Ozzy Takes Center Stage 10/12/20

Black Sabbath are often viewed as the antidote to ‘60s and early ‘70s hippie rock, but like many west coast bands, the Sabs were against war. For the hippies, it might have been because discipline is, like, a drag, man. For Ozzy, Tony, Geezer and Bill, they grew up in Birmingham, England during a time when the wreckage from World War II was part of their landscape. They may not have lived through a war, but they knew what the aftermath looked like. So when Ozzy wailed, “Show the world that love is still alive you must be brave/Or you children of today are children of the grave,” it wasn’t about showing up to San Francisco with flowers in your hair, it was about survival.