From the Atlantic accounting department to the head of Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s Manticore Records, Mario Medious is a legendary record executive.

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mario-medious/id1316200737?i=1000718834384

 

 

 

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/c714432d-29c3-4db2-a965-b32874c7df6f/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-mario-medious

COWBOY CARTEL

This is an imperfect documentary from 2024 but I recommend you watch it. Because the IRS helped bring down the Zetas and now it’s been crippled. All this institutional expertise eviscerated.

But you can love “Cowboy Cartel” without being a lefty.

Turns out the Zetas, a legendary Mexican drug cartel, are laundering their money via horse racing.

I was familiar with the Zetas from Don Winslow’s book “The Border,” the final installment of his  Cartel Trilogy. Although not as good as the initial installment, “The Power of the Dog,” it’s necessary reading if you’ve read the first and the second, “The Cartel.” I absolutely recommend you read “The Power of the Dog,” it may be pulpy but it’s highly readable and will educate you on the drug trade to a degree you heretofore didn’t know existed.

So this is a doc. But since it’s done for Apple, it’s done on a very high level. As in the re-enactments can be easily confused for actual footage.

Furthermore, the arc does not resemble fiction. Just when you’re getting all excited, when the momentum builds, it then dissipates, and then ultimately renews.

So what you’re watching here for is the story. And it’s utterly fascinating. How a newbie FBI agent discovers the ruse and then enlists the rest of the government to help him with the bust.

It’s the characters that are so interesting. We’re used to entertainment celebrities, whereas these are just regular people doing their jobs. But they have character and are dedicated, they’re the stars of their own movie. Whether it be the IRS agent or the cops or the… It takes a village to bring down a cartel, and this documentary tells you how it is done.

“Cowboy Cartel” shows what we’re up against in the drug trade. It shows how evil the Zetas are. You wonder whether this battle can ever be won. But one thing is for sure, by shrinking our government willy-nilly we’re going backwards.

Not that this is a political show, that’s just one of my takeaways.

Watch it and tell me what you think.

BUG HOLLOW

I would have listed this first but it’s much harder to get someone to read a book as opposed to watch a TV series.

But I want to recommend this book. Because it’s highly readable. It’s about a family and the stuff that happens to it and those they encounter.

The thing about life is it is unpredictable, and that is what this book represents so well. You’re on one path, worrying about something, and then you’re hit with a brick from the left and your earlier thoughts don’t matter.

And then there are choices.

And then there are relationships.

Life is messy, it is not linear. You can try and force it to be organized, but you always fail. You can get a professional degree and then the firm you work for closes, or is eclipsed by technology. You can find the love of your life and then they die.

Good things happen too.

And oftentimes what looks bad, a near disaster, can end up becoming good.

I just don’t want to give away any of the plot. I just want to say once again that this is a highly readable book, you can finish it in days, because you want to marinate in the world of the Zillers and find out what happens. “Bug Hollow” is an antidote to today’s troubled political landscape.

People will surprise you.

Actually, that’s what life is about.

What is that overused John Lennon quote?

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”

That’s utterly true. And “Bug Hollow” is a perfect example of that.

If you’re looking for a summer read, this is it. Not because it’s lowbrow genre fiction, but because it takes you away and is easy to read.

I just wish it continued.

There are other artists I love more than Billy Joel, but I’ve always respected his talent and craft.

Paul McCartney’s comment about Just The Way You Are—that it’s the song he most wishes he would have written—I swear I’ve heard him say the same thing about God Only Knows.

Billy was right, Just The Way You Are is schmaltzy, and as a working musician back in the day I often had to play it at weddings, and the whole band would roll their collective eyes.

But I’ve since come to understand that underneath the schmaltz is a very high level of song craft and musical integrity. Plus, we get one of the very best jazz solos on a pop song from the great Phil Woods.

Same with another schmaltzy gem from the era, How Deep Is Your Love … these are both really solid songs, kind of perfect in the same way an Irving Berlin song is. That’s why they became standards.

Of course, let it not go unsaid that from a musical standpoint, God Only Knows is several orders of inspired genius higher, but then again, as McCartney has also said, it is the greatest song ever written. Or one of the greatest, at least … gotta leave room for Wichita Lineman.

Fred Simon

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As a teenager I saw Billy Joel at the small Westchester Premier Theater in December 1976 on the Turnstiles tour. Cut school to go and buy tickets when they went on sale. He was amazing. Energetic. Wise-cracking. Smoking cigarettes between songs.  Jumped off stage and walked through the aisles singing. Great setlist and searing performances. I went to see him again in May 1977 in the field house at Rockland Community College.  Another stellar show. He premiered songs from The Stranger which hadn’t been released yet. The audience cheered for songs like Scenes from an Italian Restaurant which we’d never heard before.

He won me over then and I’ve been a fan ever since. Billy Joel is one of a kind and his music will endure.

Joe Moss

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Bob, two more tidbits about Billy Joel when he came into my office in 1972 seeking work:

1. At the bottom of his resume that I still have, he wrote “Would like to do good steady gigs with professional people, need MONEY.  Don’t call me unless you have a group together working and making money.  I’m not interested in jamming or f..king around”.  But a week later he came back in and crossed out the word “f..king” and replaced it with “messing”.  I’m sure he thought that maybe a prospective employer may read it and be offended by his cuss word.

2.  About a month later he came back in but now he was looking for other musicians for his band.  I think by this time he had gotten a gig at the Roman Knight in Pico Rivera or a lounge gig on Wilshire Blvd, which I may have gotten for him but I’ve never been sure.  Anyway, he was sitting at my counter looking thru the resumes of available players.  A working top 40 guitarist named Mike Shure was sitting next to him.  I overheard Billy asking Mike if he wanted to join his band.  “Is it paying?” Mike asked.  Billy said ” No, it’s my original thing”.  “Sorry, I’m not interested” was Mike’s response.

Sterling Howard, founder/owner
https://www.MusiciansContact.com

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I saw Billy Joel open for Pablo Cruise at the Berkeley Community Theater and knock them into the stratosphere. According to the recent Janis Ian American Masters documentary, the same thing happened to her. At that Berkeley gig, Billy had a priceless retort to a PC heckler, “Stand up and show us your white socks.” He absolutely killed.

