Ozzy, System of a Down Lead Ozzfest

Ozzy Osbourne, System of a Down and Disturbed will headline Ozzfest 2006, kicking off July 1st in San Francisco. The touring festival, now in its eleventh year, will hit twenty-one cities, with a solo Osbourne to play only a select ten performances.

Hatebreed, Lacuna Coil and another, yet-to-be-announced headliner will take the remaining mainstage slots, while Black Label Society, Atreyu, Bleeding Through, Norma Jean, Full Blown Chaos, Between the Buried and Me, A Life Once Lost, Strapping Young Lad and the Red Chord will all rock Ozzfest's second stage.

Osbourne, who headlined the past two Ozzfests with Black Sabbath, will give his first solo performances in three years. The sets will feature new material from the Prince of Darkness' forthcoming solo album, which he is currently working on with Black Label Society guitarist Zakk Wylde.

Ozzfest has played 263 shows, featured 146 bands and played to over 4.5 million heavy metal fans since originally launching in 1996.

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Song Stories

“1999”

Prince | 1982

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.

More Song Stories entries »

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