Osbourne has one last show after crazy career

Ozzy Osbourne, the self-proclaimed "Prince of Darkness," sitting in a black throne and singing "Crazy Train." This man, a fixture in heavy metal as the lead singer of Black Sabbath, someone who personified the darker edges of music, with the arrests and insane antics to prove it, now saying goodbye in a final concert with Black Sabbath and other guests. The show, done for charity, was called "Back to the Beginning." It was held July 5 at Villa Park in Birmingham, England, near where about 40,000 fans attended. It was a show that featured music royalty, such as Aerosmith front man Steven Tyler and Metallica. Even Dolly Parton did a pre-taped message for Ozzy. And all I could think was, what a crazy world this is. Osbourne was once a scary presence. In the early 1990s, my sixth grade English teacher was detailing, with disgust, some of Ozzy's behavior. He had bitten the heads off a bat and a few doves. He'd been a well-known drug addict. Crimes and suicides had been attributed, by some, to his music. And, of course, he was once arrested after urinating on a Cenotaph near the Alamo. After hearing all of this, I asked a very sixth-grade level question: "Is this guy in jail?" The class laughed at me. At the time, I was deeply into country music, and I knew little about heavy metal. Honestly, I still know little about heavy metal. It's just not my thing. I didn't have any idea who Osbourne was. But I assumed that, given his behavior, he probably wasn't long for this world. That was 32 years ago, and Ozzy is still playing. As the years progressed, it became clear that Osbourne and Black Sabbath were worth listening to. Black Sabbath formed in 1968, with Osbourne joining guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward and bassist Geezer Butler to create some dark, pounding, hard music. The group — whose original members are, incredibly, all still alive and performed together last week — created songs like "Paranoid" and "Iron Man," which have endured on classic rock stations. Osbourne also had a few big solo hits, including "Crazy Train" (with stunning guitar work from the late Randy Rhoads) and "Goodbye to Romance." Osbourne, for all of his issues, could create music that appealed to the masses. I found that out in 1999, when our high school band started playing "Crazy Train" during football halftime shows. His image softened by the turn of the century. He had a reality show on MTV which showed him as a loving — if vulgar and unconventional — family man with his wife (and manager) Sharon and his kids, Jack and Kelly. To this day, I have no idea how much of the show was real, and how much was put on. But it sure was popular in the early 2000s. The show was one of the first reality TV phenomena, and turned Osbourne and his family into bigger celebrities than ever. The show was such a part of the culture that Osbourne even attended The White House Press Club dinner, where then President George W. Bush told Ozzy how much his mother, Barbara, loved his music. That was less than a decade after I wondered if Ozzy should be in jail. While Osbourne had his last concert last week, health issues have caught up with him. He performed in on a throne last week because he can no longer walk due to Parkinson's disease. At 76-years-old, Ozzy is still planning to record, but not perform. It's certainly been a wild and stunning career, and it's not over. What a world. Zach Baker is sports editor for The Courier and Review Times.