Dave Woodhall on Ozzy Osbourne and what his legacy should be.
The news of Ozzy Osbourne’s death has been greeted with an understandable wave of mourning. There’s also a sense of poignancy, arriving as it does a few weeks after his homecoming to Villa Park. Then there’ disbelief, because despite his illnesses Ozzy seemed as though he would last forever, probably because he’d survived everything else that life had thrown at him over the past fifty-odd years.
But he’s gone, the Prince of Darkness has flown forever, never to return. Probably.
Everyone in Birmingham knows the story. Aston, in prison for burglary, Earth, the Crown. Stardom, substance abuse, sacking, solo success. Biting a bat’s heads off, pissing on the Alamo, Satanism, tragedy, a career that seemed to be falling apart. Whatever else Sharon might be, she kept Ozzy alive and more or less on the right track. An award-winning TV show, on-off reunions with Sabbath, a place as a bona fide national treasure.
And strangest of all, the more Ozzy became a Hollywood celebrity, living the Californian dream 6,000 miles away, so the thicker his accent got and the more of a Brummie icon he became. This reached its zenith at the end of the Commonwealth Games, when just as you expected the ‘finale’ to be Jeff Lynne singing Mr Bloody Blue Sky, the opening notes of Iron Man rang out and “Surely they haven’t got him… Jesus! THEY HAVE!!” echoed around the Alexander Stadium. That was the moment when Ozzy became more than the singer of one of the most influential Birmingham bands; he became our single biggest cultural export. The world knew that Ozzy was ours.
Not being daft, the Americans running the Villa made the most of this Transatlantic attraction. Ozzy was involved in their kit launch while Sharon opened the club shop. As a marketing device it was a masterstroke and it lead to Back to the Beginning, apparently the biggest fundraising gig of all time. It was also the biggest gig the city has ever seen, and it’s now even more iconic.
It also has to be built on. As we said at the time, visitors came from around the world and the focal point of their attention should have been more than a closed and boarded-up pub. Not that it should be used for the purpose but a fraction of the £140 million raised from Back to the Beginning would be enough to buy and refurbish the Crown to the standard it deserves.
Sabbath’s music went around the world. A proper museum of Birmingham music would bring the world to us. Raise the money and get it built.
