The Great and Powerful Ozzy

These trousers are too tight, mate!

Okay, so Ozzy is not so powerful these days. "Has he lost his mind?" Perhaps, but he's still kind of great, given his legendary status as THE voice of the original Black Sabbath. "Has he thoughts within his head?" It doesn't really matter, as long as he can continue to belt out Sab songs, lyrics intact. 

Born and raised in Birmingham, England, the centre of the heavy metal universe, John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne worked around his ADD and dyslexia to eventually find his calling as a singer in a rock and roll band. That band was called Rare Breed and its founders were Ozzy and some bloke called Geezer. That band evolved into Earth, and then Black Sabbath, who would record eight highly influential albums by the end of the 1970's. And it was by the end of that run that poor Ozzy parted ways with his band-mates. Mind you, he then went on to forge a pretty impressive solo career, enlisting the biggest names in music for his recording and touring. 

Ozzy remains one of the biggest names in rock history. Yes, he's had his issues ever since day one, but the fact remains that he's carried on since Sabbath and recorded nearly a dozen solo albums, many of which are considered heavy metal classics. And of course, he's most recently reunited with Sab for an album and a tour. I have tickets to see one of those shows this spring of 2014. 

I had the dubious pleasure of seeing Ozzy, solo that is, in concert a few times in more recent decades. I had mixed feelings about those gigs because Oz simply wasn't his old self... instead he was an old self, looking frail, weak, and generally unhealthy. He still had the vocal chops, so the shows weren't a total loss. While his band was always top notch, I had issues with Zakk Wylde's overuse of pinch harmonics on guitar. Less is more, I always say. 

But the concerts were chock full of Ozzy anthems and even a handful of Sabbath standards. My, how the weedy haze filled the air of the auditorium as the band cranked out classics like Sweet Leaf. Bang yer head.