty Di Bergi to offer up a new introduction. And we will also get a sneak preview of the new film. I’m sure the new bonus footage is brief, but it’s a fair little bit of a draw to go hang out in a movie theater and be treated to the fantastic film again.
Obviously since I’m talking about this I have my tickets for the Saturday showing and will be there. I won’t bother doing a report on it, the new snippets don’t really warrant their own post and I’ve already talked about the original film. I never need an excuse to put the movie on so watching it again is no problem for me. And this will make a busy Saturday for me, as Ozzy Osbourne’s final show is also happening that day and I’ll take that in via streaming as well. I’m glad I have an extra day off to process all of this heavy metal madness.
And that is about all I have to say on it. I’ll be at the theater this coming weekend to enjoy one of my favorite films, and I’ll be there again in September to enjoy the sequel. I know some people are cynical about the new film, but I’m old and tired and I’m ready to just enjoy something. I trust the people involved with the film to deliver something that entertains me for the film’s runtime. I doubt it will be as good as the original, but few things are. I’m sure there will be plenty in the new film to enjoy.
This coming weekend will feature the final performance of Ozzy Osbourne, an event I intend to cover next week. With that I figured I’d get into a song of his as a taster for the weekend.
Bark At The Moon was the title track from Ozzy’s third album, released in 1983. It was also the album’s lead single. The song hit number 21 in the UK and 12 on the US Album Rock Tracks chart. The album would go on to sell over 3 million copies in the US.
The road to Bark At The Moon was not smooth. In 1982, beloved guitarist Randy Rhodes tragically died in a small plane accident with Ozzy looking on. Ozzy would cycle through a few guitarists to replace Rhodes on tour, but later decided on Jake E. Lee for the album. There are some crazy stories from this time, one being how George Lynch was initially hired for the role and was then unceremoniously cast aside in favor of Lee. Another is Jake Lee’s royalty situation – he and Bob Daisley were forced to take buyouts on the album to hand all songwriting credits over to Ozzy. There is of course more to those stories but those are for another time.
Though the loss of Randy Rhodes is immeasurable, Ozzy would be off to the races with Jake E. Lee. Bark At The Moon features plenty of kinetic guitar work, keeping it in line with the guitar god legacy established on the first two Ozzy solo albums. Lee was certainly able to put his stamp on things, even if he didn’t receive songwriting credit for the work he did.
The music video features Ozzy committed to an asylum and being pursued by a werewolf. It’s goofy for sure but pretty fitting of the song and of MTV in those early years. One funny bit of trivia – Carmine Appice appears in the video as the drummer, though it was Tommy Aldridge who played on the album. Appice did not have a long stint in Ozzy’s band – he was dismissed and Aldridge returned for the rest of the tour.
One final bit of lore – Bark At The Moon features in a video game I bring up a lot, it being my favorite of all time – Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Well, at least it did feature for awhile. It was on the original Playstation 2 release of the game. After some time Sony Records had a series of disputes about licensing, and Bark At The Moon was removed from the game’s many re-releases over the years. It was a nice addition to the V-Rock metal station and I do miss driving around Vice City with it blaring on the car stereo.
So all these years later we come to the end of Ozzy’s career, at least in live performances. Jake E. Lee is slated to perform at the event – the specifics of his performance are unknown and it’s very unlikely he’ll play alongside Ozzy. Whatever the case, we should get a fitting final rendition to close out one of rock and metal’s craziest careers.
The Crooked Wanderer 