\u2018The joy he was experiencing was infectious\u2019<\/p>\n
Brann Dailor, drums\/vocals, Mastodon<\/p>\n
My introduction to Sabbath was my mom\u2019s band, who used to cover War Pigs \u2013 a pretty faithful rendition! But Ozzy felt more like my discovery, in 1981 or so. I was six years old, a neighbour had Blizzard of Ozz and I would just would stare at that album cover. I fell in love. The Randy Rhoads guitar solos, and then you would see footage of Ozzy and he looked as if he was having the time of his life up there. For a kid, he almost seemed like a cartoon character; the joy he was experiencing was infectious, but also the music was visceral. He became my favourite musician. I had a boombox next to my bed with the Tribute live album on at a low volume so nobody in the house would wake up, and I\u2019d go to sleep to Ozzy every night.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s something about his vocal phrasing, a timbre that\u2019s so perfectly matched with the music that\u2019s playing underneath. He had the ability to emote and tell a story and draw you in, and the melodies he chose were really special. I don\u2019t think he got enough credit as a singer \u2013 to the layperson he was this madman, and to them, the magic lay there and not in his abilities. But the way he sang was so unique and powerful. It\u2019s so ingrained in my mind that when I listen back to stuff that I\u2019ve done in Mastodon, when I sing, I can tell that it\u2019s so heavily influenced by him. I like big, heavy riffs with an almost evil-sounding, dark, high-pitched vocal tonality: that\u2019s Ozzy to a T.<\/p>\n
I met him at Ozzfest in 2005: I had got a Randy Rhoads [tribute] drum kit made, and he, Sharon and Zakk Wylde came over in a golf cart to look at it. But I usually kept my distance just because I\u2019m such a huge fan and didn\u2019t want to get in the way.<\/p>\n
Then Mastodon got to play Back to the Beginning [Ozzy and Black Sabbath\u2019s farewell concert on 5 July]. Some icons of music, they didn\u2019t know when it was their last show \u2013 take Prince, for instance. And so it was really, really special [for them to perform a definitive final show]. Mastodon were on first and I was unsure if it was going to be just a couple of people in the crowd when we played. But we were driving to the stadium, passing all the pubs, and they were filled with people and you could hear Sabbath blasting out of them at 9.30am. And then we got there and all the bands, from Metallica to Slayer to Anthrax, are at the side of the stage, they want to see us do our thing. It was this really palpable energy, this big feeling of love for Black Sabbath<\/a>, to honour them the proper way.<\/p>\n Pure energy \u2026 Ozzy Osbourne (left) and guitarist Zakk Wylde. Photograph: Paul Natkin\/Getty Images<\/p>\n But then you knew that the big moment was looming: Ozzy\u2019s gonna play. This is the last time you\u2019re gonna hear Crazy Train. [Dailor begins crying.] Mr Crowley, the beginning, the organ, it was so powerful. Everybody was crying. It was just like, oh my God, this is the last time we\u2019re going to see this. Then Tony\u2019s guitar, Geezer\u2019s bass \u2013 he was ripping, it was insane \u2013 and Bill\u2019s drums. Those four super-special guys doing their thing. The gravity of the moment hit everybody at the same time, that this is it. It was a beautiful moment to be in.<\/p>\n Sabbath were so influential because they were so riff-centric, and that just really didn\u2019t exist before. You had some bands that were close to it \u2013 but nobody really took that leap into the sound of horror. Like with Led Zeppelin, it got kind of dark; with Deep Purple, there were some moments. Something was swirling around in the air \u2013 but Black Sabbath realised it. They knew people were lining up to go and see these scary movies, these Hammer films, and they wanted to get scared. They knew that could be a real wealth of inspiration, to really tap into this darkness that exists out there and inside of everyone, but also in a playful way.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n That darkness that you chase, that thing that resonates inside of you, it\u2019s the devil\u2019s chord \u2013 it just makes you feel something. If we\u2019re composing something [in Mastodon], and it\u2019s not evil enough, I\u2019d rather it be more evil, please; we need to find different notes because this sounds too happy and I don\u2019t like that. I love being happy, but the darkness makes me happier, somehow. Like Ozzy, I grew up in an industrial area \u2013 Rochester, New York \u2013 and it\u2019s not all sunshine and happiness and roses. That\u2019s not what\u2019s happening in real life. And if you\u2019re writing about sunshine and rainbows all the time, you\u2019re kidding yourself. [Heavy metal] helps to try to unpack it and understand why some of the terrible things happen in the world, and it helps you get through it.<\/p>\n \u2018I adored how much he loved the Beatles\u2019<\/p>\n Sam Carter, vocals, Architects<\/p>\n Ozzy Osbourne <\/a>was such a beautiful soul. He basically created metal as a genre, and we\u2019re all so grateful to him for that. I also adored how much he loved the Beatles \u2013 as a Beatles superfan myself, I always used him as proof that without the Beatles, there would be no Sabbath and no Ozzy.<\/p>\n He gave people like me the belief that I could become a touring musician, too. He showed us that if you care enough and work hard enough, you can make it \u2013 and you can do it without being a dickhead, but with a smile on your face. I will always be grateful to have had him as an idol.<\/p>\n \u2018They call him the Prince of Darkness, but maybe he\u2019s a bit bigger than that now\u2019<\/p>\n Lita Ford, guitar, the Runaways<\/p>\n The first concert I ever saw in my life was Black Sabbath at the Long Beach Arena in California, in 1971, when I was 12. The place was packed, just unlike anything I had ever seen. The guys in the band had this long thick black hair \u2013 you couldn\u2019t even see them for all the blackness, though you could see these big gold crosses that they would wear. Along with the music and the power that was coming off the stage, they were the coolest thing ever. It absolutely carved my future out for me. I thought: I want to make people feel like these guys are making me feel right now.