Please Stop

"I Don't Wanna Stop" is one of the singles off Ozzy Osbourne's newest studio album, "Black Rain." It isn't horrible, but it is far from being OK. It is typical corporate Ozzy. Sleek industrial studio production with some cool Zakk Wylde solos. Totally forgettable stuff. Every Ozzy cliché in the book is used on this track and the entire CD. What you have with "Black Rain" is a sad release by a Rock artist who once meant something.

Ozzy is completely irrelevant in 2007. So is Ozzfest for that matter. Did you see the line-up? Totally unimpressive. Any significance that Ozzfest ever had is long-gone. Ozzy means nothing. He hasn’t released anything worthwhile in nearly 20 years since his Randy Rhoads “Tribute” album. OK, “No More Tears” had some redeeming tracks, but other than that pleasant surprise (and it originally was supposed to be his retirement album), all the dude has been pumping out is boring and mechanical Pop Metal with no edge and passion.

At one time, Ozzy’s work was noteworthy. After being dumped by Black Sabbath, he rebounded with the help of virtuoso guitarist Randy Rhoads. In 1980, Ozzy and Rhoads released the Metal masterpiece, “Blizzard Of Ozz” which was followed up the next year by another classic, “Diary Of A Madman.” The two albums were Ozzy’s finest moments in the studio outside of his work with Black Sabbath. His work with Rhoads was interrupted when Rhoads died in a plane accident in early 1982. And although it is strongly suggested that Rhoads was going to leave the music business for a period of time to study classical guitar, no one can say with complete certainty that his collaboration with Ozzy would have ended permanently had he done so.

Over the next decade, Ozzy cranked out a few Metal albums with Pop leanings. Also, during that time, an incredible live album “Tribute” featuring Ozzy’s and Randy’s performances was issued. Other than that highlight, Ozzy was simply a celebrity with a growing body of mediocre work.

Ozzy is now basically a corporation. He is a product. He has name value. And he no longer has any artistic credibility. How could he? His albums are calculated Pop Metal productions that mean nothing and he made a complete fool out of himself on his MTV reality TV show a few years back.

To add insult to injury, due to a long-standing legal battle with Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake (the bass player and drum player on “Blizzard Of Ozz” and “Diary Of A Madman”) over royalties and publishing, Sharon Osbourne had Daisley’s and Kerslake’s original bass and drum parts completely wiped off of those two classic Metal albums and replaced by two of Ozzy’s musicians in his current touring band. Sharon Osbourne destroyed a piece of Rock history by altering and butchering those two landmark albums. So, the two redeeming studio albums in Ozzy’s catalogue are essentially no longer available – what is now on the shelves are truncated versions. It has negatively impacted Ozzy’s legacy and also Randy Rhoads' legacy. Why did Sony allow this to happen? Does being in business with Ozzy Osbourne in this century still mean anything?

So why spend a few minutes writing about an irrelevant artist? Because after hearing “Black Rain,” it was a reminder that this pathetic artist once had a legitimate recording career. Anyone doubting this should take a few minutes to listen to a pre-2002 version of the “Blizzard Of Ozz” album.