Album: Blizzard of Ozz
Year: 1980
When Ozzy Osbourne left Black Sabbath in a haze of cocaine and hurt feelings after 1978’s moribund Never Say Die, fans of the band assumed that was pretty much it for all concerned. Instead, Sabbath recruited Ronnie James Dio and made their best record since Sabatoge and Ozzy — always a zillion times more savvy than he ever came across — found himself an early post-Eddie Van Halen guitar whiz named Randy Rhodes and recorded his solo debut, Blizzard of Ozz.
Interestingly enough, Ozzy’s U.S. record company must not have had a lot of faith in him at that time, as there was a six month gap between when Blizzard of Ozz came out in the U.K. in September, 1980 and when it finally came out in the U.S. in spring of 1981. Which jibes with a memory I have of first hearing “Crazy Train” on the radio on Good Friday, 1981. Or maybe I heard it on the radio after we got a whole half day off from work!
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #1423: Ozzy Osbourne – “Crazy Train”