Ozzy Osbourne, the ominous harbinger of death and bat decapitation, saw his formidable image spectacularly shattered when he took the spotlight in “The Osbournes,” revealing a side that was far from the fearsome persona he portrayed. Instead, he emerged as a lovable, comical sweetheart with an unexpected burrito addiction. Despite a career peppered with ant-snorting escapades, personal dwarfs, and near-fatal incidents, the 1970s perception of him as a potential incarnation of Satan remains difficult to reconcile.
Black Sabbath, the band that catapulted Ozzy into the limelight, left the 1960s trembling in their wake. Signed to Philips Records in November 1969, by 1970, they had unleashed a self-titled debut and the iconic sophomore album “Paranoid.” Within a year of emerging from Birmingham’s factories, their legacy was firmly etched as pioneers of a heavy new chapter in rock.
The genesis of Black Sabbath’s cultural narrative felt almost fated. “Black Sabbath,” one of the band’s first songs, was conceived during their Earth days, a name they shed when they discovered another band in Germany using the same moniker. Inspired by a 1963 horror movie directed by Mario Bava and starring Boris Karloff, the band found a more fitting name that felt mystically ordained.
As recounted in “Black Sabbath: The Ozzy Osbourne Years,” the band faced a pivotal moment early in their careers. Short on material for their debut record, they gathered for a practice session, each member contributing ideas. Ozzy, usually unflappable, was spooked when Geezer and Tony unintentionally played the same riff simultaneously. The synchronized roar convinced them of a great omen. Geezer spontaneously christened both the song and the band as Black Sabbath, setting them on a dark path that would illuminate the way for others. Ozzy, describing the experience as “terrifying,” embraced it.
The possibility that fate had dealt the cards for the band becomes more intriguing when examining another band named Coven. Their debut album, “Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls,” recorded in 1969, featured eerie coincidences. Producer James Vincent claimed to have written most of the material in a single night after reading occult and witchcraft books—long before Black Sabbath’s emergence.
Adding an uncanny twist, Coven’s bassist and songwriter, Michael Gregory Osborne, credited on the album as Oz Osborne, wrote a track titled ‘Black Sabbath.’ The parallels raise the question: Were the chords falling into place without prior knowledge genuinely supernatural?
