WDHA Remembers: Favorite Memories Of Ozzy Osbourne

The first time I heard Black Sabbath- playing Black Sabbath- Junior High in the woods with my friends who had a forte! Scariest musical moment of my life. I was petrified to walk home! And I became obsessed. 

Then came Blizzard Of Ozz- The cover scared me, and the music powered me.  From the opening chords of "I Don't Know," I saw Ozzy with Randy and consider myself forever lucky. 

Ozzfest was our summer hangout. Matt Murray broadcast from so many shows - usually in 100-degree heat. PNC and MetLife were the home of the discovery of many killer new bands, thanks to Ozzy and Sharon. I'm forever grateful that they reinvented the genre when grunge was at its peak. 

Hearing that one of our own, Zakk Wylde, was going to be in the Ozzy Osbourne band blew my mind! I knew Zakk from his NJ club days in Zyris and could not believe that a Jersey kid was standing at the altar of The Prince Of Darkness. 

Ozzy was a lovely person- as I mentioned, most of my experiences with him lie in a big box of cassettes that I will go through one day!

This photo of me and Sharon was taken at a benefit. Ozzy was right next to her. Someone from the T.J. Martell Foundation sent it to me.  Back in the day, we didn't have cell phones, and I NEVER asked for photos.

I remember thinking I'm talking to Sharon Osbourne with Ozzy right here! What were we talking about? Not metal......DOGS lol...... Ozzy and Sharon came out to support Cancer Research that night. They always gave back.

Ozzy sported his DHA in these shots- Given to him by our own late godfather of radio, Curtis Kay. They are both missed. 

My first memory of Ozzy was when I used to watch a local access cable show religiously every Saturday night called "The U-68 Power Hour," and it was filled with heavy metal videos. One of the first videos I ever watched was Ozzy and the video for "Bark at the Moon." I was completely and utterly HOOKED.

The music, the theatrics of the video, all of it. I LOVED this song. I had heard about Ozzy but up to that point, never heard his music. I begged my parents to take me to the store to buy his record so I could hear more of his music. My Dad was the one who finally relented and took me to get Ozzy's Bark at the Moon album. I played it over and over, then went and learned more about his music and Sabbath as well. It was my first album that I purchased and I  still have that album to this very day. RIP Prince of Darkness. 

The music of Ozzy was extraordinarily influential when I was first becoming a fan of rock and metal. I'll never forget hearing "Iron Man" for the first time during late middle school and thinking how cool it was. That song set me on the path to begin discovering more metal like Metallica, Iron Maiden, etc, that essentially took over my life.

Once I became serious about being a musician, I did what most people do and learned songs. Some of my friends during my early high school days wanted to jam out to "No More Tears", so that became the second song I ever learned to play on drums. I was very fortunate to meet Ozzy at a book signing some time after that and thank him for playing such a pivotal role in shaping me as a musician.

Metal is the most welcoming and cherished community that has helped tons of people discover a sense of belonging and unity - and we wouldn't have that if it weren't for The Prince of Darkness.

The first time I met Ozzy would have been in the fall of 1983 when his Bark At the Moon album had just been released.  He, of course, was still generating some headlines for the bat-biting incident a year earlier.  He showed up at the radio station pretty inebriated and was clearly not his best version of himself.  I remember thinking, "He didn't REALLY bite that bat, did he?"  Needless to say, I didn't ask him about it.

What has struck me most these past few weeks - from the final concert a few weeks ago, to his passing - is how revered he was by people across so many music genres. 

From doing Pepsi commercials with Donny and Marie Osmond to having 1950s pop icon Pat Boone record his music to having such artists as Eric Clapton, Mike McCready, Jeff Beck, Post Malone, and Elton John on his recordings, Ozzy was a transcendent artist.  And that's not even taking into consideration the impact he and his family had on reality television.