TED NUGENT REFLECTS ON THE LOSS OF OZZY OSBOURNE, AND STATES ABOUT BLACK SABBATH, “THEY CALLED IT HEAVY METAL, BUT BASICALLY IT WAS BLUES”

During the July 26th episode of his Spirit Campfire show on Real America’s Voice, Ted Nugent spoke about legendary Black Sabbath singer Ozzy Osbourne who died four days earlier at the age of 76. 

Nugent said (as transcribed by blabbermouth.net), “In the wind, Ozzy is still alive. Some people wanna get high, some people gotta start low, some people think they’re gonna die someday. I got news. You never got to go. You know who’s never gonna go? Eddie Van Halen, Dusty Hill, Wayne Kramer and Ozzy Osbourne. And all are dearly departed.”

“What an emotional time for people who embraced and celebrate and will forever embrace and celebrate the incredible soundtrack of Black Sabbath and all things Ozzy Osbourne,” he continued. “Now, did I disagree — in fact, I not only disagreed with a big part of his lifestyle, I condemned it. I think getting drunk and stoned and stupid is really disrespectful to God’s gift. And he made mistakes. We all make mistakes. I’ve made two. Anyhow, so Ozzy made some mistakes, so we won’t harp on that, because I was very critical of the TV show that made fun of his condition, made fun of his slovenliness, made fun of his disconnect, made fun of his mental decline through drugs and alcohol. But you know what? I loved Ozzy Osbourne. [Ted‘s former band] The Amboy Dukes opened up for the Black Sabbath concerts in Detroit, Michigan, in 1971, 1972, I believe it was. Amboy Dukes and Black Sabbath… But Ozzy Osbourne had an incredible musical force.”

Speaking specifically about Black Sabbath‘s music, Nugent stated, “They called it heavy metal, but basically it was blues… Remember, Ozzy always celebrated that he was just obsessed with the spirit, the energy, the authority, the musicality of The Beatles. And you know where The Beatles musical authority came from? Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Mose Allison, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Jimmy Reed, B.B. King, Albert King, Freddie King, ultimately Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, and Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis and the Motown Funk Brothers, the Motown supreme artists. Ozzy always represented that. So what Black Sabbath — Tony Iommi and Geezer[Butler] and… I can’t remember but drummer’s name [Dana’s note: Bill F-ing Ward, Ted-LOL!]. But anyhow, we would open up for Black Sabbath at Madison Square Gardens and Largo, Maryland. 18,000 people. Here they’re big, giant concerts. Long Island Coliseum. It was so much fun. And I tried to have a conversation with Ozzy. Like I need a reminder why clean and sober is the only way to go. It’d be nice to talk to these guys because I know that Ozzy was given the musical influence by The [Rolling] Stones and The Beatles and The Yardbirds and The Who, and before Led Zeppelin, The Kinks, because of American black artists. All those British invasion guys were inspired by Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis…”

“So Ozzy, thank you,” Ted added. “And the Black Sabbath band and Tommy Clufetos and Tommy Aldridge and, and Zakk [Wylde] and Jake E. Lee and Brad Gillis and Randy Rhoads, thank you for enriching the world’s lives, all of our lives, with your incredible music, because it was called heavy metal, but it was basically heavier, thicker, grinding rhythm and blues music. And he had an incredible, uncanny sense of melody and phrasing and cadence that he gleaned and created his own style and his own genre. Heavy metal — he was the God of heavy metal. All these other bands — Metallica and Savatage; I don’t even know the names of some of these bands.

So we’re gonna dedicate this whole first segment to Ozzy Osbourne. And not only just his memory, but it will never fade away. Just like Eddie Van Halen, his music will never fade away.

So, back to Ozzy, he was a bluesman. Yeah, they intensified the inspiration of those black founding fathers of the most wonderful, stimulating, defiant, uppity fun music.

So, to the Osbourne family, we love you. We pray for your strength. We know these are difficult times. It’s always traumatic, it’s always heartbreaking and emotional, and we get lost, we become lost, uncertain of our every breath when we lose a loved one. Especially, I gotta tell you, it’s magnified when it’s such a historically profound, influential global figure like Ozzy Osbourne.”

During an appearance on the Faith & Freedom podcast, which is hosted by his wife Shemane Nugent, Nugent was asked what it was like touring with Ozzy back in the late 1970s, and he said, “Well, it doesn’t really matter because — and bottom line is we love Ozzy. He was a kind man, a gentleman, a hard-working guy, extremely talented. He did a vocalization and a songwriting musical force to reckon with. So we’re praying for his family and his friends and those millions and millions of fans out there that are really traumatized [by his passing]. I mean, there’s a lot of heartbreak and a lot of crying going on. So we’re with you people, and we share your heartbreak, we share your emotion and we share your love for Ozzy. Our hearts are heavy for the Osbourne family because he was a good dad and a good husband… And as he got clean and sober, he was a fun guy. He was a funny guy. He was a cocky guy. And more importantly, he’s known as the Prince Of Darkness. He was a Christian. He was against war…”

He continued, “I’ve been reviewing a lot of the testimonies and celebrations of Ozzy‘s life, and a lot of his lyrics were for peace, supporting the military, good over evil, identifying the scourge of mankind, being negative and being evil and satanic. So I believe, I’m confident when I say that Ozzy Osbourne was a Christian.”