Many metal fans are bemused by the outpouring of respect for Ozzy Osbourne now that he’s gone. If all you knew about him came from the obituaries, it would be hard to tell that critics scorned the genre of music he did so much to invent and for most of his career treated him as a joke. The sound was too abrasive for a lot of people, and Ozzy’s willingness to put himself under the microscope and poke fun at himself made it easy to miss his musical talent.
It could have been different. The Beatles were Osbourne’s favorite band, and his way with melody was evident by 1972, when “Changes” was released on Black Sabbath’s “Vol. 4.” He came up with the melody line over Tommy Iommi’s piano, and he sang bassist Geezer Butler’s lyrics about drummer Bill Ward’s traumatic divorce like it was happening to him. The power ballad hadn’t been invented yet, and the sensitive song was so far from Sabbath’s normal sound it rarely got played in concert.
Throughout his solo career, Osbourne came up with power ballads more melodic than most efforts in the genre. “Mama, I’m Coming Home,” written for his wife, appeared on his 1991 LP “No More Tears,” one of his eight platinum albums. It was his only song to make the American Top 40.
So while you bang your head to Ozzy’s metal classics, remember that’s not all he could do. He could even sound like John Lennon on “Dreamer,” also from “No More Tears.” It’s almost an answer song to “Imagine.”