<\/p>\n I had already been playing guitar for two years, but I started to live and breathe it. When I turned 14, I hitchhiked across California to go to the California Jam [festival]. The last thing you need to be doing as a young girl is hitchhiking, but I had to go. I was able to work my way into a hole through the fence, next thing I know I\u2019m right in front of the stage. Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Emerson, Lake & Palmer \u2026 A lot of the things you hear Ozzy sing are not easy, but some of the high notes, he seemed to hit them effortlessly. His voice has so much character, it\u2019s haunting, almost a cry.<\/p>\n And then I ended up having a hit solo single with him in 1988. Sharon Osbourne was my manager and she came by the studio I was recording in, in North Hollywood, with Ozzy. Ozzy and I went into a little side room and just started pinging ideas back and forth. Nothing was pre-recorded; he didn\u2019t have a title, I didn\u2019t have a riff. We were in there all night, because when we came out of that room, the sun was coming up. That was Close My Eyes Forever: magic was created in that room, and who would have thought it would have been such a huge song [reaching No 8 in the US charts].<\/p>\n<\/p>\n With Sharon being my manager, Ozzy was always there. They were crazy. The stuff they did to each other \u2013 it wasn\u2019t like any other relationship I\u2019ve ever known. They were perfect for each other, that\u2019s for sure, because he could dish it out and she could dish it out even bigger. She and Ozzy would play games with each other to let the other know they\u2019ve pissed them off. You\u2019d walk through a hotel and you\u2019d see a pair of shoes out in the hallway, and you\u2019d think: I wonder why Ozzy\u2019s shoes are there? Well, Sharon had had enough of him, and she\u2019d crapped in his shoes. And then of course he would crap in her shoes at a later date. He\u2019d get her back.<\/p>\n They came to my parents\u2019 house one day for Easter dinner, and my mom had roasted a leg of lamb. Sharon and Ozzy come in, and Ozzy chugs a bottle of wine. He doesn\u2019t drink the wine in a glass, he just drinks it out of the bottle, like it\u2019s the last little bit of fluid he\u2019s ever going to taste. And he starts sinking lower and lower into the chair until the wine\u2019s gone. And then my father asks Ozzy to cut the lamb. Ozzy starts, but it slips off the plate and goes underneath the table. Ozzy says: \u201cI\u2019m sorry, I don\u2019t eat meat!\u201d My dad laughed his ass off.<\/p>\n He\u2019s the biggest, greatest rock star in the world. Right up to everything he did in the past month, doing the concert. Whether he could stand up and walk or not, he still delivered the songs, and the band killed it. I hate to say it, but it\u2019s kind of the way to go: like a king. They call him the Prince of Darkness, but maybe he\u2019s a bit bigger than that now.<\/p>\n \u2018It\u2019s absolutely disarming, the way he\u2019s delivering his truth\u2019<\/p>\n Joe Duplantier, vocals\/guitar, Gojira<\/p>\n The way he departed this world was absolutely magnificent. Raising all that money for charity with Back to the Beginning, bringing the whole scene together like this \u2013 and then he\u2019s gone. It is very sad and at the same time, so perfect in a way.<\/p>\n Back to the Beginning was like taking a picture of what the metal scene is. Of course Iron Maiden weren\u2019t around; a lot of English bands were missing. But Slayer, Metallica, Pantera, Anthrax \u2026 all these people that mean so much. We\u2019ve played thousands of shows, had so many important shows, but this one takes the cake. It is way more powerful than even the Olympic Games performance that we did last year<\/a>. There was no competition involved like in the Olympics \u2013 this was art, spirituality, emotions. And everybody knew they were seeing Ozzy for the last time. I cried.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a purity to the lyrics he sings, and to his attitude. It\u2019s absolutely disarming, the way he\u2019s delivering his truth and saying that he\u2019s going to do whatever he wants to do. The world is yours \u2013 you just have to decide it. The song Under the Sun that we covered at Back to the Beginning was very much like that, and I\u2019m pretty sure he influenced a lot of the punk and thrash scenes with that speech, which is basically: fuck you, I\u2019m going to be myself. It\u2019s so basic, but so needed in our societies. Whenever [Gojira] talk about environment or equality between people or doing the right thing, it\u2019s with this attitude, an attitude that is typical Ozzy.<\/p>\n Before we knew he had died we were playing a show in Istanbul. It\u2019s almost impossible to catch us playing a cover version \u2013 we\u2019re proud like that, we\u2019re French, we want to do our thing. But that day in Istanbul, we had decided to play Under the Sun. During the show, one of the fans in the front row put \u201cRest In Peace Ozzy\u201d on his phone and held it up to me. That\u2019s how I learned that Ozzy died. I checked with my tour manager on the side of the stage and they confirmed it. So I went to the microphone and told 9,000 people the news. Everybody stayed completely silent. The whole show shifted to a very deep tone. And at the end, we played the cover and there was a lot of emotion and a lot of people crying. It\u2019s beyond words what I felt: one of the most epic moments in my life. I have children, I witnessed their birth, that would be number one for sure. But being on stage and playing a Black Sabbath song with everybody as one \u2026 in the lyrics he says: \u201cI don\u2019t want no one to tell me where I\u2019m gonna go when I die.\u201d I believe in a sort-of afterlife, and I was imagining him on his way there as I was singing that line.<\/p>\n Boundless energy \u2026 Ozzy during a photoshoot for the cover of Diary of a Madman. Photograph: Fin Costello\/Redferns<\/p>\n