Ozzy Osbourne is the only two-time Hall of Famer in this year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class, having previously been inducted as part of Black Sabbath. Osbourne has been eligible as a solo artist since 2006 and this was his first nomination.
Given that he has found more success as a solo artist than he did with Sabbath, this seems like an easy call. The hard rock wing of the Rock Hall wouldn’t be complete without Ozzy.
Osbourne left Black Sabbath in 1978 and released his solo debut, Blizzard of Ozz, two years later. Buoyed by ‘Crazy Train’ and today’s SOTD, it went 5X Platinum and started a streak of seven multi-Platinum albums stretching to the mid-90s. Since then, he was released another six studio albums, including two post-pandemic, almost all of them critically and commercially successful.
He’s had all of those album sales and yet not a single top 20 hit in the U.S. In fact, his only Top 40 appearance came with the power ballad ‘Mama, I’m Coming Home’ in 1991. That’s not an indictment of him as a hitmaker, but a tribute to his success as an album artist.
Osbourne went from being accused of Satanism and biting the head off of a dove to the lovable star of a reality TV show about his family, quite the evolution for a rock legend who certainly deserves his place (twice) in the Hall.
Mr. Crowley, what went on in your head?
Oh, Mr. Crowley, did you talk to the dead?
Your lifestyle, to me, seemed so tragic
With the thrill of it all
You fooled all the people with magic
Yeah, you waited on Satan’s call
[Verse 2]
Mr. Charming, did you think you were pure?
Mr. Alarming, in nocturnal rapport
Uncovering things that were sacred
Manifest on this Earth
Conceived in the eye of a secret
And they scattered the afterbirth
[Guitar Solo]
[Verse 3]
Mr. Crowley, won’t you ride my white horse?
Mr. Crowley, it’s symbolic, of course
Approaching a time that is classic
I hear that maiden’s call
Approaching a time that is drastic
Standing with their backs to the wall
[Bridge]
Was it polemically sent?
I wanna know what you meant
I wanna know, I wanna know what you meant, yeah
Meet Me In Montauk 
It was a bat, not a dove. 🤪
Meanwhile, his acceptance speech ought to be interesting. Will definitely need captions on to understand what he is saying!
It was a bat AND a dove… he was versatile!
now I remember why I wanted nothing to do with him 🤪