🎸 Happy Birthday, Prince of Darkness: Celebrating Ozzy at 77

Today he would have been 77 years old. Ozzy Osbourne — born John Michael Osbourne on December 3, 1948. Someone we honor today. Many called him The Godfather of Heavy Metal, and for good reason.

Born in Birmingham, England, to Lillian and John Thomas “Jack” Osbourne, Ozzy grew up in a working-class, post-war city that was loud, industrial, smoky, and tough. He got the name “Ozzy” back in grade school, long before fame found him. His classmates called him that, and he fully embraced it.

He adored The Beatles, and he always said they changed his life. Hearing the song “She Loves You” made him want to become a musician.

Before Black Sabbath, Ozzy had already tried his hand at singing in a couple of early local bands. In 1967, he joined a short-lived group called The Approach, and later that same year became part of The Rare Breed. These bands didn’t last long, but they were the very beginning of Ozzy trying to find his voice.

After deciding he truly wanted to be a singer, Ozzy put up his own ad in the window of a local music shop. It read:

“Ozzy Zig Needs Gig – has own PA.”

That little scrap of paper is what brought Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward to his front door — the meeting that set everything in motion.

Before Black Sabbath became the band we know today, they were first the Polka Tulk Blues Band, then Earth. One day, the guys noticed people paid money to watch horror movies… so why not write music that felt like horror? That spark turned into the song “Black Sabbath,” and in that moment, the earliest form of heavy metal took its first real breath.

🎶 The Early Songs That Started It All

These are the songs from that era that made everyone stop and pay attention:

• Black Sabbath

• War Pigs

• Iron Man

• Paranoid

• Children of the Grave

• Fairies Wear Boots

Dark. Slow. Heavy. Unapologetically different. This was the beginning of a brand-new musical movement — and Ozzy was at the center of it.

From this early spark, Ozzy’s career took off. His path crossed with the legendary Randy Rhoads, and together they created some of Ozzy’s most iconic songs: Crazy Train, Mr. Crowley, I Don’t Know, and more. After Randy’s tragic death — a moment that nearly ended Ozzy’s music career entirely — he pushed forward and created Diary of a Madman, another masterpiece born out of heartbreak.

Through the years Ozzy survived more than most: losses, car crashes, an ATV accident that nearly killed him, rehab and recovery countless times, and finally a Parkinson’s diagnosis. And yet… he kept going. What a life. What stories he would have to tell today on his 77th birthday.

We here at Old Dogs Rock are immense fans, and we can’t help but celebrate him through his music: Crazy Train, Mama I’m Coming Home, Mr. Crowley, Dreamer, Shot in the Dark, Paranoid, I Don’t Know, Diary of a Madman, Flying High Again, Over the Mountain, No More Tears, Bark at the Moon, Iron Man… and the list goes on and on and on.

One of our core memories comes from the last song on that list — Iron Man. We went to high school in Alaska, and our cafeteria had a brand-new jukebox. The only rock song on that jukebox was Iron Man. Someone thought it would be hilarious to play that song over… and over… and over… every single day at lunch without stopping. We went from loving it, to being completely annoyed, to now laughing every time we hear it because of that funny high school core memory. We all have those musical memories.

Tell us yours. Do you have any great Ozzy stories or songs tied to a moment in your life?

What a life and what a legacy Ozzy leaves behind. One quote of his always sticks with us:

“Fans keep me alive — without you, I’m just a madman shouting at the moon.”

He was just a young kid with an idea — turning regular blues songs into horror-feeling songs — and it worked. He created something new. A reminder to all of us to be ourselves and to embrace our strange, brilliant, unique ideas. You never know… they might become the next genre-defining moment in music history.

Ozzy loved his fans. He loved his family. He was never fake. His living legacy is his truth, his resilience, and his huge heart.

Thank you for entertaining us, Ozzy — and thank you to everyone who supported him along the way. We appreciate the piece of himself he shared with the world, and we’re honored to turn up his music today.

Happy Birthday, Prince of Darkness.

Original photo: “Ozzy Osbourne in 1980 from Blizzard of Ozz (cropped close-up).” Courtesy of At Records. Image is in the public domain in the United States. Edited by Old Dogs Rock with added purple watercolor effect and branding.