Was Osbourne's Music Evil?

[Ekklesian]

Can't say I was ever a fan, really. I recognize Black Sabbath's influence on music in the 70s and 80s, but the only metal band that ever really did anything for me was Metallica.

First I ever heard of Ozzy was around 1982-3. Not long afterward there was a local controversy in advance of his tour date in Sudbury on the Speak of the Devil tour because of his supposed Satanism and his stage antics (i.e. the infamous bat). He did his best to assure people he wasn't really a Satanist and he prayed before every concert, and according to the news reports of the time, he closed the concert with "God bless you."

A decade earlier, Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler, a Roman Catholic, had written the song "After Forever" (co-written by other band members) to try and dispel the band's Satanic image. The lyrics are, in a manner of speaking, evangelistic.

Ozzy was indeed no Satanist, or even an atheist--he was at least a nominal member of the Church of England, and it was probably entirely true he prayed regularly. Was he a believer as we would understand it? Probably not. But even in a liberal Anglican church, the Gospel is read regularly. We can at least hope that if Ozzy knew his life was coming to a close, something of it made an impression on him.

Although there was a great deal of Satanic imagery, there was nothing that was ever written or sung overtly in "Praise of Satan" - not even N.I.B ("My name is Lucifer, please take my hand").

I truly hope that faith found Ozzy at some point! The clip I shared regarding their eponymous song (Black Sabbath - No, No NO PLEASE GOD HELP ME!) is quite haunting and had an indelible impact upon me as a young teenager who had recently faced his own mortality during a bad experience with drugs! I was raised Roman Catholic and, like Martin Luther, was desperately looking for any assurance of my justification before God! I truly hope this is not Ozzy's reality!

I have never really been a fan of "Metal" and I believe Sabbath's earlier stuff (first four albums) to be their best. I consider "War Pigs" to be among the best rock and roll "Jams" of all time and "Fairies Wear Boots" to be right up there with it.

Even if the overt occultism was an act...

Was he doing good, or was he doing evil?

 

[Ekklesian]

Here's an act...

https: //youtu.be/pjOtKC_GZ9o?si=7pO317G5J4KHm3Yw

(Close the gap between the colon a nd the double slashes. )

Warning: F-word, which if Black Sabbath were a Twenty-first century band, they would have dropped like commas.

The artistry is meritorious.

If one's admiration of Ozzy's art can be excused because his Satanism was an act, can I indulge in Maria Brink's art for the same reason?

 

[brianb]

Heavy metal in general focuses on things like death and despair - there's no hope there. I've heard at least one Christian say that a Black Sabbath song saved their life I guess because what the song was saying scared them but that doesn't mean it should be something you religiously listen to. I've heard Black Sabbath and Solo Ozzy songs from time to time but that genre has never been my favourite to listen. Even before I was saved I preferred lighter stuff like New Wave, maybe Prog Rock like Rush or the odd punk song (The Ramones) but heavy metal was too much if not scary at times.

 

[abcaines]

War Pigs is the only protest song that remotely makes sense. Doesn't mean I'm going to go buy a Black Sabbath album.

I love the base line on No More Tears but that doesn't mean I'm going to search out Ozzy on my Amazon Music app.

 

[ALAYMAN]

Even if the overt occultism was an act...

Was he doing good, or was he doing evil?

Much evil. I remember listening to Suicide Solution over and over is a tween. I was very mentally stable as a teen, but the darkness of that song was nigh oppressive, and extremely suggestive. Mr Crowley and much of his music was sinister, not to mention the lifestyle he championed.

But, supposedly Ozzy Osbourne Revealed If He Believed in God Before He Died (title is somewhat click bait-ish)​

 

[Ransom]

Not particularly good, nor particularly evil. Read the lyrics to Ozzy's most notorious songs, such as "Mr. Crowley" or "Suicide Solution": they're ironic--not especially sympathetic to Crowley or suicide. ("Suicide Solution," though, doesn't seem to offer a better one.)

I looked up the lyrics to the In This Moment song--the track itself is a cacophonous mess. (I don't like contemporary alt-metal much for that reason.) I believe Brink is singing of her own experiences, being torn between the disapproval of her father and the approval of her mother, hence being torn "between heaven and hell." It's a dark song, but is it evil? Not especially, one or two naughty words aside. Are ordinary human experiences beyond the permissible limits for songwriting?

 

[Tarheel Baptist]

It obvious, to me at least, that whether or not it was his shtik or real, he did more harm than good. The fact that he was a closet Christian never occurred to me.

After the reality show humanized him, he had a somewhat sympathetic persona.
Of course, I hope he did hear the gospel and repent.

 

[ALAYMAN]

It obvious, to me at least, that whether or not it was his shtik or real, he did more harm than good. The fact that he was a closet Christian never occurred to me.

