Ozzy Osbourne. Man, what an icon for the world of heavy music. There would be no hard rock and heavy metal as we know it today if it weren’t for Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward when they founded Black Sabbath back in 1968. Picture that. The popular bands at the time were groups like The Doors and The Rolling Stones…and then, here comes Black Sabbath. They, quite literally, changed the world; and like so many of their contemporaries, their run at the top of the world was all too brief. For various reasons, Osbourne would be out of the band throughout the 80’s and 90’s before reconnecting and performing with Black Sabbath sporadically since 1997. Osbourne’s passing on Tuesday, just seventeen days after the final Black Sabbath show, truly feels like one of those deaths that marks the end of a chapter of your younger self. Ozzy Osbourne. I’m not sure there has been a bigger individual name in my lifetime that is more synonymous with heavy music.

In honor of his memory, and the killer tunes that he graced us with, now is your turn to choose YOUR favorite Ozzy (solo) tune. I will save Black Sabbath for a different time. Vote for your favorite below and then read on as I reveal my favorites from his wild career.

I was fortunate to see Ozzy perform live one time in 2007. It was at Ozzfest at the old Polaris Amphitheater in Columbus, Ohio before it turned into a Top Golf and a Swedish furniture store. It was a great show and I honestly remember being surprised by that. At that time, Ozzy was still largely in the public eye due to the popularity of his family’s reality TV show but I honestly didn’t think that he would still be able to perform. He proved me wrong. I wish that I had also got to see Sabbath, but it wasn’t meant to be, as Ozzy was sick for the 2005 Ozzfest and Sabbath had to cancel; leaving Iron Maiden to headline instead… Anyway, my introduction to Ozzy came from my dad’s Diary of a Madman cassette tape. That album still holds up and is the one that I hold in the highest regards from Ozzy’s career, although a decade later, No More Tears gives it a serious run for its money. Some of Osbourne’s greatest songs, though, would come towards the end of his life. His later works were introspective and I believe through this music was how he came to terms with his demons. My Top 30 songs from Ozzy’s solo career are below, in reverse chronological order:

1. Patient Number 9 (2022)
2. Ordinary Man featuring Elton John (2020)
3. Under The Graveyard (2020)
4. Let Me Hear You Scream (2010)
5. I Don’t Wanna Stop (2007)
6. Gets Me Through (2001)
7. Perry Mason (1995)
8. I Just Want You (1995)
9. See You On The Other Side (1995)
10. Mama, I’m Coming Home (1991)
11. No More Tears (1991)
12. Desire (1991)
13. Hellraiser featuring Lemmy Kilmeister (1991)
14. Road To Nowhere (1991)
15. Breaking All The Rules (1988)
16. Fire In The Sky (1988)
17. The Ultimate Sin (1986)
18. Shot In The Dark (1986)
19. Bark at The Moon (1983)
20. Over The Mountain (1981)
21. Flying High Again (1981)
22. You Can’t Kill Rock & Roll (1981)
23. Believer (1981)
24. S.A.T.O. (1981)
25. Diary of a Madman (1981)
26. Tonight (1981)
27. Mr. Crowley (1980)
28. Goodbye To Romance (1980)
29. I Don’t Know (1980)
30. Crazy Train (1980)

This weekend, raise your glasses to the Ozzman and turn it up to eleven.