The Lord of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne, passed away at the age of 76 on Tuesday morning.
A few weeks prior to his passing, earlier this month, Ozzy performed his final concert in his hometown of Birmingham, England. The large-scale event generated $190 million, which will be given to three charitable organizations.
On Tuesday night, fans of the metal band Pantera at Riverbend and across our area reflect on what Ozzy meant to them.
“It’s as if they’re asking how far you can go, and he sort of established the benchmark for that,” Michael Shuter, assistant manager at Everybodys Records in Pleasant Ridge, said.
“I remember when I was 9 years old, jamming in my bedroom, my dad coming in and yelling at me to turn that junk down, turn that junk down, and dude, I just kept cranking it,” said Quintin Hester from Hillsboro.
Every fan of Pantera at Riverbend on Tuesday claimed that Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne are the reason they became metal enthusiasts.
“It’s truly my entire life,” Mary Marcum from Dayton, Kentucky said.
“It completely influenced my entire life. And I’ll miss him,” said Jeffrey Yates from Dayton.
“At a time when I was trying to figure out my identity and what I wanted to stand for in life, it gave me confidence and a uniform,” said Aron Pape from Batavia.
Osbourne brought his heavy metal festival ‘Ozzfest’ to Columbus 11 times between 1997 and 2007.
“I’ve attended all Ozzfest shows except one, I was there for every single one, the one I missed was the one that took place in Columbus where there was a riot, that’s the one I missed featuring Marilyn Manson, do you recall that?” Hester said.
The announcement of Osbourne’s death brought sorrow to heavy metal fans across the globe.
“My wife told me that he had passed away, and I was completely shattered. It broke me,” Hester said.
“You know, I had my own thoughts and I shed a little tear, I’m not going to hide it. But you know, he played a big role and had a significant impact on my life,” Pape said.
“I used to perform in bands because of him, and it’s just, he was everything to me,” Yates said.
Pantera’s guitarist, Zakk Wylde, performed with Osbourne over the years. On X, Wylde shared a video of him playing with Osbourne, stating that Ozzy brought light to many lives and made the world a better place.
Wylde was extremely close to Ozzy, to the point where he made Osbourne the godfather of his son.
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