2021, Sony released a live CD of a 1975 Great American Music Hall gig in San Francisco around the Streetlife Serenade album. It’s beautifully recorded and performed. Lots of between song banter. Apparently they had a truck outside rolling tape. Check it out.

Kent Zimmerman

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Glass Houses was my first album and it’s one of my favorites. Seen Billy countless times and love him. I get it – he’s not Springsteen, Dylan, or Paul, but who cares? His songs are great and as the documentary says (I think it was Elizabeth) something like, Billy can distill an emotion to a song so perfectly – he gets to the DNA of the emotion (paraphrasing).

All for Lenya – the yearning, the feeling, etc. is so powerful. Pick any song and he hits the nail on the head. People can make fun of him, but his songs have endured. I love all his albums, and yes, even The Bridge (Running on Ice, Matter of Trust, Big Man) and Storm Front and River of Dreams albums are still great to me.

“I really wish I was less of a thinking man and more a fool who’s not afraid of rejection…”

Nathan B

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Bob, I hated Billy Joel. “Piano Man” was all I knew – and it made my skin crawl. However, one winter while working in the frozen food dept at Kroger , I kept hearing “uptown girl” and “pressure” on the back loading dock. I started to buy his albums. I grew up 15 miles north of Nashville – my folks are session cats. My dad still plays steel on the Grand Ole Opry. My upbringing couldn’t have been further from Joel’s … but I know what all his songs are about. I just do. His music touched me even though I had never been to any of the places he sang about. Billy is one of the greats of all time. He transcends COOL. He’s the real working class hero – not Bruce. Sorry. Bruce is handsome – Billy ain’t. I saw Billy on the eve of my 30th birthday- 9/10/21. I treated myself to seats on the field – where the Reds play. The two people who sat next to me were a Mexican woman and her teenage son. They couldn’t speak a lick of English but they knew all the words to every song. THAT is what it’s all about. LONG LIVE BILLY JOEL.

Coley Hinson

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I’ve always felt that Billy Joel begat Bon Jovi as the so-called “rockers” of their respective generations — both appealing primarily to a female audience, yet possessing just enough rock sensibility to attract the types of guys into Barry Manilow and Nickelback. That said, Billy wrote Scenes From an Italian Restaurant. Wow. I take it all back. Wait. Ah I don’t know.

Cheers,

Jay Aymar

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When he (Billy Joel) is no longer on this mortal coil his natural life force will be fully appreciated with his voice/songs in the air forever more. That’s quite a life achievement.

I traveled from London to New York in December 2017 to see him perform to his locals at the Madison Square Garden just to hear 25’000 people singing his neighbor-hood songs with him. A true music moment in my life that has gone through all the street genres..

Eddie Gordon

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As Jim James recently said, there are two camps of people. Those who have seen Bruce Springsteen live and those who haven’t.

You could say the same about Billy Joel. And as the years have gone by and every emperor’s clothing has been revealed, it’s even more true. Seeing either artist live may not make you like their music too much more than when you went, but it will likely drive you to testify on their behalf if you are any kind of music fan.

Glass Houses was the first album I ever learned all the words to. Then Songs in the Attic. I was 12. Songs in the Attic may be the best live record of all time. Precisely because it managed to reveal so much in those songs that the records never did. Versus other great live albums that were mostly presenting amazing versions of songs that were already good on the OG records.

Bruce should be in a Billy documentary. As a kid growing up in New Jersey on the Asbury Park shore with cousins my same age growing up in Oyster Bay, I spent half my summers in Jersey and half on Long Island. As a teenager, it didn’t take me more than one week to figure out these dudes were living parallel lives. And that was only through the records. This is before I knew about their backstories about how they both went out to California to see if they could make it. They both had distant fathers. They both signed shi*ty deals with their first managers that they had to get out from under. They both almost got fired by Columbia after their second albums.

If they weren’t living their lives at exactly the same time, a cynic would think that one was invented precisely because the other was successful but the timelines overlap too much. Like we did a Jersey/Long Island version now let’s do the other!

Jeff Gorlechen

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In April of 1977, Billy Joel played a tiny theater at the University of Maryland, about fifty yards from my dorm. Out of the roughly thousand concerts I’ve seen, this one stands out as one of the most memorable. He just had that amazing “it factor” that’s hard to describe. The songs, the talent, the stage presence… all 600 of us in attendance knew we were witnessing a future superstar.

The show had the energy and arrangements that would later show up on “Songs From the Attic”… amped-up, rocking versions of what was then a more subdued catalog. Liberty DeVitto on drums was a huge part of that sound.

But what really stuck with me happened early in the set. At the time, “Piano Man” was pretty much his only hit, and even that was a relatively minor one. So he played it third. Before launching into it, he gave a hilarious speech about how most artists save their big hit for the end of the night, teasing it with drawn-out intros while the audience waits for the payoff. He said he preferred to just get it out of the way so we could all relax and enjoy the rest of the show. It was so cool, and so unpretentious.

Then “The Stranger” came out, and that was it. He was playing arenas, and I sort of lost interest. I didn’t want to see him jumping off pianos and playing to crowds who only knew the hits post-Turnstiles. Big mistake. I finally made it to one of the MSG shows years later, and it was incredible. Almost as good as that tiny theater in ’77.

Of course, there’s nothing quite like seeing a young artist on the rise, and I’m just grateful I got to experience that with Billy.

All the best,

Rich Madow
Baltimore, MD

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I disagree with your first sentence to not watch if you’re not a fan. I’m from Long Island but I was never a Joel fan and never bought any of his music.
The hits infiltrated my life. They were everywhere. ( even in the supermarket). When I tell people I’m not a fan, they can’t understand it. BUT, his youngest kids go to my grandkids’ school in Florida-haha, and I’ve gotten more curious about him in recent years, because of it. So I definitely wanted to watch the documentary and I’ve been enjoying it immensely Bob. To learn about a person‘s past, and to understand why certain songs were written is revelatory. When he explains about a song and then the doc shows it being played in the stadium, I got chills, because I know it, and now I understand it!

Thanks for your insight and opinions, though.  Joanne Schenendorf

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Bob, it’s so good!  I don’t think I would have watched it without your write-up.

