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The Lessons of Ozzy’s Legacy: How the Prince of Darkness Remained a Beloved Pop-Culture Icon for Decades

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Black Sabbath was scary from the start. The first song on its debut album — both called “Black Sabbath” — opens with the sounds of a rainstorm and church bells, then a wicked guitar riff. Then Ozzy Osbourne howls a question: “What is this that stands before me?” When the album came out, in early 1970, it was, pardon the pun, a hell of a question. Led Zeppelin had released its first album a year before, but Sabbath was darker, sludgier, laden with doom. The band’s psychedelic visions were dark and haunted, as far from the colorful optimism of flower power as its native Birmingham, U.K., was from San Francisco.  

The first four Sabbath albums — the debut, followed by Paranoid, Master of Reality and Vol. 4 — laid out the blueprint for the entire genre of heavy metal. Osbourne’s success with Sabbath would propel him into a successful solo career as a recording artist and a top touring act. What’s harder to figure out — the light mystery at the heart of the Prince of Darkness — is how he became a sitcom dad in The Osbournes, remained popular enough until this summer to headline the “Back to the Beginning” concert in Birmingham on July 5 and loomed large enough as an icon to receive a tequila-poured tribute from Drake that made it into the paper of record. In the end, even the Gray Lady bowed.  

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His secret, I suspect, was not taking himself too seriously.  

This might sound bonkers considering just how serious Sabbath sounded — not to mention how genuinely frightening Osbourne seemed in the eighties. As a pre-teen early in that decade, I heard rumors that Osbourne bit the head off a live bat (true, but he thought it was fake), did the same to a dove (apparently true) and sacrificed live chickens onstage during his show (I can find no evidence of this, although he apparently once put a chicken full of antifreeze on a fence to scare away coyotes). This sounded dangerous — but, since parents hated it, possibly also fun.  

Two decades later, he was a befuddled sitcom dad, struggling to figure out how to work the remote control on The Osbournes. He didn’t seem frightening at all — just slightly confused, dedicated to his family, knowing about his flaws, and much more plainly decent than anyone would have suspected. This figure who once menaced parents was a parent himself — one who just happened to have a job as a rock star.  

The reason this worked was that Osbourne was in on the joke. It didn’t always seem that way — mostly because he mumbled. But he knew that the idea that the Prince of Darkness couldn’t housetrain his dogs was comedy gold. And, like few other rock stars, he wasn’t afraid to laugh at himself.  

This might seem like slight praise, but how many aging pop stars, especially in rock, realize that, on some level, they are professional entertainers doing a young person’s job? (They can also be serious artists! This isn’t mutually exclusive.) This also changed with the times. In the ’70s and ’80s, a little mystique went a long way — Led Zeppelin hardly ever appeared on television, and it probably helped. By the end of the nineties, maintaining an image seemed tired — the radical move was to embrace exposure, deflate the myth, offer a view backstage, or at least a limited view of it.  

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Retrato del músico británico Ozzy Osbourne posando antes de un concierto en el Rosemont Horizon, Rosemont, Illinois, el 4 de marzo de 1984. (Foto de Paul Natkin/Getty Images)

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Osbourne became bigger than ever. The Osbournes boosted Osbourne’s albums and Ozzfest, and he was on the cover of Rolling Stone in May 2002 and then again in July. In 2004, MTV created “Battle for Ozzfest,” a contest to win a spot on the tour — booking as a revenue stream. His wife, Sharon Osbourne, became a celebrity in her own right, the wickedly funny host of a UK talk show, judge on the UK X-Factor and co-host of The Talk. Sometimes, she was the truly scary one, extreme and even vindictive in the defense of her client and husband. Every artist should be so lucky.  

Osbourne slowed down after his 2018 “No More Tours II” concerts — they took place a full quarter decade after his “No More Tours” shows — and his music, at least before his death, didn’t stream in a way that reflected his fame and his appeal as a touring act. He took quite a final bow, however, at “Back to the Beginning,” an all-star metal show that raised £140 million ($188.4 million) for Acorns Children’s Hospice, Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Cure Parkinson’s. It seems like quite a charitable move for a guy who started his career singing about Satan. But the truth is that Osbourne was both more complicated than he appeared — and at the same time not so complicated at all.  

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No ‘Good’ Deed Goes Unpunished for Ariana Grande’s Glinda in Final ‘Wicked: For Good’ Trailer

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In the final trailer for Wicked: For Good, Ariana Grande‘s character learns that a big price comes with being Glinda the Good.

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Ariana Grande at the MTV Video Music Awards 2025 held at UBS Arena on September 07, 2025 in New York, New York.

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Released on Wednesday (Sept. 24) — about two months before the Wicked sequel finally premieres in theaters on Nov. 21 — the preview shows how the blonde leading lady wrestles with her new role as Oz’s spokeswoman, as Cynthia Erivo‘s Elphaba attempts to expose the Wizard’s evil agenda while living in hiding. At first, Glinda is “obsess-ulated” with the gorgeous gown, tiara and mechanical flying bubble her public-facing life affords her — but everything quickly comes crashing down when she realizes that she’s on the wrong side of history, and that she just might be too late to save her former schoolmate from the wrath of Oz’s brainwashed citizens.

“I’m a public figure now, people expect me to …,” Glinda tells Elphaba at one point, with Dorothy’s fallen house and the Yellow Brick Road visible in the background.

“Lie?” the green-skinned witch cuts in, to which Glinda says defensively, “Be encouraging.”

