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User
Reviews 6
Approval 93%
Soundoffs 54
Album Ratings 678
Objectivity 65%
Last Active 01-05-23 12:08 am
Joined 04-20-18
Review Comments 1,479
| My Life and Ozzy
RIP Ozzy Osbourne. Seems like you've been with me since my freshman year in high school, too many years ago. And like a defunct Grandpa to myself and all the other metalheads (of various genres) out there. Hard to see you pass, but know it's for the best. | | 1 |  | Ozzy Osbourne
No More Tears
Definitely first encountered Ozzy in late 1991, when his videos for "No More Tears" and "Mama, I'm Coming Home" were on MTV nonstop. I was a freshman in high school and myself, as well as all my buddies, hung out in our High School pool hall (near the school store and source of junk food). Lucky for us, the pool hall had a TV with MTV, which was blasting Ozzy, GnR, Metallica, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden at this time. I vividly remember seeing these videos. | | 2 |  | Black Sabbath
We Sold Our Soul For Rock 'n' Roll
Funny enough, I was not (or only vaguely) aware that Ozzy was the lead singer of Black Sabbath at this same time. I recall a fellow HS football player listening to Iron Man in 1991/1992 - and I thought he was kinda lame for listening to classic rock. My eyes had not yet been opened to Black Sabbath. | | 3 |  | Various Artists
Nativity in Black - A Tribute to Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath entered my realm around 1998/1999. Some of my favorite artists of yesteryear (e.g., White Zombie, Ministry (1000 Homo DJs), Type O Negative, and Sepultura) were covering Black Sabb on this compilation from 1994. This comp/tribute blew my mind - and I was instantly attracted to songs predominantly from Master of Reality (Children of the Grave, After Forever, Lord of this World) and from later albums (Supernaut, Symptom of the Universe). I recall printing out Geezer's lyrics and reading through them intently. | | 4 |  | Ozzy Osbourne
Speak Of The Devil
Wasn't too much later that I picked up this album of Ozzy covering Black Sabbath, as I had little to no background on Ozzy (pre-No More Tears). But this was essentially a live Black Sabbath album - so I was all in. This album, along with the NIB covers above, was my first indoctrination into Black Sabb. | | 5 |  | Black Sabbath
Reunion
The reunion live album also came out in 1998, and I purchased this somewhere around 1999. This was like a holy grail - and me and several friends were deeply into this live album. Went to Ozzfest 1999 that same year, but had to leave before Black Sabbath's set as one of my best friends got hurt and had to go to the hospital. | | 6 |  | Various Artists
Nativity in Black 2: A Tribute to Black Sabbath
In 2000, I was full into nu metal. So what better way to infiltrate the nu metal fans than release a second tribute with a strong mix of metal (Pantera, Megadeth, Slayer) and nu metal (Stati-X, SOAD, Hed(PE), and Soulfly) bands. The shining gem on the album though is Monster Magnet's cover of Into the Void; didn't respect this cover until much later. Probably listened to this tribute more than the first. | | 7 |  | Ozzy Osbourne
Down To Earth
Come 2001, I was all into some new Ozzy or Black Sabbath. This album came out - and given the current production - was huge to me. Ozzy and Zak Wilde never sounded better. | | 8 |  | Ozzy Osbourne
Blizzard Of Ozz
In 2002, started buying up all of the old Ozzy solo albums I had missed. And the reissues for Blizzard of Ozz, Diary of a Madman, and Bark at the Moon were coming out - and I f'ng loved them. Having Mike Bordin and Robert Trujillo record over prior artists parts - and replace it with a banging rhythm section - was god tier to me. Remember buying these from the nearby Kmart. Still love those reissues - 100 fold more than the originals. | | 9 |  | Ozzy Osbourne
Live At Budokan
Finally got to see Ozzy (solo) live - for the first time - at Ozzfest 2003 in ATL. Just a phenomenal show and set, with Zakk Wylde playing his guitar behind his head. Played a mix of Black Sabbath classics (War Pigs, Iron Man, Sweet Leaf, Children of the Grave), tracks of Bilzzard of Ozz, Diary of a Madman, and No More Tears, and closed with Paranoid. Was floored by this show - and purchased Live at Budokan (on DVD and CD) shortly thereafter. | | 10 |  | Black Sabbath
Past Lives
And then - finally saw Black Sabbath live at Ozzfest 2004, in Tampa, with an approaching hurricane and lightning arcing across the sky. Tight set, including classics such as War Pigs, N.I.B., Sweet Leaf, and Snowblind; played my favorite of all their Tracks (Into the Void), and closed with Iron Man/Children of the Grave/Paranoid. A stunning finale for an incredible day! | | 11 |  | Ozzy Osbourne
Scream
From 2004 to now, filled out my missing Ozzy albums - and bought pasts and all the new releases. Scream is one of my favorites Ozzy albums of the last 20 years. And Ultimate Sin is one of my favorite (and underrated) albums from the 80's. | | 12 |  | Black Sabbath
13
Same for Black Sabbath, filled out my collection with those albums I never had (including the later albums such as Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die) - and even Dio, Ian Gillan, Glenn Hughes, and Tony Martin era albums. Absolutely loved the extended version of their 13 album - released in 2013. | | 13 |  | Black Sabbath
The End
Didn’t make it to the final tour; but did find a great poster from this tour at a flea market and scooped it up. Happy to have live-streamed Back to the Beginning; such a brief but now timeless set by both Ozzy (solo) and Black Sabbath. What an epitaph that live stream was; hard to believe Ozzy could perform even those nine songs before his death 2-3 weeks later. | |
Muzz79
07.23.25 | Similar time lines to me, we must be same age. My intro to Sabbath was in 1994 I bought a double cd package containing Master of Reality and SBS and then seeing Nativity in Black next to it and buying that too. I absolutely loved it all and went back and got debut etc. Ozzy solo stuff took me longer to explore as I was into black metal second half of the 90’s. I saw Sabbath at Ozzfest 2005 when I traveling thru the states (damn 20 years ago this month). Maiden also played. Not often would you see Maiden play and not headline but it happened that day in NJ | JDubb
07.24.25 | @Muzz79. Sounds like it - similar sge and trajectories. | Muzz79
07.24.25 | How good is Nativity in Black, my fav covers album along with Garage Days revisited | RunOfTheMill
07.24.25 | Nice write up. I was lucky to catch Black Sabbath twice, in 2014 & 2016. I had a ticket for the Ordinary Man tour before it got cancelled. Having really gotten into music in my teens where everything had gone digital and my buddies were sharing pirated albums with me on usb sticks, I always find it fun to hear about these old stories where access to music was limited to what was on tv/radio and whatever you happened to have physically. |
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