Lizzz Kritzer

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Hi Bob,

After watching the recent documentary Billy Joel: And So It Goes, I was stunned by what was left out. Not small details, but entire chapters of Billy’s early career…chapters my father, Irwin Mazur, lived through and helped shape.

His name isn’t mentioned… though he’s clearly featured in key photographs used in the documentary

This isn’t about bitterness or nostalgia. It’s about truth. And truth shouldn’t be optional when we’re talking about the legacy of someone as important as Billy Joel.

I grew up in a house where the music business wasn’t just something people talked about, it was lived…every day. My father built his career with real hustle and vision. He wasn’t a hobbyist or someone hanging around the edges. He was Billy Joel’s first real manager. He started managing The Hassles in 1966 and helped guide Billy through the most formative years of his music career. These aren’t vague memories. They’re backed by photos, paperwork, recordings, and real history.

I’ve had a #1 record, toured the world, and worked in this business for decades. I know how easy it is for certain names to get erased when a story needs to be simplified. But when that name is your fathers and when you saw him do for you what he once did for Billy,  you can’t stay silent.

Let’s Get the Facts Straight

1966 – Billy Joel joins The Hassles

Irwin Mazur, age 24, has been managing The Hassles, the house band at My House, a Long Island rock club owned by my grandfather, Danny Mazur. The band is looking for a new keyboard player. Billy’s group, The Lost Souls, auditions for a spot at the venue. Instead of hiring the whole band, Irwin and The Hassles offer Billy the open position…along with a new Hammond B3 organ. He accepts. That’s how Billy officially becomes a member of The Hassles.

1967 – The Hassles and United Artists Records

Irwin secures a two-album deal with United Artists Records for The Hassles, an almost unheard of achievement for a young Long Island band with no national profile. The deal even includes an advance, a rare show of confidence from a major label at the time. Irwin is credited as the band’s official manager, and their self-titled debut album is released later that year.

1968 – Album Two

Hour of the Wolf is released. The Hassles’ second album comes out under the same United Artists deal. Irwin is still the manager, and credited as such.

1969 – The Hassles Split

The band breaks up, and Irwin continues managing Billy and Jon Small. Billy and drummer Jon Small form Attila, a heavy rock duo built around Billy’s organ and Jon’s drums. Irwin stays with them, managing the new project.

1970 – Attila and Epic Records

Irwin gets Attila a deal with Epic Records, with a significant advance. The album is released in July. It doesn’t do well commercially, but it’s a bold creative step for Billy.

1970–1971 – Downward Spiral

Attila ends, and Billy spirals.

After the album release, Jon finds out Billy is having an affair with his wife, Elizabeth. The band ends immediately. Billy enters a dark period …depressed, broke, and without direction, my parents give him a place to stay. During that time, Billy attempts suicide. He survives… Irwin gets him out of the hospital, remains by his side, and he slowly begins to rebuild.

1971 – A New Beginning

Irwin helps Billy start his solo career.

Still managing Billy, Irwin encourages him to regroup and write songs, his own songs…from the heart, with just piano and vocals.

1971 – Family Productions

After being turned down at nearly every record label in New York, Irwin is visiting his brother Ruby at Paramount Records, where he works as an art director. While they’re playing Billy’s demo in Ruby’s office, the door is wide open. Michael Lang (music business icon and promoter of Woodstock) pokes his head in. He says it’s not really his style but believes Artie Ripp at Family Productions would love it and makes the introduction.

Artie Ripp, who had an imprint/distribution deal through Paramount, hears the tape and makes an offer to sign Billy Joel as a solo artist.

That leads to the release of his first solo album, Cold Spring Harbor. Again, Irwin Mazur is credited as manager and executive producer. Unfortunately, the mastering is botched, causing the final product to play faster than intended—but the songs show early brilliance. It’s Billy’s first solo album.

1971–1972 – A Breakthrough

At Irwin’s request, Family Productions funds tour support to put Billy on the road to promote the album. Billy is sent on a nearly year-long tour. The turning point comes in April 1972, when Billy plays the Mar Y Sol Pop Festival in Puerto Rico. He delivers a breakthrough performance that puts him on the radar.

1972 – Leveling Up

Following Mar Y Sol, Columbia Records’ A&R department contacts Irwin to set up a call with Clive Davis. Clive expresses interest in bringing Billy to Columbia and says he wants to see him perform live. A showcase is scheduled at the iconic Troubadour in Los Angeles.

1972 – Blindsided

With no explanation, Irwin is fired before the Troubadour show.

After six years guiding Billy from a local club band to the edge of global success… that was it.

What Deserves to Be Remembered

My dad never chased the spotlight. He wasn’t in it for fame or credit. But he was there, every step of the way. He managed. He booked the shows. He bought the gear. He fought for Billy when no one else did. He gave him a place to stay, a path forward, and a belief that never wavered.

I’m not here to rewrite anyone’s legacy. I just felt that, as his son, I had to speak up. The truth matters. and this is the truth.

Bob, if you feel this is worth sharing with your readers, please feel free.

Sincerely,

Bret “Epic” Mazur

P.S. Just realized I never actually said this—my dad, Irwin Mazur, is very much alive!

He’s 83 now, still sharp, and still remembers every detail of those early days with Billy. In fact, he just attended The Hassles’ induction into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame this past June. This wasn’t meant as a eulogy, just a moment where I felt it was time to speak up for someone who deserves to be remembered while he’s here to see it.

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My family (on my father’s side) ARE the original/founding Hicks’ of Hicksville.  Robert Hicks, a leathergoods merchant, arrived in 1622 on the “Fortune”, the sister ship to the Mayflower.   His progeny (specifically Valentine Hicks and Elias Hicks) would eventually move to Long Island and found the town of Hicksville where Billy Joel grew up.

I’m “Robert L Hicks”, the namesake of the original Hicks.  On my maternal side are the Smiths, who founded Smithtown on Long Island.  If anyone goes ‘way back’ on the Island, it’s me and my family!   :-).    We were the early settlers and first founders there.

R. Lance Hicks

Well written Bob.

I feel very privileged to have worked with Ozzy .First at Virgin Music Publishing and then when I was brought in to run Epic Associated by Tommy Mottola. I hired Michael Goldstone to be my AnR guy and asked him to work with Ozzy on his next album.

No More Tears!

Goldie was brilliant.

