{"id":42028,"date":"2025-07-26T14:09:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T14:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/26\/system-of-a-downs-daron-malakian-on-ozzfests-power-ozzy-osbourne\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T14:09:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T14:09:13","slug":"system-of-a-downs-daron-malakian-on-ozzfests-power-ozzy-osbourne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/26\/system-of-a-downs-daron-malakian-on-ozzfests-power-ozzy-osbourne\/","title":{"rendered":"System of a Down’s Daron Malakian on Ozzfest’s Power, Ozzy Osbourne"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n\tOzzy Osbourne<\/a> has been a constant force in System of a Down<\/a> guitarist and vocalist Daron Malakian<\/a>\u2018s life since he was around four years old, when he became fascinated with the art for Osbourne\u2019s live album, <\/em>Speak of the Devil. \u201cI was just obsessed with it, and I idolized him,\u201d Malakian tells <\/em>Rolling Stone. \u201cHe was my childhood idol.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\n\tWhen he learned of Osbourne\u2019s death<\/a> on Tuesday, he broke into tears. \u201cI hate to say this, but it feels like that day was the day that metal died,\u201d he says. \u201cYou have the King of Pop, the Queen of Pop, the King of Rock & Roll, and Ozzy\u2019s like the King of Metal. Him passing away, it feels heavy.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\n\tMalakian has vivid memories from the early Ninties, before he was in a band, of sleeping in his car to buy tickets for a tribute concert for Osbourne\u2019s late guitarist, Randy Rhoads, who died in 1982, and he attended Osbourne\u2019s legendary \u201cfarewell\u201d concerts in Costa Mesa, California in 1992 when Osbourne reunited with his Black Sabbath bandmates for the first time since Live Aid.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n\tLuckily for Malakian, Osbourne un-retired a few years later and put together the inaugural Ozzfest<\/a>, a traveling multi-stage metal festival that features Osbourne as headliner and bands from every subgenre of metal, in 1996. System of a Down issued their self-titled debut two years later and, after a tour supporting Slayer, received an invitation to play on the second stage of Ozzfest \u201998.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n\tThe opportunity meant the world to Malakian. \u201cI was just living on cloud nine,\u201d he says, \u201cand feeling like, \u2018Damn, dude. My dreams actually came true.\u2019 I would get on stage and say, \u2018This is an opportunity, and you better kick some fucking ass.’\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\n\tThanks to the success of unusual singles like \u201cSugar\u201d and \u201cSpiders,\u201d as well as exposure the band got on Ozzfest, the group\u2019s <\/em>System of a Down album was eventually certified double-platinum. Within a year, Ozzfest graduated them to the main stage for Ozzfest \u201999. They became direct support for Osbourne in 2002, and in 2006, after releasing their celebrated <\/em>Mezmerize and <\/em>Hypnotize albums, System of a Down became the rare band to headline an Ozzfest over Ozzy Osbourne.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\tMalakian explains the role Ozzfest played in elevating System of a Down\u2019s profile.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n\tOzzfest was like a heavy-metal summer camp. We were still touring in an RV on the first one, but those early Ozzfests for me were some of the best times of my fucking life. It was huge for us, and it was a big deal for me.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen we played our first Ozzfest, we were on the second stage, and we would sometimes play at 11 o\u2019clock in the morning. It wasn\u2019t like how festivals are now. It was like a traveling circus. It was a tour that went from city to city.<\/p>\n

\n\tI was just in awe of the people that were around me. Mot\u00f6rhead was headlining the second stage. Lemmy [Kilmister] had this old, turquoise Eagle tour bus. One time I saw him sunbathing next to the bus with turquoise Speedos on. That\u2019s all he had on. I\u2019ll never forget that. Another time, I talked with Mot\u00f6rhead drummer Mikkey Dee, who used to play with King Diamond, and I told him how much I liked those albums. He\u2019s like, \u201cOh, wow. I haven\u2019t even thought of that for such a long time.\u201d And then you would see Ozzy walk by here and there.<\/p>\n

\n\tMy dreams were coming true. I\u2019m just sitting here having conversations with these people that I used to see in music videos or they were on my wall when I was a teenager. And there I am with my band.<\/p>\n

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