Ozzy Osbourne explains how MTV “changed everything”
Towards the start of the 1980s, it felt like the ‘70s were going on for about two years too long. After becoming overwhelmed with genres like prog, metal, and disco starting their golden age, the ‘80s were going to be different, with bright neon colours and the introduction of synthesisers becoming a major part of pop music. Ozzy Osbourne was in a state of change as well, and he got a career revival by fans listening with their eyes instead of their ears.
At the start of the decade, Osbourne looked dangerously close to looking like a rock and roll casualty. Having been through some of the most excessive highs imaginable with Black Sabbath, most of his bandmates didn’t want to deal with his antics on albums like Never Say Die, even regaling him to the side of the stage as guitarist Tony Iommi hogged the spotlight. By the time Osbourne decided to move on to pastures new, his drug problem had started to chip away at ‘The Prince of Darkness’.
With the help of his manager and future wife Sharon, Osbourne picked himself back up, putting together a band that included the soon-to-be guitar hero Randy Rhoads. When auditioning guitarists for the group, Osbourne was shellshocked by Rhoads’ playing ability, telling The Guardian, “Randy came in, five foot fucking two and so skinny, I thought he was a fairy. When he played, my brain went, ‘Either this is the greatest gear ever, or this guy is the best guitarist in the world”.
While Osbourne had the songs together for his debut solo album Blizzard of Ozz, one of the first major changes to the promotional cycle started after he got sober. Instead of doing the occasional TV appearance outside of touring, something else was happening in the background that would change music forever.
Looking to bring fans a more personal experience, the genesis of MTV started gaining traction around the same time Osbourne made his first hits. With the help of a music video, fans got to see their favourite artists up close and personal from the comfort of their living room, with visual artists like Prince and David Bowie transitioning to the medium perfectly.
After a few successes with videos for songs like ‘Crazy Train’, Osbourne became a household name again, launching him to stardom even bigger than what he had done with Sabbath. Osbourne would attribute MTV for sparking the sea change in the music world, explaining, “Heavy rotation took you from selling 1m to 20m albums, and that meant a lot of dough. There was a lot of payola, wining and dining and cocaine buying, but it changed everything for us. Those first two years were incredible”.
From there, Osbourne quickly adapted to the visual medium, turning his videos into a spectacle like donning a wolf costume for the song ‘Bark at the Moon’. Although not every one of them hit the mark that he was hoping for, Osbourne’s break into the mainstream also paved the way for other visual metal bands like Motley Crue to make their mark on MTV. Regardless of whatever era of Osbourne fans were getting, they could always count on the video to be a massive event.