Ozzy was a God. I loved the man and was overcome by how sad I was last night when I heard the news.

You’re right about Sharon. One of the all time great managers.

The world needs more characters like Ozzy Osbourne.

He was a superstar.

I shall miss him a lot.

Richard Griffiths

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I’m in Amalfi, Italy on vacation with my wife, at dinner, when a friend texted me the news. It took me back to being a teenager in the ’70’s, hearing the riffs like Iron Man, and diving headfirst into his first solo album And discovering the genius of Randy Rhoads! Saw the Diary of a Madman tour in Phoenix at the Coliseum on January 1, 1982, just short of being able to drive. It was spectacle and rock and rock magic with Ozzy as the ringmaster. And later I saw Black Sabbath on the tour they did around 2015, with my wife and two oldest, who were around the same age I was when I first saw him in the early ’80’s. They had found Black Sabbath and Ozzy too.. How cool?!

Love this quote: “I’m not the Antichrist. I’m just a guy from Birmingham who got lucky.” And of course we all know luck is when preparation meets opportunity. He took opportunity head on through his career.

Cheers to Ozzy and all he gave us! I will be cranking some Sabbath today in the Italian riviera and toasty the great music.

Neal Bookspan

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The scene in Spheeris Decline of Western Civilization – Nuff said: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMbc54zJcE2/?igsh=YnVyM2Z0YXBpNHhu

Luke Joerger

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Oh, that Ozzy was quite a character.
Case in point.
Back in 82 or 83, our illustrious Program Director, Ms Sam Bellamy, arranged (along with Epic Records) for the KMET staff to go up to Sharon and Ozzy’s home to listen to, and preview, his forthcoming album—can’t remember which record it was, maybe a live one (?).  This was a week or so before its release.  Anyway, a bunch of us drove up to their home somewhere in the hills above Beverly Hills.  Very nice pad, of course.  So we all got up there for lunch and beverages.  Sharon was the gracious host and Ozzy kinda bounced in and out of their living room while we all hung out and listened.  After it was over and we all bade farewell, we headed out to their driveway, only to discover that all of our cars had flat tires.  Turned out that Ozzy had snuck outside and let the air out of our tires.
Sly.  Mischievous.

Hugh Surratt

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RIP Ozzy.  End of an era.

Kim Kay

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Grateful for your insights at this very sad time for music and for the world. We were all misfits and Ozzy was truly one of us. Will miss him forever.

Flo Kaczorowski

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After the final concert, I listened to the first two Sabbath albums. I bought them when they came out, during high school, based on seeing the first album cover. What jumped out most was Ozzy’s singing and the lyric writing. Ozzy was nailing it. No pitch correction, obviously, and no huge effects, etc. It’s undeniable, totally authentic and sits right in front of that heavy-weight band. Not as easy as it looks. And…creating a whole new genre of Rock, as well! As James Hetfield said, without Black Sabbath there would be no Metallica. The fact that one of the biggest touring acts of 2025 draws a line directly back to Ozzy says it all. R.I.P.

Robert Bond

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Ozzie was the Rodney Dangerfield of the Dark Side.

He was not only the inspiration for many new artists but he used Ozzfest to create a platform for them to play to large crowds. Just like the Dangerfield Club in NY introduced new comedians

You could see the excitement backstage of the early bill acts when they got to the venue…..and how they practically venerated Ozzie. Some came back to headline.  I

think Ozzie saw himself as the man behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz. He never took himself too seriously but he had a mission and vision.

Tom Rooney

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Gotta say I’m with you on your take Bob..Of all the Ozzy records through the years , No More Tears was the first one to make me go ‘whoa , listen to THAT ‘ ..Very ‘modern’ production yet still HEAVY..It had depth both musically and from a production standpoint with infectious hooks without compromising ‘the heavy’ .It was a musical statement pure and simple.

That Ozzy could not only evolve but TRIUMPH..Duane Baron and John Purdell were quite the sought after production duo in those days.Duane is brilliant engineer (I learned how to record guitars apprenticing for him for a time) and John Purdell was a musical tour de force with brilliant ideas (may he rest in peace) I circled back to the earlier stuff and came to absolutely love tracks like ‘Flying high Again’ and ‘Mr. Crowley’ but No More Tears was the record that REALLY grabbed me and wouldn’t let go …A Metal Masterpiece…Yeah we lost a GIANT yesterday , I doubt we’ll ever see another like him again (not in our lifetime anyway )

Long live the price of darkness !

Warmest Regards
Brett Chassen

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Summer of ’71, at a lake cabin in the middle-of-nowhere Iowa, that only country stations could reach, my friends and I had two albums to fill our heads, Paranoid and Led Zeppelin III. Zeppelin was fine, but nothing hit our 14-year-old heads like War Pigs and the title track.

Fast forward 10 years, and I’m hitchhiking south from London to Plymouth to catch a ferry over to the Isle of Wight (If it’s not too dear), and the artist who did the cover  for LZ III, Zacron, picks me up in a van with his 2-year-old daughter in tow, and took me all the way to the docks, the whole while regaling  me with his tales of the London scene past…Clapton, Page, Mayall, and the like. His last tidbit was that he had approached Ozzie to do some cover work, and even though they hit it off, Ozzie declared Zacron’s art “too pretty” and that ended there.

A year later, I’m back in Iowa, and on a whim, I scored a ticket for Ozzie’s show at Des Moines’ Vet’s Auditorium, an acoustic barn of a building where I’d seen numerous acts over the years and bore witness to the bat beheading incident that more or less put Des Moines on the map.  T. Joseph Wilson

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I never got deep into metal music, just a dabbling.  But I’ll always have a soft spot for Ozzy because on the way to the hospital to deliver my child, the last song I heard on the radio was “Mama, I’m Coming Home.”

Rest in peace, Ozzy. Sorry your body gave out when you had more of you to share.
– Mary Holland

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What a loss. Musically, Black Sabbath and Ozzy’s solo work are undeniable. He touched so many people. Once the curtain was peeled back on “The Osbournes,” he became someone people rooted for. He seemed like a genuinely lovely guy and a loving father. The respect he received from all those great artists at “Back To The Beginning” was incredible to see.

A cool story: My dad went to the University of Miami and saw Black Sabbath perform live on October 31, 1970. It was the Paranoid Tour and they opened for Canned Heat. Imagine hearing all those songs live at this early stage of their career?!

