It's Ozzy Osbourne's birthday and our city's musicians reminisce his prime days.
Singer/songwriter and ex-vocalist of Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, once said, “You gotta be really careful what you bite off. Don't bite off more than you can chew."
Apart from the philosophical aspect of it, this quote might just be a direct reference to the indent where he bit off the head of a live bat on stage.
Yes, it is the Godfather of heavy metal we are talking about here, who is known for his strange but enigmatic persona. He celebrates his 65th birthday today.
Ozzy's influence on upcoming and established metal musicians all over the world dates back to a time when heavy metal ruled the world. A few musicians from the city share their experiences of Ozzy's music with us.
“Ozzy is really creepy! And that's amazing because his creepiness is projected through the way he sings. For that unique style of singing, you need to possess an extreme amount of character. If somebody asks me to sing in a creepy voice, I would definitely imitate Ozzy. His unpredictable and strange persona made him a man whom you wouldn’t want to know, but you end up knowing him anyway through his music,” says Manek D’Silva, guitarist of Slain.
Metal is often related to controversy, crazy moments and impish incidents. Our city’s musicians have their own cache of memories in this respect.
“I remember, during my senior year in high school, I had started drinking alcohol. Since I studied in a boarding school in Ooty, I used to listen to the Black Sabbath on my walkman when I went to buy alcohol. There was always the fear of getting caught by the authorities and Ozzy’s rebellious music actually helped me gather courage,” says Victor Charles Mckertich, front man of De’Sat, a metal band.
Black Sabbath and Ozzy’s solo songs have a regular fan base at cultural festivals of schools and colleges. A college festival without one band playing "Paranoid" or "Mama I’m Coming Home" “is just not done”, as Manek says.
“"Paranoid" is, maybe, Ozzy’s most popular song and, incidentally, it was one of the first metal songs I picked up on my guitar. But, during my first performance at a school festival, I messed up the song real bad. But that was also a beginning because I eventually picked up the song and began my career as a musician,” says Chintan Chinnappa, guitarist of Inner Sanctum.
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