Ozzy Osbourne

Emissary of the devil or lovable, befuddled TV dad? The march of time (as well as MTV) has witnessed the perception of the onetime Black Sabbath frontman evolve from the former to the latter. Despite dabblings in diabolism and well-known misadventures with drug and drink, Ozzy Osbourne's solo career has supplied a sort of avuncular presence to 25 years of heavy-metal music.

First heard on the spotty but revelatory Blizzard of Ozz, Ozzy's first backing band was one of the most influential in all of metal, primarily due to late guitar virtuoso Randy Rhoads, perhaps Eddie Van Halen's only peer. Rhoads' disciplined attack -- flashy but fleet -- is best sampled on the posthumous Tribute, from 1987. On that recording of a 1982 concert, Rhoads buoys Ozzy's apocalyptic shtick with his arsenal of distorted chords and machine-gun solo outbursts. There's a strong note of empathy running through Osbourne's horrific metal melodrama: "Suicide Solution," "Crazy Train," and "Flying High Again" are nowhere near as exploitative as their titles might suggest. The naked, open-wound vulnerability of his voice, far more than his proclivity for rock & roll nuttiness and cartoon, is the key to his appeal. After Rhoads died in a plane accident while on tour in 1982, Osbourne soldiered on through the decade, gamely trying to compete with the hair bands he partly sired. Finally, with harmonics-happy guitarist Zakk Wylde, Ozzy pulled ahead of the pack with No More Tears. Several taut tracks, cowritten by Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead, bring a gravitas that balances the L.A.-metal sheen; the pathos-ridden, psychedelic title track is one of Osbourne's greatest achievements.

Although separated by six years, Ozzmosis and Down to Earth are essentially interchangeable -- both contrast molasses-thick riff epics with charmingly mawkish ballads. Around the time that he and his family became reality-TV icons via The Osbournes, his entire back catalogue was re-released -- with an intriguing wrinkle: Due to a contentious legal dispute, the bassist and drummer's contributions on Ozzy's first two solo records were replaced by their '90s equivalents. If this succeeded in spiting the original instrumentalists, only the most gifted audio engineer could possibly discern a difference. With the exception of Tribute, Ozzy's live albums are notable for their homogeneity; each one includes songs from its studio-album contemporary. The constant is Ozzy's hoarse exhortations to the audience: "I love you all!!" "Let me see your hands!" For it's not Mephistopheles that Ozzy worships, but his fans. (MARK COLEMAN/ROB KEMP)

From the 2004 The New Rolling Stone Album Guide