Two of my father’s favorite artists are Brian Wilson and Ozzy Osbourne. He’s close in age to both of them, so their passing hit especially hard for him and me.

Best

Justin Kleinfeld

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I met Ozzy a few years ago and told him my first concert was his in 1986 and “I was never the same”. He replied “me neither”.

Lou Smith

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Black Sabbath was my first concert, August 5th, 1975, at the Asbury Park Convention Hall.   I was 16 years old, and begged my parents to buy tickets and drive my brother, my best friend and me to the concert from Queens.  They did.

I’d discovered Sabbath in ’73, watching the California Jam on ABC.  Children of the Grave, War Pigs, and I was slain.  I had a new favorite band.   Loved the dark tuned down guitars, loved how they lined up without fuss across the stage, with the lead singer stage left.  Ozzy Osbourne was not featured, he was one of four, clinging to the mic and singing mad tales of woe.  And he seemed to care about the people he was singing to.

It was not cool to be a Sabbath fan in high school.  But I wore my Sabbath t-shirt regularly, and those few of us who were fans found each other.

The hall in Asbury Park held about five thousand people standing on the floor, no seats.  My bestie and brother and I pushed up to about ten people back from the stage, with no idea what to expect…our first concert.  We took in the wall of amps…none of these props…Tony Iommi playing through three stacks, Geezer Butler through four.   The house lights went down, but not the stage lights as Ozzy (26 years old) walked out, peace signs flying.  The band walked into position without fuss, and opened with Killing Yourself to Live.

The sound of Black Sabbath live, point blank, has no equal.   Ozzy appeared to be as blown away by their sound as we five thousand were.  Sabbath roared!

In between each song Ozzy would either A: introduce the next tune, B: say “I want to see you move!” or C:  tell us how much he and the band loved us.

By the time the concert ended I was a new person, happily warped by the power and the vibe.  As Ozzy walked off the stage he grabbed a handful of carnations (Ward’s drums were covered with carnations) and threw them into the audience.   I caught one, brought it home and pressed it into my teenage scrapbook.  I have it still.

Would go on to see the band again several times.   Years later working at MTV I was once in a room when Ozzy came in.  He was such a wasted mess that I chose to not to meet him.  I had my concert memories.

I’m so happy he got to perform with Black Sabbath one last time. That he got to feel the love of his legions of fans. That he got to shake the earth and move hearts one more time.

Michael Alex

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Good Morning Bob,

I felt the same way yesterday when I found out that Ozzy was dead.  Disbelief.  I started counting back to how many days ago the concert took place.  Unreal.

I got into Ozzy during the No More Tears album as well, then started working my way back, but I was only about 14 at the time.  Had the cassette, then traded it in for the CD a couple years later.  I still think it’s his best album, by a wide margin.  Still play it today, and still love it.

I saw him live a few times and always chuckled at how he seemed to use the first 3 songs of the show to warm up his voice, instead of actually spending a few minutes warming up PRIOR to going on stage.  As you said, he just didn’t care.  And we always got a great show anyway.

RIP Prince of Darkness

Tim W
in Calgary

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Correct again, Bob! Let’s be honest: if you say you love Ozzy Osbourne but don’t know No More Tears — the album — you don’t know Ozzy. This wasn’t just a comeback. This was a full-blown resurrection, with Zakk Wylde summoning some kind of holy fire and Ozzy delivering the greatest music of his life. Every track is a monster. A 10 out of 10. A god-tier, A+ rock record. If Blizzard Of Ozz made him a solo star, No More Tears made him eternal. Black Sabbath was the blueprint — perhaps they “invented” heavy metal, and sure, the cool kids say they listen to Sabbath, but come on. Most people don’t. They were always the outsiders. But this. This is THE album. “I Don’t Want To Change The World,“ “Desire,” “Mr. Tinkertrain,” “Hellraiser,” “Road To Nowhere,” and of course that absolutely iconic title track — with its bassline and guitar solos that could level buildings. And then Ozzy at his tenderest on “Time After Time” and “Mama, I’m Coming Home.” This is Ozzy at full power, fully himself, and totally unbothered by the rules. The last gasp of MTV-era hard rock before grunge took over. It’s dangerous. It’s beautiful. It’s unforgettable. Ozzy Osbourne lived louder and longer than anyone ever expected, and No More Tears is the crown jewel. If you’ve never heard it front to back, tonight’s the night. RIP to the Prince Of Darkness. Loved by so many, matched by none. 

Josh Valentine

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Thank you Bob.  Recall seeing Black Sabbath when they co-headlined with Blue Oyster Cult—the Black and Blue tour. Then saw Ozzy with the electrifying Randy Rhoads for Diary of a Madman which was exhilarating. Both concerts contributed to a personal musical narrative that last today.  My ears went a different direction since but there was a yearning to fly for the final show which wasn’t possible so attended in spirit and through the many videos.  To think back now on how thrilled he must have been planning and leading up and the short time that followed, and what might have been had the timing been different, it’s unfathomably poetic and beautifully touching…huzzah to his last hurrah.

Steve Traxler

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I grew up during Ozzy’s solo career. Never got into Sabbath, but loved Ozzy’s solo music. Unlike country music, hard rock is splintered into many sub genres which unfortunately tend to compete with each other. One thing everyone seemed to agree on was Ozzy. His personality, his legend and more importantly his music transcended all of it.

I was oddly at a water park yesterday, enjoying a vacation day with my son when the alert came across my phone. Amid all the chaos of an amusement park, everything went silent as I took in the reality. I loved Ozzy, but as a teen I gravitated toward other musicians as my idols. Yet, for a few minutes I was caught off guard by the news. Even more strange, two weeks ago during the farewell concert I said to my wife, “It’s almost like the family knows he’s going to die soon, beyond what the public knows.” And, if we’re being honest, Ozzy’s lifestyle should have killed him decades ago. Living this long might be his greatest accomplishment.

His music will indeed live. As many of these legacy acts from the 70’s and 80’s have aged to the point that people are criticizing their performances and use of backing tracks I keep saying the same thing, “Once these guys are gone, they’re gone.” And maybe that’s part of the reason his death weighs so heavy. It’s a sign that the end is near for a ton of talent that we’ve all enjoyed and quite honestly, taken for granted.

