Kirk's Top 5! The Double Your Pleasure Ozzy Edition

 Greetings and salutations,

            It’s Kirk coming to you from the hospital bed of love, to wrap up my love for the Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osborne. I was asked to do a top five of either Black Sabbath or Ozzy’s solo career, so I figured, why not do both? So, I’m going to do a double Top 5 as the Oz man deserves both. I know in my blog about him, I gave away my top song by him, but let’s focus more on that. And if you haven’t read the post, that’s fine, it will be news to you here. I’m not going to prolong this any further. First, we’re going Back to the Beginning, see what I did there?  LOL. Seriously, let’s start with where Ozzy did…

My Top 5 Favorite Black Sabbath Songs:

5) Sabbath Bloody Sabbath: I’ll be honest, the first time I heard this song wasn’t by Sabbath, it was off Anthrax’s I’m the Man EP. Now, I’m not a huge fan of Joey Belladonna, I liked John Bush better, but he did a good job with this one. I first thought, 'Wow, this is way better than what they did prior,' and that’s when I found out... it was a Sabbath song. This was my introduction to Sabbath.

4) N.I.B. Oh, that bass line! I love my bass, but not like those kids in cars who blast it to the point where the vehicle shakes. I love my music to have a human on drums, and guitar with my bass. As you can gather, I have disdain for drum machines. Percussion is primal, and you need a human on drums to make it. This song, however, is just genius from the beginning. Tony’s guitar work is brilliant, and the solo is excellent.

3) Children of the Grave: The first time that I heard this song, Geezer caught my attention. Again, that bass line. These four men are just pure perfection. You can’t help but NOT bang your head to this tune. I don’t delve too deeply into who wrote what or the personal lives of bands I love, but I was surprised to hear that this was pure Geezer Butler. It’s nice knowing a bassist did something so magical.

2) Changes: If Sabbath is the creator of Heavy Metal, they were the originators of the ballad. This song is so touching, no matter how it’s played. Ozzy’s vocals are so heartbreaking that I wish I had remembered to play them during the time I finally faced my demons. While I was playing “Judas” by Fozzy, the changes I went through to get to where I am now, this would have been the perfect song to remember. Times are tough, rough, and crude, but change is always inevitable. We WILL change; however small it might be.  

1) Iron Man: This holds a special place in my heart. While Sabbath Blood Sabbath was the first FULL song I’d heard by Sabbath, Iron Man was the first unknowingly. How? The MF’ing Road Warriors used it as their theme song in the NWA and WCW. When I hear it come on, I instantly think of Hawk and Animal with their spiked shoulder pads, and I know a good old-fashioned ass whooping is coming. If you don’t know who Hawk and Animal are, look them up on YouTube. Their promos were spot on, and their matches… Brutal. Between Sabbath and the Road Warriors, they WERE the Iron Men!

THE OZ MAN COMETH!

5) Bark at the Moon: This will always round out my top five, as it was the first song that got me hooked on Ozzy. When I heard it, I didn’t know that Ozzy was in Black Sabbath, nor who they were. I knew Iron Man, but not who played it. Oz hooked me from the start. I remember being next to my cassette player, putting it on quiet, so no one in the house knew I had it, because of the stigma associated with it at the time. It didn’t matter; I became an Ozzy fan at the start of this song.

4) I Just Want You: This was my go-to song before my body finally told me it was done with everything. I had to wake up at 4:30 to get ready to take my wife to her sister's house so she could watch her sister's kids. I’d put in 16 hours, drive back to pick her up, get home at 9 or 10 at night, and make dinner. I used to think about this song and reflect on the position I was in. I couldn’t win. I just wanted my wife. I told her once that I would go through hell for her, and I did. I came out scorched and shattered.

3) Crazy Train: I know, it's cliché, but dude, it’s a classic. I remember it was three days before Freddie Mercury passed that I rented a VHS of Ozzy videos, and this was the first one I played. You can say, What the hell, man? I didn’t grow up with a lot of money. The music I got, I treasured. I worked hard to own the cassette tapes I had. At the time, I only had Bark at the Moon, No Rest for the Wicked, and No More Tears. I always had to wait till Christmas to get new stuff, as I had a comic book addiction. So, most of my money went into that habit, but I would do extra chores to get more. I still fell in love with this song and appreciated Randy Rhodes' superb guitar work. I can’t say anything that you don’t know already about this song; it’s an Ozzy staple.

2) No More Tears: What can I say? Infectious bass line, dramatic build intro, it's pure genius running on all cylinders. I just can’t put into words how miraculous this song is. The music builds and drops, making you want more. The video is jaw-dropping. This was the song that sparked my interest in playing the bass. Though I didn’t know it at the time. I was keeping time with the bass and not the guitar, though Zack’s playing is phenomenal. Can you get any better than this magnum opus? I think so.

1) Perry Mason: The first time I heard it on the radio, they introduced it, and I thought that’s weird, being 1995 and bringing up the old television show. But then that bass line hit. I don’t care if the song was “Make Room for Daddy,” that intro kicks ass! The guitar intro is classic Ozzy. How can you NOT get wrapped up in this song? I heard Lzzy Hale cover it at Back to the Beginning, and it sounded great, but they needed to raise that bass just a bit more than what they had him at. Maybe it was, but on the transmission, it wasn’t as dominant as it is in the song. This is still a song that when I shuffle it on, I have to rock out to.

Take care,

K