Swedish progressive metallers OPETH paid tribute to Ozzy Osbourne by including a cover of BLACK SABBATH‘s “Solitude” during their August 1 set at the Beyond The Gates festival in Bergen, Norway. Fan-filmed video of the performance can be seen below.
“Solitude” was first released on BLACK SABBATH‘s 1971 album “Master Of Reality” and later as the B-side to the single “Children Of The Grave”.
Two days after Ozzy died, OPETH guitarist/vocalist Mikael Åkerfeldt took to the band’s social media to write: “So that dreadful day finally came. John Michael Osbourne has left us, and it’s so incredibly hard to accept it. Even if I have braced myself for this inevitable fact since the 80’s it just feels completely unreal. He was like an ancient oak tree to me. A listed tree that people would visit and marvel at.
“Ozzy came into my life in the late 70’s/early 80’s (I can’t remember exactly, I admit) when I heard ‘Iron Man’ on a cassette player in Sörskogen/Huddinge/Stockholm. I was just a child, and ‘that’ voice in the beginning scared the living daylights out of me. BLACK SABBATH was my introduction to heavy rock/metal and has remained a lifelong companion since. I’ve read some posts from other musicians and can only concur. If it wasn’t for Ozzy and BLACK SABBATH my interest in music (as a whole) wouldn’t have taken off as it did. I became obsessed with them, and I suppose I still am.
“I’ve never talked to Ozzy myself. The closest engagement I had with him was when he shuffled past me at an award show and kinda bumped into me. I remember thinking ‘this might become my only Ozzy story’. He felt that illuminated and untouchable just walking past. I kept looking for him around the room but I never got the chance to speak to him again. We have played with BLACK SABBATH and Ozzy on a few occasions but I’ve been too shy and starstruck to search him up. Besides his entourage and private quarters made sure that no-one would be able to come close.
“There’s so much to be said about his musical wealth which he showered on the world of music, but I’d only repeat what countless others have already said. All I know is that the world is a lesser place without him around. The beacon that was Ozzy Osbourne has gone dark and silent. Luckily, his music remains for our eternal enjoyment, and for that I am so grateful.
“Now, all that remains is to actually understand and accept that this is real. It happened! It’ll be an emotional marathon of sorts in order to get there, but what else can we do than try?
“Our warmest condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.”
Mikael previously discussed his introduction to SABBATH in a 2019 interview with Rolling Stone magazine. He said at the time: “ I grew up in a small [town in Sweden]. Where I grew up is a place called Sörskogen. It’s just a suburb to Stockholm, and I was at another family’s house during the days. And they had a playroom with toys and LEGO and a small cassette player with a couple of cassettes. And most of them were children’s stories cassettes, but there was also a SABBATH greatest-hits cassette. I remember ‘Iron Man’, that song, when Ozzy… And now I [recognize] it’s Ozzy speaking in the beginning, but then it was like a monster, with that effect: ‘I am Iron Man’. And then I was, like, ‘Wow, that’s amazing.’ I think that was probably the time when I became a metal fan, I would say, with that cassette, you know, prior to that I was into David Bowie and ABBA [and] Ricky Wilde, Kim Wilde‘s brother. [Laughs] That SABBATH tape, it would’ve been maybe ’79, but I fell in love with it because it was scary. It was like horror films. I got scared. The whole imagery that they had, those bands, was also very appealing to me. So I fell in love with that whole scene.”
Ozzy died the morning of July 22, his family announced in a statement.
“It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning. He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time,” the family said.
No cause of death was given, but Osbourne had battled a number of health issues over the past several years, including Parkinson’s disease and injuries he sustained from a late-night fall in 2019.