Neil Johnson

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While anyone who saw Ozzy in recent years could readily see that he wasn’t well, I nonetheless never conceived of a world that didn’t include him.  I first saw him live in April 1986 at New Haven Coliseum, on his Ultimate Sin tour, with Metallica opening in support of Master of Puppets.  For a 13-year-old metalhead, that show was pure, unforgettable euphoria.  That 13-year-old looked up to a very select and sacred few—Ozzy, Lemmy and Ronnie—as the pantheon of the world of metal, who seemed like they would forever be there.  With Ozzy’s passing yesterday, the world lost a musical—and more importantly a cultural and human—legend, and we lost the final god from that pantheon, leaving a music world that’s now strangely unrecognizable to so many of us.

 

With all of the ickiness in the world, I dearly hope that those who are now the elder statespeople of metal will recognize the opportunity that Ozzy’s passing has presented to pick up the mantle, in honor of that great man, and lead us forward.  The metal genre has long been crucially and beautifully important to such a wonderful community among us, and these times, perhaps more than ever, call for metal to provide what it has long provided, which is a safe sanctuary that feeds the soul.

 

If there’s an afterlife, I have to believe that Ozzy is now performing with Randy Rhoads, Randy Castillo (his drummer on that Ultimate Sin album and tour) and countless other souls whose lives were blessed by what Ozzy gave to the world.

 

Rest in well-deserved peace, Ozzy.  You’ll be sorely missed.

 

Michael Rexford

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We all come to the music in our own way, via our own entry point. Once you connect, you CONNECT, and that’s that. In the fall of 1982, I actually asked my jazz-loving audiophile grandfather to take me to one of the record stores in the Baltimore area (probably the one in the Towson mall at the time) to buy Diary of a Madman on vinyl since I already had and loved Blizzard of Ozz — and he trusted my passion for the music and how I was able to articulate it to him to let me do so. I’ve never forgotten that.

Many years later, when I had the honor of sitting down with Ozzy in person at Sony’s then-HQ in New York City a decade-and-a-half ago on May 20, 2010, he told me the secret to his and Sabbath’s success: “The Beatles gave me the gift of melody, you know. You’ll hear The Beatles in a lot of other things of mine. They had great harmonies, great melodies. I’ve met McCartney a few times, and he’s a f*cking great guy. I have such great respect.”

Ozzy also freely admitted to me that (and you may have heard him say this first part before, but still!), “I wanted to be in The Beatles, and I always got a great feeling listening to them.” Then he added the kicker: “I can remember walking around the streets of Birmingham, proud, with a Beatles record sleeve under my arm. I bought those Beatles boots, and one of those cheap wigs [laughs]. It wasn’t even hair — it was a plastic f*cking cap. I had it all, man.”

You sure as f*ck did, John Michael.

Mike Mettler

Editor, Analog Planet

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“Isn’t this f*cking great?!” – Everything. Right there.

And, for the record, in England ‘69-‘70…’Paranoid’, ‘Deep Purple In Rock’, and LZII were all on the same level in our heads and hearts. It was all “heavy metal” to we 14 year-olds…and it was f*cking fantastic.

Hugo Burnhan

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So sorry for you that you didn’t get it back in the day. Big miss.

Mid-70s Sabbath was unbelievable! Nothing else like it. So powerful. So weird. Hard charging and spooky at the same time!

Plus, Tony Iommi paying with fake fingers and Ozzy being this tortured soul out of a Vincent Price movie, and the bass player (and chief writer) was named GEEZER! In the US we didn’t know that nickname. It just sounded wicked and fun.

Ah man. Sabbath…the best. We silk-screened our own T-shirts with the logo from Master of Reality in art class.

All hail Ozzy. What a possessed soul and one-in-a-million talent.

Love to his family.

Paul Gigante

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Like you Bob I was no big Ozzy fan until No More Tears. Zakk was brilliant but the song arrangement and production was almost George Martin-like.

A year later Steve Miller took four years off (and it wasn’t because of the weather!) and I found myself working at GC Hollywood in Artist Relations and helping Dave Weiderman do the Rock Walk inductions.

We inducted Randy Rhodes posthumously and Sharon and Ozzy were there with Zakk.

We snacked on Swedish meatballs and shot the sh*t. Nice people. Ozzy was a perfect gentleman. Of course he adored Randy and was on best behavior.

He is gone now but there will always be No More Tears playing on space stations along with The Joker in the near future.

RIP the harbinger of bohemian Goth Metal and new paradigm creator, Ozzy.

Kenny Lee Lewis

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When my son entered middle school in 2017, the curriculum required that he either join the chorus, or learn an instrument. He couldn’t decide, so we picked clarinet for him. I watched as he learned how to read music, and play simple songs, like “Mary Had a Little Lamb”.

At the parent-teacher conference, I ask the music teacher how he’s doing. She tells me that while everyone else is whetting their reeds and warming up, he’s playing the riff from “Iron Man”, a record we don’t own.

When I get home, I ask how he knows this song. He tells me that it’s in one of his video games. I tell him that his uncle is really into Sabbath, so he takes out clarinet and plays the riff over the phone for him. Uncle cracks up.

Stuart Taubel

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Great read. Thank you for sharing.

He meant so much to so many music fans.

I’m still buzzing from attending the last show in Birmingham. Tickets went onsale at around 10am England time, so around 2am my time. My alarm went off and I lay in bed, fumbling with my phone in the dark, blurry eyed, frantically tapping around the Ticketmaster app until I had a pair of tickets in my cart. Couldn’t believe it.

So my buddy and I booked flights from the States to London and train tickets to Birmingham. Having never been across the pond, it was a leap of faith, but I felt I had to make it there one way or another.

Arriving in Birmingham was such a wild feeling. There was so much joy in the city as we were surrounded by thousands of other metal heads. The city fully embraced all of us. They handed out free tri-folds at the train center listing all of the historic Black Sabbath attractions to visit while we were in town!

The show itself was, and I don’t say this lightly, the single greatest live music event I have ever attended. And I’ve been to a lot. Tom Morello crushed it, gathering all the acts and coordinating who played what with who and when.

