The conductor of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s crazy train on Saturday night was actor Jack Black, who had the honor of inducting Ozzy Osbourne into the institution with a speech that was predictably reverent and hilarious.
In addition to celebrating the music of Osbourne’s first band, Black Sabbath, Black has long championed Osbourne’s solo career, performing “Crazy Train” as a member of Tenacious D and “Mr. Crowley” with Tom Morello’s son, Roman. In fact, he’s been a fan of Osbourne’s for most of his life. In 2010, Black told George Lopez he fell in love with heavy metal when a teenager in a record shop talked him out of buying a Journey record and getting Osbourne’s Blizzard of Ozz album instead. “It just changed my whole brain,” Black said. “The passion and the darkness, the evil of the music.”
Osbourne told Rolling Stone earlier this month that he was excited to hear Black’s speech because he has an immense respect for the actor. “Jack invited my family to the School of Rock movie premiere in 2002,” he said. “I’ve always been a big fan of his. Jack is one of the few great actors that is also a genuine rock & roller and not acting the part.”
Here’s what Black had to say about Osbourne.
Plumber, car horn tuner, slaughterhouse worker, the greatest frontman in the history of rock and roll. Ozzy Osbourne.
I remember the first time I heard of Ozzy. I was 13 years old, wandering around the record store. What should I get? Sticks? Journey? An older rock aficionado noticed my indecision, and he said, “Stop fucking around, kid. This is the album you need to get, the Blizzard of Ozz.” Man, was he right! Thank you, nameless rock aficionado, wherever you are, you changed my life. I remember looking at that album cover at Ozzy’s face before I even heard the music. I was transfixed. He looked so cool, that red-white suit with the white fringe on the sleeves, that crazy look in his eyes, the skull, the cross — Holy shit. The whole thing just looked so badass. It was the most metal thing I’d ever seen, and I didn’t even know what metal was. He was teaching me. I didn’t realize I was entering a whole new world of heavy metal music.
I took that record home, and when the needle hit, the vinyl heaven opened up above me, I don’t know. Then track two, “Crazy Train.” There was an explosion of colors in my brain. “Suicide Solution.” “Mr. Crowley,” “Revelation,” even “Goodbye to Romance.” You best believe Ozzy could take it down a notch. He could do it all. Blizzard of Oz was the best thing I’d ever heard. A heavy metal masterpiece. That fucking sound was raw power. Randy fucking Rhodes, yeah, giving Eddie Van Halen a run for his money. And Ozzy that voice, it could cut through a glass. Magic, joy, beauty.
So then I went back into Ozzy’s earlier albums, to Black Sabbath, and I was like, unholy shit. This motherfucker invented Heavy Metal, along with Geezer Butler, Bill Ward, and the immortal Tony Iommi, the darkest, heaviest shit the world had ever heard. And through all that power, Ozzy’s voice carving through the Sonic Blast Furnace like an air raid siren, he made the hairs on the back of my neck stand at Attention. Clear and crisp as a morning bell, and that smile, he looked so happy, he looked insane. So much charisma, the Jack Nicholson of rock.
He invented a genre, had the greatest second act come back in rock history. Then what? How about “No More Tears” in 1991 with the guitar God Zakk Wylde proving insane, lasting power, five times platinum. You heard me right! Quintuple platt. It was then that he decided to totally touch his tender side. So he called up Lemmy Kilmister from Motorhead, naturally, and together with Zakk, they wrote, “Mama, I’m Coming Home.” And thus, Ozzy took a little dip into the Top 40 just to prove he could. Then what? The Osbornes? Yeah, he teamed up with his family to create another genre, reality TV, maybe the most evil thing he ever did. But there is no denying it, his whole family were fucking hilarious and intensely entertaining. Another fucking massive bit. Then what? Oh, maybe just a little thing called Ozzfest, only the most successful heavy metal music festival of all time. Ozzy, stop creating incredibly successful, genre-defining, world-changing hits. It’s too much success for one lifetime.
And you know, a lot has been made of his evil alliance with the Dark Lord Satan. But in truth, Ozzy is a loving father, and husband, and friend, loyal to his family and friends to the end of the world and back.
And now I stand here, just another nameless rock aficionado. And I’m talking to you 13-year-olds watching the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. All five of you put down your phones unless you’re watching on the phone, then put it closer to your face. Oh, man, rock aficionado is about to drop some truth. Sure, you could go stream Post Malone and Taylor Swift and get all the warm hugs you need for your broken hearts, or you can stay up all night and get your minds blown by Ozzy’s entire catalog for the first time.
Holy shit, you kids are so fucking lucky.
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