Ozzy Osbourne, who became famous as the lead singer of the band Black Sabbath and then went on to a lengthy solo career, died in July at the age of 76. His notoriety was such that all the mainstream media sources noted his passing. But they did so in the typical, superficial way—frequently revealing nothing in their accounts of the man’s life so much as their utter ignorance of his music and the effect it had on his fans.
This is written to correct those distortions. The music that made Ozzy and Black Sabbath famous in the 1970s was loved by many working class Gen Xers as it spoke directly, and convincingly, to the conditions of our lives. It was largely morally conservative and populist, though you would never know it by listening to the accounts of nearly all American media.
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