The production team was also awesome. They had a rotating stage, so there were only about 10min between each band. It was all super smooth. If you went to the bathroom or to get a beer, you missed something epic. (It was the beer line that made me miss Steven Tyler’s first two songs!) It was 10hrs of incredible metal bands honoring the originators.

And seeing Ozzy, you could tell he was overjoyed to be back on stage. We all wept during ‘Mama, I’m Coming Home’. So many emotions. You could feel that we all knew the end was near. (I had no idea it would be THIS near.) But there we all were. Together. Singing our collective hearts out. Celebrating all that he has given us.

I’m so grateful I didn’t sleep through that alarm.

Adam L

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Long live The Prince of Darkness!!

I only got to see him live once about 8 years ago but he was amazing. Still jumping all over the stage like a maniac. I’m glad I got to be in the same room as him, even if it was only once. How lucky are we to have existed at the same time as Ozzy f*ckin’ Osbourne right?!?!

I got to spend a couple days with Sharon back when she was on the celebrity apprentice. They used the studio I worked at to make radio jingles for one of their “challenges” and I was the engineer that worked with her team. She was a sweetheart and she told some really amazing stories about Ozzy in the downtime and I’m so lucky to have been privy to that.

Ozzy will leave a massive void in this world but his legacy will live on forever and we’re all better off because of his music.

Beautiful tribute Bob!

Rob DiFondi

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I was a young product manager for Epic in Finland when No More Tears landed in September 1991.

Grunge was about to sweep in like wildfire, making much of 80s metal sound ridiculous almost overnight. But Ozzy? He was untouchable.

This became his biggest solo album—and for good reason. Behind the production were incredible pop sensibilities, yet Ozzy was never syrupy or pretentious. He could sing the sweetest melody (Mama, I’m Coming Home) and still sound authentic. His voice carried rawness, honesty and vulnerability that connected across genres and eras.

Best regards,

Aku Valta,

Sydney, Australia

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His duet with Lita Ford, Close My Eyes Forever, was insanely awesome. Haunting and beautiful. When he comes in you get chills. This was the power of the Prince of Darkness. Now his eyes are closed forever. RIP. Onward!

Etan G

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Iron Man was the first song that I recorded on my “Easy Listening” 8-track tape recorder for my car.

Memories……

Thank you fir sharing yours, Bob….

Marshall

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On Zep and Sabbath in the early 70s:

We loved ‘em both with all our hearts, but crucially for our teen rock band in ‘72, ‘Paranoid’ was a lot easier (on the face of it at least) to play than ‘Black Dog’ and literally EVERY young band covered it.
It was very easy to understand – and capture – the ESSENCE, even as a distinctly average 14 year old guitarist.
And that playability should not be underestimated.

Long live Rock ‘n Roll!

Simon Toulson-Clarke

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You’ve always been more of a lyrics/words guy when it comes to music it seems, and I love that you have an appreciation for Ozzy and it kind of seems for Black Sabbath as well, although not as much, but I hope you realize that Ozzy very rarely wrote any of his lyrics, especially in Sabbath, and his vocal melodies often just followed the melodic lines of the guitar.

He was blessed to work with many great musicians in his career but there was absolutely nothing like the power and genius of the original Black Sabbath. Incredibly talented musicians… Bill Ward with some amazing jazz chops and fills, Geezer playing truly incredible baselines and writing most of the lyrics, and then there is the mountain moving thunder and absolute genius of Tony Iommi. I’ve seen Sabbath multiple times over the years and never in my life have I heard a guitar sound like he is able to achieve. Truly nothing else like it. And aside from being a genius when it comes to riffs, songwriting and arrangement, he is a truly underrated lead player as well.

A very sad day to lose a legend like Ozzy, but so many of us musicians will be absolutely devastated and even more heartbroken when we lose Tony, Geezer, or Bill. Anyways, just my thoughts on the matter…. I have loved your writing for many years Bob, and especially on politics and modern society. Take care and thank you for what you do….

David Resch

working musician/ guitarist

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You are going to get a zillion responses to this however I have to add two quick stories:

1) In the 80’s I waited two hours outside the backstage door as a teen and he stumbled out and I caught his eye holding up an album and a marker and I politely asked him to sign it and ha said “OH I’ll sign the whole f*cking cover and ruin it” Still have it

2) Years later negotiating with Sharon to have a band on OZZFEST and we were going back and forth for a bit and I hear this voice in the background that we are all familiar with now “SHARON!! IT’S ON 2k quid. BOOK IT.

LOL

He was my John Lennon

Alan Stewart

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This iconic figure remains unforgettable for his daring spirit — he bit the head off of a live bat on stage. I had the incredible honor of inviting Ozzy to the first anniversary celebration of Pirate Radio in LA in 1990. In 1996, I connected with his wife and manager, Sharon Osbourne, to capture the electrifying energy of his concert in Lubbock, Texas. Although we faced challenges with the initial footage due to Ozzy’s “enthusiastic” antics and “difficult” acoustics, Sharon’s “generosity” in providing an alternative recording from Jones Beach, New York, allowed us to share the magic of that unforgettable show on PBS On Tour. Rest in peace Ozzy, the Crazy Train has come to the end of the line. Yup, I had a hand in putting Ozzy on PBS!

Rob Tonkin

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Not gonna lie, I got a little choked up hearing about your nephew. It’s those little moments of connection that you remember all your life, and glad you got to be the first to rock out with him!

I moonlight fairly often as a substitute guitar teacher, gotta put that Berklee degree to work somehow (?) and I’m continually amazed at what the kids bring in to learn.

Just last week an 11-yr old came in with a kickass pointy axe (the kind I started on, and then would ridicule later on in life, and now am collecting) and busted out Crazy Train, and we spent a whole lesson helping him tune it up and play it a little cleaner. I asked him how he knew it, did his dad or mom play it for him. Nope. Tiktok.

His parents laugh that somehow they have a budding young metal-head, and they are tickled about it, but he didn’t get it from them!

Good enough for me, later today we’ll be working on the slow harmony solo section of Master Of Puppets! Or maybe we’ll do a little more Ozzy for our own little tribute.

Rock on Bob!

Dan Millen

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Listen to what he did with Bryan Adams’ producer Jim Vallance:

This is the demo that blows the final version (done by Moby) out of the water.  Even Mike Judge knew it and used this version in the first Beavis and Butthead movie.

