Why Ozzy leaves behind an important legacy beyond his music

His music was legendary, but he was also the father of heavy metal in more ways than one 

The tributes have been pouring in for Ozzy Osbourne, the voice of heavy metal in the wake of his passing at 76. But beyond his music, he’s left behind a twofold legacy that shows the man behind the music – the working class hero that never diminished even when fortune and fame came knocking.

He fronted nine Black Sabbath albums, forging the heavy metal genre as he did, and released 13 solo albums alongside star-studded casts as diverse as Randy Rhoads and Steve Vai, as well as Post Malone and Jeff Beck. But he never forgot who he was: a working class lad from Aston, Brimingham, and the son of a toolmaker.

Ozzy was supremely talented, yet he remained humble. That’s why his legacy extends far beyond great music.

Heavy metal’s nurturing forefather

When he left Black Sabbath after 1970’s hit-and-miss Never Say Die! album, Ozzy was in need of reinvention. Sabbath were one of the biggest bands on the planet, but his relationship with the rest of the band had become untenable, the quality of their output faltering.

Of course, history dictates that the singer quickly and successfully pivoted from Black Sabbath frontman to Ozzy Osbourne™. But what’s curious about the band he formed to launch his solo career is that it lacked pre-baked star quality.

Today, Randy Rhoads rests in the pantheon of heavy metal guitar gods. His work on Ozzy’s first two career-redefining albums, Blizzard of Ozz (1980) and Diary of a Madman (1981) speak volumes of talents that were taken from us far too soon. But back then, Rhoads wasn’t a name on everyone’s lips.

Sure, he’d quietly forged a respectable reputation in Quiet Riot, but Ozzy’s assembled band was far from supergroup territory. The truth is, Ozzy didn’t turn to big names to reshape his reputation. In Rhoads, he put faith in a young talent, and it worked wonders.

Ozzy knows how difficult it can be to make it in a cruel industry, and throughout his career he extended opportunities to unknown – or at least lesser known – players, because he understood what it meant to them.

Interestingly, Zakk Wylde says that, when auditioning to replace Jake E. Lee in the band, he was surprised how many other guitarists were solely in it for the pay check, rather than the appeal of the gig itself. Ozzy would have seen through that.

Instead of looking to a ready-made star to spearhead a new era of the Prince of Darkness, he invested in a fresh-faced Wylde, who was a relative nobody at the time, even though the fast-rising Chris Imperiletti and Adrian Vandenberg were both in the running. Those decisions embody Ozzy’s humble and nurturing spirit. He never simply cherry-picked a ready-made guitarist.  

“Play with your heart”

When he eventually parted ways with Wylde in 2009, he turned to Firewind's Gus G for the vacant role when, in truth, he probably could have had free rein

to pick anybody he wanted. And he knew the weight of the role, especially when those not used to such blinding levels of the limelight.

“If you're into heavy metal, that's your father!” the Greek said of his time in the band. “That's the father of heavy metal. So it was a crazy moment.

“He was like, 'Hey man, take it easy. Let's just jam and don't worry if you play a few notes wrong – it's rock 'n' roll, that's what happens. Just play with all your heart.’ He was just a very nice and very sweet guy, very warm-hearted. He broke the ice right away. I was nervous until I met him; once we started jamming, it felt right.”

A lot of that has to do with Ozzy’s background. Black Sabbath were successful because they were authentic; they weren’t crafted in some record label laboratory or boardroom. They came from nothing, and retired with the world at their feet. It’s a mantra he’s carried through to his solo career, and embraced a caring, fatherly role in the band every time young, lesser-known and less experienced players entered the fray.

Taking the stage

With his namesake Ozzffest festival/tours, Ozzy also used his magnetism to shine a light on some of rock and metal’s most exciting new talents. Fear Factory were just two albums deep into their career when they featured on the inaugural Ozzfest in 1996. Coal Chamber hadn’t even put out a record by that time.

In 1998, System of a Down opened the second  stage with the tour kicking off before their self-titled debut LP had dropped. For the US edition that year, Coal Chamber were bumped  from second to main stage openers as Ozzy continued to promote young bands and carve out a pathway for them to grow.

In 2005, Ozzfest took over a day of Download festival, which saw Sabbath headline the Friday and System of A Down, unknowns just seven years earlier, were right next to them at the top of the bill as Sunday headliners.

Likewise, Skindred, Between the Buried and Me, In This Moment, and Loathe all got a surge of confidence as they joined various Ozzfest line-ups while still only a few years into existence.

Tom Morello was the true mastermind of Back to the Beginning, having been tasked with curating its all-star line-up. But look at the moment Changes was covered by Yungblood and Sleep Token drummer, II. Right there are two of rock and metal's next generation heroes. Yungblood's stock, in particular, has gone through the roof for the way he handled the spot. And on a night that proved to be Ozzy's last time under stage lights, adoring eyes looking on, a powerful message about the future of heavy metal was made.

Ozzy never lost sight of who he was, and that translated into him, like Gus G. says, becoming the father of heavy metal.

The music world has lost one of its greatest icons, but the legacy he leaves behind is larger than any of us could have ever imagined.