A Life in a Story: Ozzy Osbourne

This will not be a typical biography of a music behemoth.

Anyone could write a chronological list of events of a famous person whose life has been in the public eye for as long as he can remember. Compiling such information is relatively easy and not time-consuming. Additionally, you can find the sheer facts almost everywhere online, including here on Contact Music.

By contrast, this blog post will be a critical review of the distinguished heavy metal icon, with a focus on the most recent events and what they had brought about.

From Hard Rock to a Meme Legend

Ozzy Osbourne was barely 19 years old when he started to make music professionally. His first band was called Rare Breed, and was short-lived, having played only two shows before breaking up.

Some of the members reunited in Polka Tulk Blues, but nothing seemed to work until Black Sabbath came to life. Black Sabbath was the first song to feature a darker undertone and more serious topics the musicians had ever created. Not having expected such enormous success and seeing themselves as a dark horse at the time, the doom metal band was thrilled to see what the future held for them.

What followed was history.

Unfortunately or not, the band first broke off after almost 40 of active work, only to reunite again in 2011. Currently, they are not making music together, and Ozzy Osbourne had established himself as a solo artist in the meantime.

In 2002, Osbourne, alongside his controversial family, starred in a four-season reality TV series The Curse of the Osbournes. The show followed the turbulent everyday life of the family, making them look like a 21st century comedic reincarnation of The Addams Family.

We need not retell the series for you; you can go and binge watch it anytime you want. Nevertheless, we would like to draw your attention to the patrimony of it. It is 2019, and the virtual world is driven by memes. It doesn't matter if you are 16 or 66, you'll likely have seen a meme made you at least snort with the knowledge that they are true. Memes are infamous for how relatable they are, and that quality lies in its very core.

As far as Ozzy Osbourne goes, the man has become the king of memes, seeing his name in a whole category of the craft. The chief material for Ozzy Osbourne memes is derived from the reality show. The legendary 'Who the eff is (insert name of any other musician but himself)' line is commonplace in the meme community.

Far-Flung Influence

The cardinal importance of the Birmingham metalhead has been felt in a variety of industries. First and foremost, there is obviously music, with fantastic collaborations and singles. The most recent hit song Take What You Want Osbourne recorded with Post Malone and ex-Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker. The trap rock number ended up eighth on the Billboard Hot 100 list. It is also the first song featuring Osbourne to end up in the selection in the last 30 years.

While Osbourne is fighting windmills with gossip sites proving he hasn't died, his fans across multiple markets are resuscitating his heritage into the mould of their trade. A great example would be iGaming, or online gaming, which is an industry devoted to creating video slots.

In February 2019, Osbourne penned a contract with Stockholm-listed online casino supplier NetEnt on an exclusive, branded online slot. The anticipation is still burning, as the launch was announced for 21st November 2019.

Games such as this highly-anticipated one can be played in the free-play mode or as real money slots, and you can find them all on major, renowned iGaming websites.

But the impact that Ozzy Osbourne does not stop there, and will certainly run for as long he's breathing. We can only hope that will last for many years to come, and we look forward to new music.

Even now, in October 2019, you can still buy merch from Ozzy's official eBay shop. The goodies include T-shirts, autographed books and posters from past tours the musician undertook on his own and with Black Sabbath.

The fact is that Ozzy Osbourne is still very much alive and kicking, despite the rumours that "he was dying".