Ozzy Osbourne on why Phil Collins is “the best ever”
Many people already have a unique picture of who Ozzy Osbourne is before they’ve even heard a note of his music. From his black attire to his foreboding presence whenever he takes the stage, Osbourne has turned himself into the epitome of all things heavy metal, having paved the way for millions of artists to delve into the heavier side of music. Although Osbourne has been able to make art designed to scare people to death, he did think that one soft rocker contributed one of the best singular moments to pop music.
Then again, Osbourne wasn’t always the kind of foreboding figure that everyone pictures him as. Before he even had the idea of being in Black Sabbath, Osbourne was used to playing the kind of rock and roll that he loved from acts like The Beatles, being first turned onto music when hearing ‘She Loves You’ for the first time.
Once he started to play amongst the doomy riffs of Tony Iommi, Osbourne knew that he would be able to channel his sadness and anger into music without a care in the world. Compared to the other blues-tinged rock acts that had been coming out at the same time, Sabbath had a unique approach that sent chills down one’s spine whenever they came on the radio, with Osbourne screaming his head off about demons and those getting revenge on everyone who wronged them.
As the band continued to innovate their sound on albums like Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, they often played into the same tropes that many progressive rock outfits were playing then. Adopting Yes’s Rick Wakeman as their in-studio keyboardist, the group quickly became a force of nature onstage, using whatever was at their disposal to create hymns of doom.
Although Osbourne would eventually leave for a solo career in the early 1980s, Phil Collins would be doing the same thing with Genesis. After taking over for Peter Gabriel as the frontman, Collins would eventually put his band on hold to work on his marriage, making him make the album Face Value during his solo career.
Among the different tales of heartache was ‘In the Air Tonight’, a song that was seething with anger at how often his wife had wronged him. Although the track was meant to be a representation of pain and anger, the biggest element came from the drums, starting off with a drum machine before building into organic drums with Collins’s signature fill.
Looking back on that piece, Osbourne would recall that it had one of the best drum sounds he could remember. When speaking with The Daily Telegraph, Osbourne recalled just how much the tune shocked him when he heard it for the first time, recalling, “[I’m] the reason he sold so many albums. That drum fill is the best ever – it still sounds awesome. We love Phil Collins.”
Although there’s a slim chance that Osbourne will try his hand at playing the Collins classic live, his love of the song has more to do with the feeling than the genre. As much as people might be able to relate to a lyric or vocal melody, there’s no replacing the feeling a track leaves on you when it kicks in.
