Ozzy Osbourne, famed heavy metal singer, has died at the age of 76—just a few weeks after performing in Black Sabbath’s last official concert. He also enjoyed a robust solo career as well as fame that went beyond music. That included stints as a reality TV superstar thanks to MTV’s hit series The Osbournes, but also as a touchstone figure for fans who revered his notorious antics over the years as “the Prince of Darkness.”
While many obituaries will go out today highlighting Osbourne’s many contributions to music, it’s also worth remembering his contributions to culture even offstage. His status as a metal superstar meant his influence filtered into adjacent media—including video games: he appeared in a World of Warcraft commercial and had songs included in Guitar Hero.
He also became something of a counterculture hero, especially during the “Satanic Panic” era of the 1980s and beyond, when the powers that be seized upon supposed hidden meanings in his songs—and fans found their own sources of strength in music that encouraged listeners to expand their minds beyond the status quo.
Films and TV shows looking to create characters with similarly edgy outlooks often tapped into Black Sabbath songs and artwork as shorthand for conveying that—or just used the tunes as they made sense thematically. What would Marvel’s Iron Man be without that “Iron Man” needle drop, to name one example?
Osbourne was known to be having serious health problems, which were evident onstage at the “Back to the Beginning” farewell concert earlier in July—but given the colorful way he’d lived his life (his Behind the Music episode offers a vivid primer), we were lucky to have him as long as we did. Horns up to a legend whose voice will live on forever.
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