Aug 26 2025
5
RANDY RHOADS
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From the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Blizzard Of Ozz
Ozzy Osbourne
1980
Album Summary
This album has been submitted by a user and is not included in any edition of the book.
Blizzard of Ozz is the debut studio album by the English heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne, released on 12 September 1980 in the UK and on 27 March 1981 in the US. The album was Osbourne's first release following his firing from Black Sabbath in 1979. Blizzard of Ozz is the first of two studio albums Osbourne recorded with guitarist Randy Rhoads prior to Rhoads' death in 1982. In 2017, it was ranked 9th on Rolling Stone's list of "100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time". Much of the album was written by guitarist Randy Rhoads, bassist Bob Daisley, and Ozzy Osbourne while staying at the Monnow Valley Studio near Monmouth, Wales, with a friend of Osbourne's named Barry Scrannage temporarily filling in on drums. As Scrannage was never considered a candidate to be the group's permanent drummer, he was not involved in the songwriting process at all. The band recorded demos of the songs "I Don't Know" (which became Osbourne's second most-performed song), "Crazy Train" (the most performed one), "Goodbye to Romance", and "You Looking at Me Looking at You" in Birmingham in early 1980 with ex-Lone Star drummer Dixie Lee. They had hoped Lee would be a permanent member but "he wasn't the final piece of the puzzle", bassist Daisley recalls. After auditioning several drummers, ex-Uriah Heep member Lee Kerslake was hired as the permanent drummer. The completed lineup retreated to Clearwell Castle in Gloucestershire for six days to rehearse and give Kerslake an opportunity to learn the new songs. A week later, they travelled to Ridge Farm Studio to commence recording.
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Aug 26 2025
3
Ozzy Osbourne in Black Sabbath was fantastic. Ozzy Osbourne solo is meh. As Ozzy does not write the music or even the lyrics. His albums depend on the musicians that write songs for him; in this case Randy Rhoads and Bob Daisley. The songs are ok, somewhere in between the styles of Rainbow and Whitesnake, but not outstanding and it sounds very 1980. As I like Ozzy, it gets three stars. (I dislike Sharon even more after reading this Wiki page).
Aug 25 2025
4
May he rest in darkness. Great album
Aug 27 2025
4
I was a little on the young side to partake when this came out (indeed in my preteen years found this and music of similar ilk to inspire a certain genuine and unironic dread, alongside horror movies, as if the "bad art" could somehow get me). Half a dozen years later it featured prominently in the rotations of my stoner friends, though I was always more on the Zeppelin end of the early metal spectrum, along with 60s -70d era psychedelic rock. I came to be a fan of early Sabbath, but never got much into Ozzy's solo career. I doubt I ever intentionally listened to this straight through, though I'm sure I heard it all a good few times courtesy of said friends. Listening now it strikes me as quite fully realized. I still prefer old Sabbath, and my honest personal rating would probably be around 3.5, but I'll round up if for nothing else as a nod to Randy Rhoads, surely a strong contender for the dumbest, most arbitrary far-too-early deaths in rock and roll.
Aug 27 2025
5
Well, clearly this is the right time for me to FINALLY listen to the album that I grew up amidst but never listened to. I grew to love Crazy Train thanks to a remake decades ago by Pat Boone, which lead me to the Ozzy song... now finally I am listening to the rest of the album and am so surprised at how much I love it! Fantastic and deserving of being on all the T-shirts!
Aug 25 2025
3
Good old Ozzy. I don't really know how much input he had into this album but it's well produced and standard fare for Metal heads.
Aug 26 2025
3
Ozzy’s first solo album and it showed that he was more than capable of solo work after Sabbath with some on lyrics from a few others. This album has some real classics on it that are hard to forget. Even the lesser known songs on this are still great rock songs or ballads. Overall it was a solid first solo album that may have been more generic rock than the metal Sabbath made. 7.5/10
Aug 28 2025
3
Listened to this already it seems. Good stuff, I just think I'm a bit tired of Crazy Train 3 Always felt this style of "heavy metal" was kind of a joke. It's so upbeat, fun and accessible. And even more because of the popularity probably. It has carried over into pop music. Goodbye to Romance is a hidden banger tho.
Aug 28 2025
3
Not a bad album stand alone, crazy train is a great song, but I wouldn’t replace any of the black sabbath albums for this, or listen to this over them. So I can’t find room for it on the list.