Along with Black Sabbath (that he fronted), Ozzy Osbourne, also known as "The Prince of Darkness," helped create the metal genre that we still mosh to today. The music that Ozzy created is still used as a guide for many artists that have come after. Beyond music, Ozzy and his family have made several appearances throughout different aspects of pop culture. On Tuesday, July 22, 2025, it was announced that Ozzy Osbourne passed away. Like many others, the news was a hard hit for several members of our team. We have come together to collect and share some of our best memories of Ozzy Osbourne and his work, along with its impact on the industry and our lives.
Abby Crabill: For me, there was never really one defining moment where Ozzy Osbourne just sort of appeared in my life. He was just always someone that existed. I remember growing up when The Osbournes aired on TV, or when characters were referencing Ozzy on shows like Hannah Montana, or when he appeared in the Best Buy Super Bowl commercial with Justin Bieber. Ozzy was my introduction to Black Sabbath’s music. Ozzy Osbourne always felt like one of those people that may secretly be immortal. Thankfully, through his music and legacy, in a way, he still just might be. Thank you, Ozzy. Sean M: I am dating myself, but I was able to see Ozzy perform in the early years with his newly formed band after Black Sabbath. One of the first shows I saw was in April of 1982 (Diary of a Madman tour), just weeks after the tragic death of guitarist Randy Rhodes; it was a somber show but still kicked ass. Followed by Jan 1984 (Bark at the Moon tour) and April of 1986 (Ultimate Sin tour), when the now legendary band, Metallica, was actually the opener for Ozzy! I have been a fan from the beginning, and his impact on the music world and beyond is irreplaceable. He will be missed… Dusty Hayes: Ozzy and his music have been a constant throughout my life. On June 16, 2024, I was privileged to marry my beautiful wife, Tarin. The ceremony was magical, a bohemian festival with a flock of tents, elaborate carpets for walkways, a spider web of string lights overhead, and drinks flowing. When I walked down the aisle that hot summer afternoon, it was to "Mama, I'm Coming Home," a song that for the rest of time will be able to take me back to that day. Through moments like this he will live on forever in the hearts of fans everywhere. Emma McIntire: A few years back, I ended up having to learn “Crazy Train” on bass for an audition and fell in love with more of Ozzy’s music and Black Sabbath. I watched his last performance and thought his final time playing “Mama, I’m Coming Home” was so beautiful, it even brought me to tears. I’m so grateful for the impact he’s had on metal music today. Even if you aren’t a huge Black Sabbath listener or Ozzy Osbourne fan, there’s no denying the incredible things he’s done for the genre. Rock and metal music will forever be alive because of him. Beau Lewis: I grew up surrounded by Ozzy and Black Sabbath. It was the time riding with my dad and him covering the radio screen, making me guess what song was playing, that has been on my mind since the news of Ozzy’s passing. I have only seen my dad cry a handful of times, and it was always because of a song. “Mama, I’m Coming Home” and “Wild Horses” by The Rolling Stones. Every time I cried, my dad would always say how rock n’ roll I was and then would play me live performances on YouTube. It was always Ozzy. Every generation has had a musical hero; we were blessed with one for many generations. Simon Arinze: I was a relatively late comer to rock and metal music, only really discovering it (via my world of early 2000s emo) in my late teens. It was whilst I was in my first year of university that I decided to join the campus’s Rock & Metal Society to widen my knowledge of all things heavy; it just so happened to be that the university I studied at was in the same city that birthed heavy metal (University of Birmingham). Discovering that the goofy dad from that reality TV show was actually the godfather of metal and had grown up in the same area that became my adoptive home sent me deep down the rabbit hole. 5 years of living in Birmingham and falling deeper and deeper in love with the genre in the same bars and clubs that were built on the back of what Sabbath had done, and I was hooked on everything that those 4 kids from Aston made. Then 3 weeks ago, being lucky enough to finally get to see my idols perform for the first time at their last ever show, it is something that I will never forget. It's hard to imagine what my life would be now without metal, both as a musical genre and also as a community; that is all thanks to the legacy created by Ozzy, Tony, Geezer, and Bill. Matt Benton: While kids at school were listening to pop music and boy bands, I was listening to artists like Ozzy Osbourne. My dad was an “old school” metalhead and introduced me to bands that invented the genre and paved the way for the heavy bands I listen to now. Songs like “Mr. Crowley,” “Crazy Train,” and “Mama, I’m Coming Home” were heavily on rotation while I was growing up. Regardless of the different bands and artists I would hyper-fixate on or move on from, Ozzy Osbourne was always someone I could circle back to and get chills as though I was listening to the song for the very first time.
Connor Douglass: As a child, my parents exclusively listened to metal, rock, and industrial music. My father was a guitar player, and his Randy Rhoades ‘Flying V’ Jackson replica guitar was an early object of memory branded into my little young brain bank. At about 4-5 years old, my parents put in the CD to Ozzy’s No More Tears, playing the self-titled track in the car. At that moment, my brain was rewired. Ozzy quoted this song as “a gift from God,” and man, was I at church. Metal and rock became my religion, and through Ozzy I found music where I could lay all my sins upon the cobble and splay myself open. Zakk Wylde’s guitar playing—the crazy pentatonic licks, the pinch harmonics, the song’s guitar solo—I decided in that car that’s what I want to do. I wanted to be just like Zakk Wylde, I wanted to make music like Ozzy did, and I wanted my altars of art to always pray towards the direction of Ozzy. Pioneering a whole genre of music, I hope we see his face next on Mt. Rushmore.
Thank you for the music, Ozzy.
