Chapter 1a: The Demise of a Heavy Metal Pioneer
POD:
March 18-20, 1982: Ozzy Osbourne, former lead vocalist of Black Sabbath and currently engaged in a successful solo career played yet another show with his band in Knoxville, Tennessee. They were due to perform in a festival in Orlando, Florida on March 19. They stopped in Leesburg, Florida after driving for much of the night. Randy Rhoads was invited to take a flight, but declined. As a result, the second flight of March 19 never flew. After performing yet another amazing performance, Ozzy Osbourne decided to indulge in tremendous amounts of alcohol. His drunken antics were well known. He had urinated publically on a cenotaph across from the Alamo only a month prior. Unfortunately for him, he partied a little too hard. He fell asleep and choked on his own vomit. He was found the following morning (March 20) by Rudy Sarzo.
“I still haven’t forgotten the day I found him,” Sarzo later recounted in 1998 following Black Sabbath’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. “We just delivered one hell of a show the night before. I don’t think the band had ever performed tighter than that the entire tour. Ozzy liked to drink and so did we. Ozzy just liked to do a lot more than drink and we’d been worried for a while, but we were all on top of the world then. Then when I found his body in the hotel room, I just couldn’t believe it.”
The death of Ozzy Osbourne in 1982 brought a promising solo career to an end. Randy Rhoads, already intending to leave the band to pursue a degree in classical guitar from UCLA, would leave music for a period of time. Rudy Sarzo found a home in Quiet Riot during the recording of Metal Health. Tommy Aldridge would later join Whitesnake. Don Airey briefly took some off from music, but he was invited to join Whitesnake in 1984 when Deep Purple reformed. Another immediate result of the early demise of Ozzy Osbourne was that Black Sabbath was solidified as a band and would continue on with their vocalist Ronnie James Dio for many years to come.
“Geezer and I were both impacted greatly by Ozzy’s death,” recounted Tony Iommi in a 2002 interview. “We were touring for Mob Rules then and the mood was definitely low. We did not part on the greatest terms, but we still had many good years with Ozzy. Ronnie was definitely that guy that held us together like glue that day. We played a tribute to him that night. It was an emotional performance we needed. The audience also needed it.”
Black Sabbath would release a double live album entitled Live Evil in 1983, which included no material with Ozzy Osbourne, but only material recorded from the Mob Rules tour. One impact of Ozzy Osbourne’s demise was that original drummer Bill Ward took an opportunity to get sober and ask Tony and Geezer if he could return. Ronnie, Tony, Geezer, and Vinnie all agreed that the return of Bill Ward would be best. Drummer Vinnie Appice stepped down from Sabbath after only one album with the band. The band began busying itself with recording a new album.
However, things were not all well in the Osbourne camp. Ozzy Osbourne’s marriage to Thelma Riley in the 1970’s produced two children: Jessica Osbourne (1972) and Louis Osbourne (1972). In addition, Ozzy adopted her son Elliot Kingsley (1966). Thelma Riley found herself guardian of an estate she wanted very little so that Jessica could inherit the royalties earned from Ozzy’s solo career as well as his time in Black Sabbath. With Ozzy’s death, that value was due to explode exponentially. Ozzy’s family felt they had more of a right to be guardians of the estate to protect Jessica’s inheritance. It would be the start of a legal fight that would occupy tabloids in the UK for the following year.
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1982 was a big year in music. Michael Jackson released Thriller, which would go on to become the best-selling album of all-time. In the world of heavy metal, there was no shortage of landmark albums. Bruce Dickinson made his recorded debut with Iron Maiden on the album Number of the Beast. Judas Priest released Screaming for Vengeance. Kiss released Creatures of the Night, which would be the final album of their original makeup era.
In the meantime, many other bands were forming in 1982. The glam scene in Los Angeles and the thrash scene in San Francisco were going strong with the formation of new bands and the establishment of the reputations of bands formed in previous years. Perhaps the most important and unheralded release in 1982 was the compilation album Metal Massacre from Metal Blade Records. While it featured bands such as Ratt and Malice, the compilation would go down in importance because of the appearance of the song “Hit the Lights” by the young Los Angeles based thrash metal band Metallica.
Notes:
[1] There were originally two flights on March 19. Don Airey was on the first flight while Randy Rhoads was on the second flight. Rhoads opts to not get on the second flight, which ultimately results in the second flight not happening in TTL. The other passenger Rachel Youngblood had a heart condition. Rhoads deciding not to fly would likely have made Youngblood have second thoughts. This ultimately butterflies out the deaths of Rachel Youngblood and pilot Andrew Aycock. Randy Rhoads was already planning to attend UCLA, so this likely would not have changed for him in the wake of Ozzy Osbourne’s death.
[2] Ronnie James Dio and Vinnie Appice originally parted ways with Black Sabbath in 1982 due to disputes during the mixing of Live Evil. Here, this doesn’t happen because Ozzy’s death brings them closer together. Bill Ward did return to Black Sabbath following Appice’s departure in OTL for the recording of Born Again. Here, it happens for a different reason. This ultimately butterflies out the band Dio, which will cause butterflies to impact the careers of musicians such as Vivian Campbell and Vinnie Appice. Ronnie’s continued involvement in Black Sabbath will also impact the career of Tony Martin.
[3] Rudy Sarzo actually did join Quiet Riot in OTL.
[4] Whitesnake did implode in 1981-1982. This creates an early opening for Tommy Aldridge to join the band rather than Cozy Powell. This will be important later.
[5] It’s important to note that Ozzy Osbourne did not marry Sharon Arden until the summer of 1982, so his death actually prevents her from gaining the rights to his empire. She will, however, continue to perform duties as manager while Thelma Riley acts as the guardian of the estate.
