Blizzard of Ozz is the debut studio album by English heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne, released on 12 September 1980 in the UK and on 27 March 1981 in the US. The album was Osbourne’s first release following his firing from Black Sabbath in 1979. Blizzard of Ozz is the first of two studio albums Osbourne recorded with guitarist Randy Rhoads prior to Rhoads’ death in 1982. In 2017, it was ranked 9th on Rolling Stone‘s list of “100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time”. It was #27 on the US Billboard 200 but #7 in the UK and #8 in Canada.
The album opener starts of with a bang – Randy’s racing riff from I Don’t Know is still one of the best. Lyrically it’s about the crossroads, possibly a trying time for humanity and what’s gonna happen in the future. Crazy Train is the debut solo single by English heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne, released in 1980. The lyrics deal with the subject of the Cold War and the fear of annihilation that existed during that period. The guitar solos and playing on songs like this made Randy the legend that he is still know as today. The single reached No. 49 on the United Kingdom singles chart in 1980. In the United States, the song reached No. 9 on the Billboard Top Tracks chart.
Goodbye to Romance, a ballad, is the next track and the first that Ozzy wrote with Randy. Osbourne has said that the song was his way of saying farewell to his former band Black Sabbath. Dee is a short 50 second acoustic instrumental. Suicide Solution was about the alcohol-related death of AC/DC’s Bon Scott in 1980 according to Ozzy, but Bob Daisley revealed in 2002 that he had Osbourne himself in mind when he wrote the lyrics. On 1 November 1985, a lawsuit against Osbourne and CBS Records was filed by the parents of John Daniel McCollum, a 19-year-old who took his own life in Riverside, California on 27 October 1984 allegedly after listening to the song. The plaintiffs failed to win the case.
Then we have my favourite song of Ozzy’s – Mr. Crowley is a song about English occultist Aleister Crowley. Written by Osbourne, guitarist Randy Rhoads and bass guitarist/lyricist Bob Daisley, it starts off with an eerie keyboard solo by Don Airey the song features two insanely amazing guitar solos by Rhodes. It was inspired by Aleister Crowley’s book Diary of a Drug Fiend that Osbourne had read. It was ranked 28th best guitar solo by the readers of Guitar World in 2011. The song was ranked the 23rd greatest heavy metal song of all time, according to a poll by Gibson. Initially meant to be a B side release, No Bone Movies was added to the album. Lyrically it seems to be about the obsession with porn films!
Revelation (Mother Earth) is a plea for the earth, our mother as the atrocities that humans do is taking a toll on her. The album ends with the more rockier Steal Away (The Night) that has that early 80s vibe. Lyrically it’s about boy meets girl and asking her to run away with him so they can have some fun. was controversially re-released in 2002 with the original bass and drum tracks replaced by newly recorded parts from bassist Robert Trujillo and drummer Mike Bordin; however, the original bass and drum tracks were reinstated for the 2011 release due to public outcry.On September 18, 2020, Osbourne released an expanded edition of Blizzard of Ozz including the bonus tracks and outtakes included on previous reissues (i.e. the 2002 reissue and the 2011 expanded edition) as well as seven live recordings from the Blizzard of Ozz tour and one additional live track.
