Ozzy Osbourne Celebrates 40 Years of ‘Blizzard of Ozz,’ 50 years of ‘Paranoid’
The upcoming weekend marks a pair of big anniversaries for Ozzy Osbourne. So how is he–and how are we, as fans–marking the occasion?
First of all, Ozzy is pulling out all the stops for the 40th anniversary of his solo debut, Blizzard of Ozz. A new, expanded edition of the album lands on Friday, September 18, two days before the actual anniversary. Stereogum has the rundown of all the bells and whistles and there are plenty of them: live tracks, B-sides, outtakes and the like.
Then, there’s the 50th anniversary of Black Sabbath‘s sophomore album Paranoid (50 years? 50 years). We’ll mark the occasion here, much like we did with the 50th anniversary of their debut album. But for those holding out hope that these half-century milestones will lead to another Black Sabbath reunion gig once live music becomes a reality again, Ozzy shot that idea down in this recent SPIN piece.
Ozzy is rehabbing and planning on playing live again, though: “What else am I gonna do? Sit around and remember when I was famous? As far as what I do as a job, it keeps me alive. I suppose I was probably born to do what I do. I haven’t done my last gig yet. Even if it’s just to do one gig, I will do a gig. Then I’ll feel like I finished my job.”