‘Peace/Crazy Train’: Cat Stevens and Ozzy Osbourne’s most bizarre duet in history
All the way back in 2010, a good portion of Americans got the majority of their political news not from pundits, journalists or leaders. Instead, these individuals tuned in nightly to Comedy Central in order to watch Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert take shots at the current political landscape. The popularity of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report was more significant than most of the new programmes that it satirised, which says something about the average American’s view of politics in the late 2000s and early 2010s.
Even though neither host claimed to be a real journalist – Stewart took a sarcastic and biting approach to politics, while Colbert deliberately embodied a blowhard conservative persona for laughs – their effect on viewers was real. Both men talked about the day’s important news, weighed in on the increasingly fragile political divide, and had real-life political figures on their shows that left viewers smarter and more informed than they had been when they first tuned in.
Both men were increasingly aware of the divisions between the main political parties in America. Of course, the solution was to take the piss out of public gatherings like Glenn Beck’s ‘Restoring Honor’ rally, which took place that same year. Instead of preaching a genuine message, Stewart and Colbert mostly just wanted an excuse to perform their shows in an expanded, festival-like format for audiences.
That’s how Stewart’s ‘March to Restore Sanity’ came to be. Colbert immediately countered with the ‘Rally to Keep Fear Alive’. In truth, the two concepts were always meant to come together as one, with the shared rally eventually being held on October 30th, 2010. A series of guests made special appearances as Stewart and Colbert took shots at political differences, but the funniest battle came with some real music legends.
To push the liberal side of the conversation, Stewart welcomed Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, to sing his classic song ‘Peace Train’. After the first verse and chorus, Yusuf got interrupted by Colbert, who took issue with getting aboard a ‘Peace Train’. Colbert wanted something more violent and chaotic, so he countered with a different kind of train. With that, out came none other than Ozzy Osbourne himself to lead the crowd in a truncated version of ‘Crazy Train’.
The two hosts battled over which train was superior. Both Yusuf and Osbourne attempted to restart their songs, and eventually, The Roots got tangled up trying to play both at the same time. As Stewart and Colbert tangled for superiority, Yusuf and Osbourne embraced and left the stage. As the two hosts bickered over who was responsible for the mess, they eventually decided to compromise, bringing out The O’Jays to sing their own train-based hit single, ‘Love Train’.
Check out the battle between ‘Peace Train’ and ‘Crazy Train’ down below.