Here are Ozzy’s comments from the box set liner notes:

“This is another great song where I actually preferred the demo.  I hated the version that I recorded with Moby.  So did the Beavis and Butthead people.  Although the Moby-produced track is on the “Beavis and Butthead Do America” soundtrack album, this version (the demo) is the one heard in the movie”.

Listen to his vocals.  Listen to the harmonies.  All instrument played by Jim.

Just bad ass.

Track sheet from the session here:
http://www.jimvallance.com/01-music-folder/songs-folder-may-27/pg-song-osbourne-ozzy-walk.html

Not supposed to tell people, but the artist I worked with did an AA meeting with Ozzy at the old Key Club on Sunset. A the time everyone though Ozzy was helpless old fool on the Osbourne show.  Naw man.  Sharp and walked normal.

Just like Vallance states in this interview:

Should start at 11:19
where he talks about how intelligent he was.

More at 16:15
Ozzy was just a great guy to be around.

You really got to publish this.. people need to know this side of him.

wam

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I was on my way into work for my afternoon shift when I got a text from my 14-year-old son. I was shocked. At first it said “Izzy died” and I was stunned. I’ve always been a massive Izzy Stradlin fan and enjoy all his post Guns N’ Roses solo catalog even though it’s never gotten traction in the mainstream whatsoever beyond his first solo outing with the Juju Hounds(And don’t get me started calling the current  Guns N’ Roses a reunion when Izzy’s not there!)

Well, it turns out with the I and the O next to each other on a keypad he realized he misspelled it and immediately followed up with “Ozzy died”. Now I wasn’t shocked, I was sad and wistful. At least he got to say goodbye in a massive way only three weeks earlier.

I’m like you, in that as a young kid and a teenager in the late 80s & entering the 90s,  I was aware of Ozzy and some of his songs, but didn’t consider myself more than a passing casual fan. Never bought any of his albums, but if one of his songs came on the radio, I wouldn’t turn it off and actually crank it up.

Then I heard the song, No More Tears as an 16 year old just learning to play guitar  and just as you described,  between that ominous  bass and those guitars(MY GOD THAT GUITAR TONE! As heavy as Metallica, but yet more tuneful!) along with Ozzy’s voice, I knew I needed to buy the record!

Right from the first song I was hooked. Mr. Tinkertrain was no hard rock or metal romp. It was as serious as a heart attack! And then one song after another, it just never seemed to stop! Each song was amazing in its own right. Not a bad or weak song on the entire album. Any other band or solo act would kill for two songs of that level of quality and flesh out some filler on an album, three or four maybe if they were really lucky. But here is Ozzy, some would argue mid to late stage of his career, seemingly on a downward slope, and he just blows the barn doors open and releases one of the greatest albums in hard rock and heavy metal!

And I’ll agree with you, all his subsequent releases were never as great as No More Tears, but they were fantastic and I’d argue far more consistent on the back half of his career(maybe not Scream. I still just can’t dig that album), than his solo catalog before No More Tears, save of course, for his debut Blizzard of Ozz.

Ozzy was one of a kind and I’m just lucky to have been alive when one of the greats, who will be discussed and dissected for decades to come because of his musical and cultural impact!

Rest in peace John Michael “Ozzy” Osbourne.

Michael Moniz

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Bob!

Ozzy Osbourne, a Legend, and a Gentleman

It is a privilege to be one of the few record producers who have had the chance to write and produce with the one and only Ozzy Osbourne. Working on his 2001 album Down to Earth was an incredible opportunity, not just because of his iconic status, but also because of the man I discovered BEHIND his “Prince of Darkness” persona.

When you meet Ozzy, you quickly realize he’s far from the dark, menacing figure the media often portrayed him. Instead, you find a kind, fun loving, and genuine gentleman..a Dad and friend with a wicked sense of humor. As we worked together, I felt a responsibility to protect this side of him, as the public still saw him through the lens of a dark lord. That all changed when The Osbournesreality show hit TV screens shortly after we finished the album. Suddenly, the world saw what I had witnessed in the studio, which was a warm, relatable guy who happened to be one of rocks most iconic vocalists

Being fellow Brits, Ozzy and I bonded over a shared love for classic English TV humour, Monty Python, Benny Hill, and Tommy Cooper were frequent topics of discussion.

One story that still makes me laugh…A friend from England called me, amazed by a news report claiming Ozzy was passionate about gardening that he had floodlights installed to tend his garden at night. ‘Gardening ! I asked Ozz about it and he laughed and confessed it wasn’t about gardening at all. Sharon, his wife, was trying to get him to cut back on the booze, so Ozzy had buried bottles of vodka around his garden. Under the guise of “gardening” at night, he’d dig around hunting for his hidden stash.

In the studio, Ozzy’s ability as a vocalist was clear. His voice is one of the most instantly recognizable in rock history, and that really sets him apart to be honest. At his request, we triple-tracked his voice, and watching it come together was magical. After the second track, it sounded great, but it was the third layer that brought the magic. The subtle chorusing between the takes created that unmistakable Ozzy sound that fans know and love.

Getting Ozzy back into the studio for Down to Earth wasn’t easy as he was initially hesitant about making another album. After quite a bit of coaxing I got him back in the studio and tried to make it as fun as possible. On that album he sung for the first time in the control room (or so he told me) It really seemed to take the pressure from him and make the whole experience more easygoing.

One of my favs that we recorded was “Dreamer,” a song written by Mick Jones of Foreigner and Marty Frederiksen. Ozzy wanted it to be his personal tribute to John Lennon’s Imagine. As a lifelong Beatles fan, Ozzy poured his heart into it and it was a departure from his usual heavy rock sound. I’m incredibly proud of how it turned out, I even got to sing backing vocals on it..and it’s now Ozzy’s most-played solo song on YouTube at 126 million views.

Working with Ozzy was a joy and a laugh, he was talented and also generous. I know, hundreds of stories of songwriters that are ripped off by the main artist if their song gets covered. When I finished the songs that I had written with Ozz, he was adamant that it would be a 50-50 split. I think that’s rare and is also a reflection of his fairness ..

As I look back, I am grateful.

Good night, Ozzy. Thank you for the music, the memories, and the laughter. Godspeed Ozzy Osbourne.

Cheers,

Tim Palmer