So I figured I would jump on the pop-culture timeline bandwagon.
POD:
March 18-20, 1982: Ozzy Osbourne, former lead vocalist of Black Sabbath and currently engaged in a successful solo career played yet another show with his band in Knoxville, Tennessee. They were due to perform in a festival in Orlando, Florida on March 19. They stopped in Leesburg, Florida after driving for much of the night. Randy Rhoads was invited to take a flight, but declined. As a result, the second flight of March 19 never flew. After performing yet another amazing performance, Ozzy Osbourne decided to indulge in tremendous amounts of alcohol. His drunken antics were well known. He had urinated publically on a cenotaph across from the Alamo only a month prior. Unfortunately for him, he partied a little too hard. He fell asleep and choked on his own vomit. He was found the following morning (March 20) by Rudy Sarzo.
“I still haven’t forgotten the day I found him,” Sarzo later recounted in 1998 following Black Sabbath’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. “We just delivered one hell of a show the night before. I don’t think the band had ever performed tighter than that the entire tour. Ozzy liked to drink and so did we. Ozzy just liked to do a lot more than drink and we’d been worried for a while, but we were all on top of the world then. Then when I found his body in the hotel room, I just couldn’t believe it.”
The death of Ozzy Osbourne in 1982 brought a promising solo career to an end. Randy Rhoads, already intending to leave the band to pursue a degree in classical guitar from UCLA, would leave music for a period of time. Rudy Sarzo found a home in Quiet Riot during the recording of Metal Health. Tommy Aldridge would later join Whitesnake. Don Airey briefly took some off from music, but he was invited to join Whitesnake in 1984 when Deep Purple reformed. Another immediate result of the early demise of Ozzy Osbourne was that Black Sabbath was solidified as a band and would continue on with their vocalist Ronnie James Dio for many years to come.
“Geezer and I were both impacted greatly by Ozzy’s death,” recounted Tony Iommi in a 2002 interview. “We were touring for Mob Rules then and the mood was definitely low. We did not part on the greatest terms, but we still had many good years with Ozzy. Ronnie was definitely that guy that held us together like glue that day. We played a tribute to him that night. It was an emotional performance we needed. The audience also needed it.”
Black Sabbath would release a double live album entitled Live Evil in 1983, which included no material with Ozzy Osbourne, but only material recorded from the Mob Rules tour. One impact of Ozzy Osbourne’s demise was that original drummer Bill Ward took an opportunity to get sober and ask Tony and Geezer if he could return. Ronnie, Tony, Geezer, and Vinnie all agreed that the return of Bill Ward would be best. Drummer Vinnie Appice stepped down from Sabbath after only one album with the band. The band began busying itself with recording a new album.
However, things were not all well in the Osbourne camp. Ozzy Osbourne’s marriage to Thelma Riley in the 1970’s produced two children: Jessica Osbourne (1972) and Louis Osbourne (1972). In addition, Ozzy adopted her son Elliot Kingsley (1966). Thelma Riley found herself guardian of an estate she wanted very little so that Jessica could inherit the royalties earned from Ozzy’s solo career as well as his time in Black Sabbath. With Ozzy’s death, that value was due to explode exponentially. Ozzy’s family felt they had more of a right to be guardians of the estate to protect Jessica’s inheritance. It would be the start of a legal fight that would occupy tabloids in the UK for the following year.
---
1982 was a big year in music. Michael Jackson released Thriller, which would go on to become the best-selling album of all-time. In the world of heavy metal, there was no shortage of landmark albums. Bruce Dickinson made his recorded debut with Iron Maiden on the album Number of the Beast. Judas Priest released Screaming for Vengeance. Kiss released Creatures of the Night, which would be the final album of their original makeup era.
In the meantime, many other bands were forming in 1982. The glam scene in Los Angeles and the thrash scene in San Francisco were going strong with the formation of new bands and the establishment of the reputations of bands formed in previous years. Perhaps the most important and unheralded release in 1982 was the compilation album Metal Massacre from Metal Blade Records. While it featured bands such as Ratt and Malice, the compilation would go down in importance because of the appearance of the song “Hit the Lights” by the young Los Angeles based thrash metal band Metallica.
Notes:
[1] There were originally two flights on March 19. Don Airey was on the first flight while Randy Rhoads was on the second flight. Rhoads opts to not get on the second flight, which ultimately results in the second flight not happening in TTL. The other passenger Rachel Youngblood had a heart condition. Rhoads deciding not to fly would likely have made Youngblood have second thoughts. This ultimately butterflies out the deaths of Rachel Youngblood and pilot Andrew Aycock. Randy Rhoads was already planning to attend UCLA, so this likely would not have changed for him in the wake of Ozzy Osbourne’s death.
[2] Ronnie James Dio and Vinnie Appice originally parted ways with Black Sabbath in 1982 due to disputes during the mixing of Live Evil. Here, this doesn’t happen because Ozzy’s death brings them closer together. Bill Ward did return to Black Sabbath following Appice’s departure in OTL for the recording of Born Again. Here, it happens for a different reason. This ultimately butterflies out the band Dio, which will cause butterflies to impact the careers of musicians such as Vivian Campbell and Vinnie Appice. Ronnie’s continued involvement in Black Sabbath will also impact the career of Tony Martin.
[3] Rudy Sarzo actually did join Quiet Riot in OTL.
[4] Whitesnake did implode in 1981-1982. This creates an early opening for Tommy Aldridge to join the band rather than Cozy Powell. This will be important later.
[5] It’s important to note that Ozzy Osbourne did not marry Sharon Arden until the summer of 1982, so his death actually prevents her from gaining the rights to his empire. She will, however, continue to perform duties as manager while Thelma Riley acts as the guardian of the estate.
So I figured I would jump on the pop-culture timeline bandwagon.
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