When it comes to rock \u2018n\u2019 roll debauchery,\u00a0Ozzy Osbourne\u00a0is something of an expert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The vocalist rose to fame in the 1970s as the fang-toothed frontman of the legendary heavy metal outfit Black Sabbath. During his time with the group, the self-proclaimed Prince of Darkness developed a reputation for \u2013 to put it bluntly \u2013 lunacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eventually, his anarchic persona and penchant for cocaine began interfering with his musical obligations, leading to his dismissal from Black Sabbath in April 1979. Considering Osbourne and company spent an estimated\u00a0$75,000 on cocaine\u00a0during the production of\u00a0Vol. 4,<\/em>\u00a0it comes as a surprise that Osbourne\u2019s musical upbringing was so quaint. Indeed, he once cited one of The Beatles\u2019 teenybopper hits as the song that made him want to be a rockstar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is a delicious irony that the man who would come to embody heavy metal excess found his calling in a slice of Merseybeat exuberance. Before the bats, the headlines and the chaos, there was simply a working-class kid hearing possibility crackle through a transistor radio. In that moment, the distance between Aston and superstardom no longer felt insurmountable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Beatles were always far more than their music. Despite their notoriety, the \u2018Fab Four\u2019 maintained a sense of relatability. They weren\u2019t strangely tanned or obnoxiously coiffeured; they looked and sounded (depending on where you lived) a lot like their fans, and their fans responded to that. Instead of symbolising an unachievable dream, The Beatles implied that even the most ordinary people living in the most ordinary of places could make a better, more thrilling life for themselves. For youngsters growing up in drab industrial centres, the sheer existence of a band like The Beatles was a reason for optimism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Opening up about The Beatles\u2019 impact in a\u00a02016 interview, Osbourne explained that the group\u2019s 1964 hit \u2018She Loves You\u2019 completely changed the game: \u201cI come from the backstreets of Aston in Birmingham and it wasn\u2019t a very cool place when I was growing up,\u201d the singer began. \u201cI used to sit on my doorstep and think, \u2018How the hell am I going to get out of here?\u2019 And then one day \u2018She Loves You\u2019 came on the radio.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unless you were actually there, it\u2019s hard to imagine just how explosive the Beatles\u2019 sound was in the early \u201960s. The group\u2019s blend of radio-friendly rock \u2018n\u2019 roll had been bubbling under the surface for a while. With traces of music hall, skiffle, and blues, tracks like \u2018She Loves You\u2019 heralded the arrival of a new era. \u201cThat song turned my head around,\u201d Osbourne continued. \u201cMy son always says to me, \u2018What was it like when\u00a0The Beatles\u00a0happened?\u2019 All I can really say to him to is: \u2018Imagine going to bed in one world, and then waking up in another that\u2019s so different and exciting that it makes you feel glad to be alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n With their shimmering pop, Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr severed the nation from the post-war years, replacing a monochrome world with one soaked in technicolour. Their sound was, in a sense, a reflection of the burgeoning sense that things could only get better, and for Osbourne, it was the beginning of everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Long before he became the Prince of Darkness, Osbourne was just another wide-eyed listener swept up in that cultural shift. The seed planted by The Beatles would eventually grow into something far louder and heavier, but its roots were undeniably pop. For all the madness that followed, it began with three chords, a hook, and the belief that escape was possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n