Grande’s character is less sure of herself when she is confronted by Jonathan Bailey’s Fiyero, who accuses, “You can’t resist this.”

“Who could?” Glinda asks, to which the Winkie prince replies, “You know who could.”

Arriving one year after the first Wicked hit theaters and shattered movie-musical box-office records, For Good will serve as the film adaptation of the second act of the Broadway musical on which the live-actions are based. The soundtrack will also drop on Nov. 21, complete with two brand new songs sung by Grande and Erivo.

As revealed when the tracklist dropped a week prior to the new trailer, the title of Glinda’s bonus song is “The Girl in the Bubble,” while Elphaba’s added balled is called “No Place Like Home.”

Watch the final trailer for Wicked: For Good above.


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Priscilla Presley Says That Leaving Elvis Presley Was ‘The Only Way to Survive’ in New Memoir ‘Softly, As I Leave You: Life After Elvis’

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Priscilla Presley was with Elvis Presley for around 14 years before they split; however, the pair had known each other for years before they wed in 1967.

The time in between and following Priscilla and Elvis’ divorce was a tough spot for Priscilla, and one she wasn’t super open about — that is, until now. In her new memoir Softly, As I Leave You: Life After Elvis, the actress shares the difficult but inspiring journey beyond the walls of Graceland post-split with the King, choosing to put herself and her daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, first.

A hardcover version of the book is now on sale and can be purchased now on Amazon for $22.38, while paperback will run you $32. A Kindle version retails for $15.99. If you’re a superfan of Priscilla and the Presley family, you can also snag a signed version of the memoir via Barnes & Noble for $32. The piece makes a great gift for the avid Elvis collector in your life. If you’d rather listen to the memoir, we won’t judge, you can do so with Audible via a subscription which costs $7.95 a month, a price tag less than a physical copy.

Softly, As I Leave You: Life After Elvis

Buy Now on amazon $22.38 $22.38
Buy Now at Barnes & noble $32 $32
Buy Now on audible $7.95 a month $7.95 a month

A new memoir by Priscilla Presley.


If you didn’t know, Priscilla met Elvis when she was just 14 and he was 24. The singer was serving in the U.S. Army in 1959 in Germany. The pair remained romantically connected for years, even with distance between them and in 1967, they were wed in a simple and very secret ceremony in Las Vegas. While their separation in 1973 was painful for Priscilla, this novel highlights why it was so important for the Naked Gun star to leave.

It seems that Priscilla lost touch with herself throughout her relationship with Elvis. Leaving allowed her to find herself again. Through the book, we are treated to snippets of Priscilla’s life pre- and post-Elvis and how she had to reinvent herself a second time as the single mother after the performer’s death in 1977.

Today, we are taken through how Priscilla was able to transform Graceland into an international destination and helped guide the development of Elvis Presley Enterprises, turning the King’s legacy into a full-on business. If you are an Elvis fan, this gives readers a unique perspective on his life, as told by his ex-wife. It also gives Priscilla’s story more context for those who aren’t too familiar with her life and career.

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Calvin Harris’ Ex-Business Manager Denies $22M Fraud Claims: ‘Categorically False’

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Calvin Harris‘ former longtime business manager is firing back against bombshell fraud claims, saying he never stole from anybody and that the Scottish DJ willingly agreed to invest in his Los Angeles real estate development project.

Thomas St. John, an entertainment industry-focused accountant who runs the eponymous firm Thomas St. John Group, is currently wrapped up in thorny arbitration proceedings with his former client Harris (Adam Wiles). He’s accused of abusing his access to Harris’ accounts in order to fund his side venture: the construction of a recording studio and office space complex in Hollywood.

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Harris claims that St. John tricked him into investing $22.5 million in the project, known as CMNTY Culture Campus, which he says turned out to be a “complete boondoggle” that he “has not received a single penny in return for” — while suggesting that St. John pocketed much of the money for himself.

However, a representative for St. John says in a new statement that the allegations are “categorically false.” The rep denies that St. John engaged in any self-dealing, adding that Harris is one of nine above-board investors who “knowingly signed investment agreements” to get involved in CMNTY Culture.

“Not a single dollar has been misappropriated, all investor entitlements remain intact, and the project continues to advance within the normal entitlement timeline,” says St. John’s rep in the Tuesday (Sept. 23) statement. “We will continue to take every necessary step to set the record straight and to ensure that these malicious, bad-faith attacks are recognized for what they are: entirely without merit.”

While CMNTY Culture was initially designed to house a recording studio and office space, St. John has since shifted the plans and is now developing a residential apartment complex on the same tract of land in Hollywood. According to his rep, the project is proceeding apace and “is expected to approach a $1 billion valuation” upon completion.

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“While the entitlement process has naturally taken longer than initially projected due to unprecedented interest, macroeconomic conditions and significant city red tape, it remains firmly within its promised schedule and is now on the verge of securing final entitlements, an important milestone that will unlock substantial value,” adds St. John’s rep.

Thomas St. John Group has offices in Los Angeles, London, Amsterdam and Stockholm. The management firm’s U.S. arm recently filed for bankruptcy, citing hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid rent in L.A. and multiple pending legal actions.

One creditor listed in the firm’s bankruptcy papers is Philip Lawrence, a songwriter and producer who made his name collaborating with Bruno Mars. Lawrence used to be a client of St. John’s and at one point invested $10 million from the sale of his catalog into CMNTY Culture Campus, according to court filings in Lawrence’s own personal bankruptcy case.

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