(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)
Since the early days of Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne has etched himself in stone as one of the fathers of heavy metal. If you were to spend a moment searching for the acorn from which the tree of heavy metal sprang, then you would not be too surprised to see the face of Osbourne screaming back at you.
Yes, there are many other moments in musical history that can be seen as the genesis of the genre. Some point to Led Zeppelin while others pick The Beatles. But if you were looking for one band that seemed to truly embody the spirit of heavy metal with everything they did, then Black Sabbath would have to be that band.
Although the band always categorised themselves as a hard rock band whenever they would play live, the doomy sounds of Tony Iommi’s guitar alongside Osbourne’s menacing vocals significantly impacted any band that was attracted to the dark side of rock and roll. While Osbourne would go on to have a massive solo career, there was one modern metal band that he wanted to join.
In the final days of Sabbath before their triumphant reunion in 2025, though, Osbourne would increasingly find himself out of step with the rest of the band. Becoming a cocaine addict on the road, Ozzy was, at times, left on the side of the stage, leaving Iommi to soak up most of the spotlight whenever the band played live.
After parting ways with his old band during the early 1980s, Osbourne would have the most incredible resurgence in metal history, operating alongside Randy Rhoads to deliver massive hits like ‘Crazy Train’ and ‘Mr. Crowley’. Although Rhoads’s death cast a dark shadow over the singer’s band in the early days, the frontman would continue to go from strength to strength on albums like Bark at the Moon and No More Tears.
Eventually, the massive following that Osbourne accumulated tended to be too much for a singular show. Working alongside his wife and manager, Sharon, Osbourne started working on Ozzfest, bringing together a handful of the biggest up-and-coming names in hard rock and heavy metal to the forefront.
Among the first significant acts to make it on the bill was Slipknot, who were making waves with their nu-metal adjacent debut album. Donning horrifying masks, Corey Taylor’s scream quickly became the standout of the group, going from sounding like a feral animal to melodic singing at a moment’s notice on songs like ‘Wait and Bleed’ and ‘Spit It Out’.
While the band were still relatively young, Taylor had said how welcoming Osbourne was to them on their inaugural tour. Remarking about how they had nine members, Osbourne said that he would have gladly joined the band onstage anytime.
As Corey Taylor told Loudwire, “We were sitting there, and Ozzy came out, and I was just like, oh my god. And he goes- ‘Slipknot! I want to be number ten.’ He gave me a huge hug, and I was like, wow”. There’s a good reason Taylor was left so dumbstruck. The Sabbath singer rarely said anything he didn;t believe and was known to be an authentic advocate of artists he truly loved, os it seemed his intentions were simply to express love rather than blow smoke.
Despite the band becoming a massive success at Ozzfest, Taylor would later say that the band had outgrown their opener status, telling Google Audiobiography, “After the Coal Chamber tour, which was our tour after Ozzfest, no one wanted to take us out on the road, because we would play and then half the audience would leave”.
Garnering attention with their sophomore album Iowa, Slipknot quickly became one of the biggest names in metal, with the band even founding their festival, Knotfest, in the 2010s. Although Slipknot may have come from humble beginnings, they eventually got to the point of going toe-to-toe with The Prince of Darkness.
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