Remembering 2025’s Music Losses: Ozzy Osbourne

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Maybe this will make up for all the baseball. Yes, it’s time for one of the biggest obituaries of 2025, not only in music but in all of “celebrity” news. And, thanks to his reality series, everyone IDE (including Daddy Evil ) knows the name! Ozzy Osbourne Crazy, but that’s how it goes Millions of people living as foes Maybe it’s not too late To learn how to love and forget how to hate “Madman”? The verse quoted above is the opening of “Crazy Train.” No, for all the insanity, I’d say Ozzy had his head screwed on pretty straight when it came to those lyrics. As with so many other genres of music, there’s the never-ending argument over “first.” Generally, people point to Blue Cheer’s rendition of “Summertime Blues” as “the first heavy metal song.” It’s not my field of expertise, so I won’t voice an opinion on what was first. However, it is fair to say, and I will concur, that, while Black Sabbath didn’t invent heavy metal, they DID perfect it. Ozzy (who had a real name, but who’s going to talk about a “madman” named John Osbourne? ) made his own headlines, doing things like biting the head off a bat (he thought it was a toy, not a real bat) and a dove. He did unquestionably the worst rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” in Wrigley Field history (I’ll warn you not to look it up, because you can’t un-hear it, so please take my word). He was the poster child for “drugs and drinking make for bad decisions.” He had his own reality show with his family, showing that he would have probably died decades ago without wife Sharon. People who had no clue about Ozzy’s music came to know about him through The Osbournes. And here’s a kicker for you: despite the “prince of darkness” persona, Osbourne was a Christian, who told an interviewer that he prayed before his shows. He didn’t attend church (honestly, could he without causing a stir?), but said, “You don’t have to go to church to believe in God.” On July 5, 2025, Ozzy reunited with the members of Black Sabbath for a concert in their hometown of Birmingham, England for an extravaganza called “Back to the Beginning.” Although confined to a chair due to advanced Parkinson’s, Ozzy could still sing. Seventeen days later, Ozzy died of a heart attack. Like the music or hate it, Ozzy Osbourne was without question one of rock’s most colorful characters. There’ll never be another one like him. Ozzy Osbourne Born John Michael Osbourne, December 3, 1948, Marsdon Green, Warwickshire Died July 22, 2025, Jordans, Buckinghamshire (heart attack/complications of Parkinson’s disease) (age 76) HALL OF FAME: Rock and Roll x2 (2006 with Black Sabbath; 2024 as solo artist) Ozzy’s classic “Crazy Train”: