I don’t usually have much to say when a public figure dies. To be honest there would be maybe two people who would really impact me in their departure, Lana Del Rey and Ozzy Osbourne. A pair, I know lol.
I’ve sat aside over the past few days taking in the news. I don’t have much to add to the conversation about him other than my experience and connection to him. I wasn’t sure what I had to say would contribute much. To add my part to the chorus of millions of voices who’s lives he’s touched. He was a force that brought up something deep within all of us who listened, he had an honesty that was relentless. I cannot ignore his impact on me, no matter how trite and corny it is to “jump on a bandwagon” with an in memoriam of a celebrity I didn’t personally know.
Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath were a large part of my teenage years. My dad introduced me to their music and it has been a point of connection between me and him ever since. Immediately, the guitar lines that Tony Iommi strummed reverberated in my soul. My body loved listening to the depth of the sound, the rolling drum lines, and Ozzy’s strange screech voice, together saying something I could not at the time.
One of my first concerts was seeing Black Sabbath at Ozzfest at the age of 13. My dad took me and it was a core memory I’ll forever be grateful for. I love the lore add of sharing that with people. Even mentioning his name, the band’s name, brings camaraderie amongst all walks of life.
At the festival, I called my best friend, Olivia, from my dad’s Nokia and scream cried with the phone above my head. Sharing his influence however I could. Olivia and I bonded over Ozzy, over Black Sabbath, all of us over our misunderstood-ness.
I loved listening to him on my dad’s vinyl. I have this vision of my dad in my head as a kid, listening to Black Sabbath on repeat with the speakers on blast on either side of his head, pillows to muffle the sound, laying in a sea of airwaves. I reveled in that image of him as I listened on CD, mp3, and Spotify.
My senior quote came from a song off of his Diary of a Madman record. “You’ve got to believe in yourself or no one will believe in you. Imagination like a bird in the wind, flying free for you to use.” Was my battle cry into the adult world. A resonance I live with to this day. I’m not even sure if those are the real lyrics, but that was what I heard and that’s all that mattered. I don’t have to be perfect when it comes to Ozzy, a lesson he will forever teach me.
I didn’t know Ozzy’s tie to Des Moines until a year after I moved here. It makes complete sense to me that I would move to the place where he infamously bit the head off of a bat, solidifying the moniker Prince of Darkness.
Ozzy made me feel cool. Made me feel apart of in a time that I was really trying to find my place. The words of his music made me feel like it was okay to not have one. I haven’t cried yet, I don’t know if I will. I feel he deserves my tears for all that he has given me, the only way I can give back to him now as my offering to his memory.
Black Sabbath’s influence, and Ozzy’s, was too large not to share. Too big to hold for just one person, that’s why we love sharing our experience of them. That’s why millions of people this week, cried and talked and spread the good word about a remarkable man. The attention that Ozzy gets for his work is the most deserved. He was truly special, too special not to share, and he will be deeply missed by millions. What a legacy.
Thank you for your dedication to yourself in this lifetime, Ozzman. You paved the way for us to embrace ourselves, the most magnificent side effect to doing what you loved. Thank you for showing me that my experience matters, my point of view matters, and is meant to be shared. You are loved by us all, a love that you gave right back to us. You were a needed example of humanity. Thank you thank you thank you.
-Alex
Beautiful 🖤