Transition to the 80's: Ozzy Osbourne's Iconic Solo Debut

OZZY OSBOURNE: BLIZZARD OF OZZ

SCORE: 100/100

Ozzy Osbourne's solo debut would help to spawn him even more success after his unfortunate firing from Black Sabbath the year prior - with this album aiding his career even further by showcasing how well he could work apart from the band, and his work as a soloist remains just as iconic as his tenure leading Black Sabbath was. 

For this album as well as Diary of a Madman, Ozzy had worked alongside Randy Rhoads of Quiet Riot to do both guitar work and co-writing for the songs on the album. Rhoads' guitar work helped to spawn hugely iconic guitar riffs throughout the album, and songs like Crazy Train and Mr. Crowley made sure the world knew just where Ozzy stood in the heavy metal scene - this album is a hugely matured project for him that radiates the old school energy that all rock fans certainly adore, and it's one of the most crucial records of the 80's without a doubt. 

There is a great mix of slower songs and hugely iconic energy fests, and this album does a striking job at showing both the two sides of Osbourne and the two sides of the 70's-80's metal scene, with this album being one of the greatest examples of this era of the genre on a very wide, palatable scale.

After putting together a band for his solo career due to his drug issues putting a halt towards his contributions for Black Sabbath, Osbourne felt as if he was in direct competition with Black Sabbath - leading to this album striking with full-force and never letting up for even a second. This is without a doubt a perfect showcase of 80's metal on a massively polished scale, and never has a split from a band sounded this coherent. Originally, the band itself was meant to be called Blizzard of Ozz as Osbourne's new project, but Ozzy wound up being the sole credit towards the work of the group, and he would become known as a soloist - with this album being his first "solo" work despite all of the contributions from other people involved. 

It almost feels like destiny that Ozzy would be let go from Sabbath to work on his own music, and he was allowed control on what was being made; leading to an album with a massive amount of prowess and talent showcased after his long running experience that he had already accumulated by working with the band previously. 

Rarely can an album be so well formatted, with this LP being broken up perfectly and containing all of the content it needed and more within just under forty minutes of runtime. It's deeply consistent and polished, and this is an album that every rock fan should have in their collection no matter what. 

Despite being a soloist release, Blizzard of Ozz was hugely a team effort across many different collaborators, and the sorrowful tone of Goodbye to Romance was actually the first piece that Osbourne had made for the album - something he had penned as a goodbye letter to his former band after feeling as if his career was over without the band; little did he know the solo stardom he would soon face. 

Music like this seems almost tame by the standards of today and the steady introduction of even heavier metal genres like death metal and black metal, but albums like this one managed to shock entire nations during their releases - with Ozzy being one of the most infamously controversial rock musicians of all time. This album refused to shy away from the imagery and sounds that made Ozzy as controversial as he was for his time, and with just one solo album he managed to solidify one of the most important legacies in all of music. 

Blizzard of Ozz wasn't without a slew of controversy following it - and this album is when his career really started to become watched by many and labeled as "satanic" in a sea of music censorship and lawsuits - and despite the confusing nature of who did what within the album, it remains solely an Ozzy Osbourne album after all these decades.