Ozzy Osbourne, as you probably heard, passed away this week. He had an extraordinarily long and successful career, produced lots of memorable music, and greatly influenced the evolution of heavy metal music.
He also was a reminder that, if you stick around for long enough, respectability comes for us all.
When Osbourne made the jump to solo artist, he was perhaps known less for his music and more for what previous generations knew as a geek act. Though there had been outrageous stage shows before him—particularly Alice Cooper—the Grand Guignol there never pretended to be real. Ozzy Osbourne was known for biting the heads off actual pigeons and bats (though there is some disagreement about which, if any, of the animals were alive at the time).
You might think that sort of reputation would haunt a performer, but infamy fades, and oldies have a way of becoming safe and comforting regardless of their original context. Still, there were a few of us who did raise an eyebrow when a fast-casual dining chain picked this song for one of their commercials.
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