Reminisces of Ozzy Osbourne

—through a few lists—

Caveat: these are personal lists. Your lists will be different, which is great, otherwsie we’d all be clones. So, in remembrance of the legendary Ozzy Osbourne (and retroactively also of the equally legendary Ronnie James Dio), four lists.

Also, I hope you’re all aware that Ozzy passed away on Tuesday July 22, 2025 (yesterday as I write this). Announcement in The Guardian: Ozzy Osbourne Black Sabbath frontman and icon of British Heavy Metal dies aged 76 .

Top 10 Ozzy songs:

1. Revelation (Mother Earth);

2. Diary of a Madman;

3. No More Tears;

4. Mr. Tinkertrain;

5. Forever;

6. Crazy Train;

7. Bark at the Moon;

8. Flying High Again;

9. Bark at the Moon;

10. Killer of Giants;

Notes:

• “Revelation (Mother Earth)” was only rarely played live after Randy Rhoads died because—as I remember from an Aardschok interview—Ozzy admitted he couldn’t sing it live, anymore;

• “Bark at the Moon” was performed live on August 21, 2017 exactly in time—on location at the Moonstock Festival in Carterville—with the total solar eclipse that crossed the USA that year;

• Ozzy considered The Ultimate Sin as his worst (or should that read ‘least favourite?) album. I still think “Killer of Giants” is a fine song;

• One thing I think is overlooked in all Ozzy’s obituaries and tributes is that—during his solo years—he had a nose for talented guitar players, to wit: Randy Rhoads, Jake E. Lee, Zakk Wylde, and—to a somewhat lesser extent—Gus G, aka Konstantinos Karamitroudis¹;

Top 10 Ozzy + Black Sabbath songs:

1. Don’t Start (Too Late)/Symptom of the Universe;

2. Supernaut;

3. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath;

4. Into the Void;

5. War Pigs;

6. Black Sabbath;

7. Electric Funeral;

8. Never Say Die;

9. Hand of Doom;

10. Spiral Architect;

Note 1: I think this is one of the rare cases² of a split between the singer and the band where both release better albums after the split. Ozzy was at the end of his rope and Technical Ecstasy was a rather weak album. Then both sides re-invented themselves: Ozzy with Blizzard of Oz (via Randy Rhoads) and Black Sabbath with Heaven and Hell (via Ronnie James Dio).

Note 2: the essential differences between the Ozzy and Dio versions of Black Sabbath are consistency (the Ozzy Sabbath did whatever they felt like, with result varying from sheer genius to ultimately forgettable, while both Heaven and Hell and The Mob Rules do not have any weak songs) and the way the vocals are integrated in the songs.

During the original Ozzy Sabbath years (from 1969 — 1979), Ozzy vocal lines were mainly in sync with the Iommi’s riffs, while during the original Dio years (1980 — 1983) Iommi learned from Dio³ that it’s also possible to sing across riffs and over power chords. This change was also intentional, as they didn’t want to sound like the old Sabbath (so that Dio would basically be an Ozzy clone).

Thus, while the experimenting in the Ozzy Sabbath was mostly in the music, in the Dio Sabbath the experiments included the vocals, with some extraordinary results. To be frank—and I’m quoting Iommi here—Ozzy was more of an entertainer, while Dio was more of a professional singer. Make no mistake, Ozzy’s more monotonous voice worked on the original Black Sabbath because it was tailor-made for the songs (he was singing Geezer Butler’s lyrics), while Dio’s much more flexible voice allowed Sabbath to expand their sound.

Lyrics-wise, though, Dio was told that that medieval lore and high fantasy (rainbows and knights and dragons)—which many of his Rainbow songs contained—were not suitable for Black Sabbath. I think the original quote was something like: Iommi told Dio to stop putting ‘rainbows’ in Sabbath lyrics. Hence, Dio had to adapt his usual lyric writing⁴, with some decidedly good results (see list below).

Top 5 Dio + Black Sabbath songs:

1. Falling off the Edge of the World;

2. Die Young;

3. The Sign of the Southern Cross;

4. Neon Knights;

5. Heaven and Hell;

Note: I’ve limited this to a top 5 because there are only two albums to select from⁵, in comparison to the first eight of Black Sabbath (and thirteen Ozzy albums, of which the last seven pale in comparison to the first six).

Note: from there it’s a small step back to the Dio Rainbow. So let’s go.

Top 5 Dio + Rainbow songs:

1. Gates of Babylon;

2. Stargazer;

3. Lady of the Lake;

4. Kill the King;

5. Tarot Woman;

Note: What both the Rainbow and Dio years amply demonstrated was that Dio needed a guitar player with excellent composing chops to deliver truly genius songs. His early solo albums were OK, while his Sabbath reunion album was also OK (instead of superb).

And I know: why isn’t “Stargazer” number 1? Because I prefer the great guitar/drums interaction in the second part of the solo of “Gates of Babylon”, the keyboard intro (above the drum intro of “Stargazer”—yes, blasphemy), and find the vocal and melody lines slightly more interesting (vocally, “Stargazer” is almost all full power all the way, while “Gates of Babylon” has more variation).

Final note: why this detour to Dio and eventually Rainbow? Well, both “Stargazer” and “Gates of Babylon” are perfect mood pieces for the novel I’m working on, which is proceeding apace (almost 80,00 words already).

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Author’s note: long time no Substack. Let’s just say I’ve been enjoying a (social media) holiday, going to a lot of concerts—nine in the past month, some reviews soon to follow—and writing when the weather was nice. Which it was most of the time. This is an unusually rainy day (the skies crying for Ozzy?), so I made some time for this.

Anyway, many thanks for reading, welcome new subscribers, and normal schedule should resume, even if intermittently until September.

1. Brad Gillis was already discovered by his own band Night Ranger and only played on the Speak of the Devil tour;

2. With the possible exception of the Genesis—Peter Gabriel split;

3. Who, in his stead, must have learned a lot from Ritchie Blackmore during his Rainbow tenure;

4. Even though he did smuggle in bits and pieces, like in “Neon Knights”, “Wishing Well”, and “Country Girl” (not exactly his best lyrics, reminiscent of Rainbow’s “Starstruck” and “Do You Close Your Eyes”);

5. Even if they’re both essential;