“This motherfucker invented heavy metal”: the singer Jack Black called the greatest in rock history
As the vocalist of Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne is undoubtedly one of the most important figures in the history of rock music and is one of only a handful of people who can truly claim to have changed the face of the genre. The band were almost single-handedly responsible for mutating rock music into its more sinister and aggressive offshoot of heavy metal, and their maniacal frontman was a gigantic part of this transformation at the beginning of the 1970s.
While there were plenty of other innovators pushing rock in different directions following the genre’s initial explosion in the 1950s and ‘60s, very few can lay claim to having taken things to such an extreme as Black Sabbath did. With the possible exception of Deep Purple, no other acts dared to emulate or compete with the Birmingham band until much later in the decade, when the likes of Motörhead and Judas Priest emerged to stoke the genre’s burning embers.
Of course, it wasn’t just Osbourne’s presence that turned Black Sabbath into the genre’s overlords. Guitarist Tony Iommi’s crunching riffs and the titanic rhythm section provided by Geezer Butler and Bill Ward were just as indispensable to the heavy metal sound that they pioneered. However, when the band fired their frontman in 1979 and replaced him with Ronnie James Dio, a lot of the venom that they had was seemingly lost, further emphasising the importance of his role in the group.
Most other hard rock and heavy metal singers in the years since Osbourne’s rise to prominence continue to cite him as an influence and an idol, one without whom their careers wouldn’t have been the same. After all, he was arguably the first heavy metal frontman, and he deserves to be celebrated for starting a movement that has only continued to expand as years have passed.
In 2024, Osbourne was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist, having previously been inducted alongside his Black Sabbath bandmates in 2006. Appropriately, the Rock Hall opted to have actor and musician Jack Black take to the stage to introduce and officially induct the ‘Prince of Darkness’ into the esteemed company. As a noted fan of rock and metal, Black couldn’t have been more effusive in his praise for the singer during a passionate speech, calling him “the greatest frontman in the history of rock and roll.”
“This motherfucker invented heavy metal,” roared Black from the ceremonial stage. “I’m talking to you 13-year-olds watching the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, all five of you. Sure, you could go stream Post Malone and Taylor Swift and get all the warm hugs you need for your broken hearts, or you can stay up all night and get your minds blown by Ozzy’s entire catalogue for the first time.”
While it might be harsh to point the finger at the youth of today for not taking note of Osbourne and Black Sabbath’s importance to the same degree as those in older generations might have, he isn’t wrong about how it feels to expose yourself to the band’s music for the first time. Discovering Black Sabbath is a mind-blowing, life-altering experience and a gateway that any heavy metal novice should go through at the earliest opportunity. “Stop creating incredibly successful, genre-defining, world-changing hits. It’s too much success for one lifetime,” Black concluded. It isn’t too much success; it’s all completely warranted.
