![]() ![]() He’s rarely sounded better than he does on the chorus to “Ghost Behind My Eyes” or the bridge of “Tomorrow,” to say nothing of the brilliant oddity that is “Perry Mason.” Ozzmosis is also a rare document of Osbourne gesturing toward a graceful middle age that never quite materialized. The Ozzman himself sounds great, with the same rich, belting tone that helped make No More Tears a triumph. It marked the third straight Osbourne album with Zakk Wylde on guitar, and Ozzy’s old Black Sabbath bandmate Geezer Butler plays the bass. Where Bark felt transitional and Sin didn’t totally fulfill the promise of its pop pivot, Ozzmosis is comfortable and lived in. Lee records is probably too hot a take for most folks, but the obsessive relistening I did while working on this list confirmed it. We’ve ranked all 13 of Osbourne’s solo albums below. Osbourne’s pop sensibility has yielded results ranging from genius (eternal arena anthem “Crazy Train”) to disastrous (a pair of Post Malone collabs), but for better or worse, it’s helped define a career with no equal in the history of heavy music. “I can’t believe I’m still here / I know I should be dead, yeah,” Osbourne sings on Black Rain cut “11 Silver.” That album came out 16 years ago, and 27 years after “Suicide Solution.” Osbourne’s still with us.įor all the real-life darkness that’s surrounded Osbourne over the years, his solo albums have typically been lively pop-metal affairs, and a friendlier entry point to heavy metal than Sabbath’s apocalyptic clamor. Nearly every album has included lines looking back at the wreckage of his misspent years, or marveling at his continued existence. On Blizzard of Ozz, Osbourne sang the controversial “Suicide Solution,” which led to a lawsuit from the parents of a young fan who tragically took his own life. Rhoads died at 25 in a 1982 plane crash, shattering Osbourne and proffering a what if on par with The Day the Music Died. He teamed up with wunderkind guitarist Randy Rhoads for a white-hot solo debut called Blizzard of Ozz. ![]() His departure took place in a haze of addiction and acrimony, and if going solo didn’t exactly inspire him to clean up his act, it at least reinvigorated him musically. Osbourne first left Black Sabbath in 1979. His own songbook has been predicting his death for decades. Last month, Ozzy Osbourne took home two trophies at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards: Best Rock Album, for his 13th solo LP, Patient Number 9 and Best Metal Performance, for the Tony Iommi collaboration “Degradation Rules.” They were Osbourne’s fourth and fifth Grammys, and they may have softened the blow of his recent forced retirement from touring due to ongoing spinal problems. His exit from the road is a shame, but it’s somewhat of a miracle that he could retire as a septuagenarian in the first place.
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