Desperate Times AI Music
Ozzy Osbourne had been around since metal music was born. However, he is enraged when labeled as metal. In a recent interview with SPIN, he reflected on his career and expressed his discomfort at being labeled as a ‘metal’ artist. Thinking that his music should not be under the same label with more extreme metal bands, Ozzy said:
“Well, I’ve never felt comfortable about that title that they put on me – ‘metal.’ Because Ozzy Osbourne plays heavy, but the bands that are (considered metal) are really heavy, and we’re all put in the same category. When you get pigeonholed with a certain (genre), it can be very difficult to do something a bit lighter or an acoustic track or whatever you want to do. Back in the day, it was always just rock music. It’s still just rock music.”
Ozzy does not consider himself a metal artist and also takes issue with the genre ‘heavy metal.’ He argues that the term heavy metal lacks musical clarification. Expressing that he is comfortable being referred to as a ‘Rock’ or ‘Heavy Rock’ band, Ozzy Osbourne, was asked how it felt to be considered the forefather of metal in a 2013 interview with CNN. He responded:
“I have never ever ever been able to attach myself to the word ‘heavy metal‘ — it has no musical connotations. If it was heavy rock, I could get that, but the ’70s was kind of like a bluesy thing, the ’80s was kind of bubblegum-frosted hair, multicolored clothes and the ’90s was kind of grungy. People come up to me and say, ‘Your Sabbath work was a big influence on me.’ I could go, ‘Oh, yeah, I can see that,’ but other bands… what part of that is inspired by us? Some of it is just angry people screaming down a microphone!”
Osbourne doesn’t feel that he is one of the founders of heavy metal. He also doesn’t believe that Black Sabbath invented metal music, at least not single-handedly. In a Metal Hammer interview this May, he addressed the notion that Black Sabbath invented heavy music, he said:
“If people wanna believe that, it’s great, but I don’t go around like, ‘Oh, I’m the singer in Black Sabbath, I invented this or that…’ With Black Sabbath, it was a great camp to be in. Tony Iommi was the law. He was the guy. I’ve never yet met a guitar player that can play such demonic riffs.”
He answered humbly about the idea that Black Sabbath invented metal music and listed the bands that influenced Black Sabbath. Ozzy said:
“It’s a nice thought that Black Sabbath invented heavy metal, but we were very influenced by The Who, Led Zeppelin, Kinks…”