After the reality show humanized him, he had a somewhat sympathetic persona.
Of course, I hope he did hear the gospel and repent.

Ozzy Osbourne and his son Jack visited the Ark Encounter in 2017 with a TV crew to film them both for their TV show, “Ozzy and Jack’s World Detour.”

On the TV program, you could hear them saying things like, “Wow, wow, very wow,’ and “That is insanely big.” https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1EnHB4PKXq/

I think calling something "art" can often be a mere or pitiful disguise for carnality and serve as an excuse for cultural Christians trying to get everybody they like into heaven.

 

[DrHuk&Duck]

A lot of Ozzy’s music came before my time, although I have always liked See You on the Other Side, which was more mid 90s. I knew him more from his reality TV show than his music. He was a bit of a trailblazer in the early reality TV genre.

 

[4everfsu]

I thought his music was part of CCM.

 

[Baptist Renegade]

Ozzy and Black Sabbath both used occult imagery for "shock and awe" value. If you were to question their motives, ask yourself why does Hollywood do all of those dark "horror" films? Many equate the "Black Metal" and "Doom Metal" with the horror movie genre.

I guess the next thing you may want to ask is why would a Christian be interested in movies like Dracula, Frankenstein, and so forth?

Ozzy's life was an absolute dumpster fire. I hope that "faith" found him at some point but such seems doubtful. I do not wish hell on anyone but I am not also not going to "sugar coat" things in order to make people feel better about his passing.

What I was speaking of was in regards to their lyrical content for which I am aware. It did not seem as if they were mocking God, mocking Christianity, or even being hostile towards the Gospel message. "Sweet Leaf" clearly glamorizes dope smoking but is there anything else they have done that glamorizes or romanticizes the "Rock and Roll Party" lifestyle? "Hand of Doom" to me speaks of the horrors of intravenous drug use - certainly does not glamorize it. Their lyrical content was always dark and dreadful. Certainly did not speak of the hope that is found in the person of Christ that is for sure!

 

[Ransom]

I guess the next thing you may want to ask is why would a Christian be interested in movies like Dracula, Frankenstein, and so forth?

The simplistic answer is for the same reason we enjoy roller coasters and other thrill rides: we like being scared.

A more complex answer is that horror fiction reminds us that evil is a real presence, and there is more out there than the material world. Funny you should mention Dracula and Frankenstein; the former is about an ancient evil defeated not only by science, but trust in God (Abraham van Helsing, the vampire hunter, is a man of faith as well as a believer in science, as was Bram Stoker himself). Frankenstein is about (amongst other things) the ethical implications of unchecked ambition and the pursuit of knowledge, and the responsibility of a creator toward his creation when playing God. Both worthy themes for a Christian to consider.

Many seminal authors of the horror or gothic genre--Bram Stoker, M. R. James, Ann Radcliffe, or Sheridan le Fanu, for example--were either people of faith themselves, or grew up in religious households.

Perhaps the question to ask, rather, is why Christians might be interested in more lurid horror genres like slasher or splatter films. There's a big distinction to be made between Dracula, The Wicker Man, or The Innocents on the one hand, and Saw or Terrifier on the other.

 

[Baptist Renegade]

Perhaps the question to ask, rather, is why Christians might be interested in more lurid horror genres like slasher or splatter films. There's a big distinction to be made between Dracula, The Wicker Man, or The Innocents on the one hand, and Saw or Terrifier on the other.

I never had an interest in movies like "Saw" personally. I watched "Natural Born Killers" though and felt really dirty afterwards - perhaps the most depressing, nihlistic movie ever.

What about all of those "Action-Adventure" movies where you really want to see the villan die a cruel death before the movie ends?

 

[abcaines]

What about all of those "Action-Adventure" movies where you really want to see the villan die a cruel death before the movie ends?

How bout them Denzel Washington Equalizer films? I used to cheer when he beat the bad guys to a pulp. I mean they deserved it! But after a few scenes, I felt drained.

 

[Ransom]

How bout them Denzel Washington Equalizer films? I used to cheer when he beat the bad guys to a pulp. I mean they deserved it! But after a few scenes, I felt drained.

Been a while since I've seen The Equalizer, and I think I only saw the first one.

We like revenge stories, going back to Hamlet and Titus Andronicus and even earlier. We have a desire to see justice done, even when the proper authorities can't or won't deliver it. And if the villain is dispatched spectacularly, so much the better.

Vigilante films are cathartic, but frequently they can become exploitative, or forget that justice belongs to the magistrate, or to God. The Punisher doesn't work for me.

As I recall, Washington's character in The Equalizer gives the villains ample opportunity to walk away or relent before he goes vigilante on them. The TV show it's based on was unusually violent for the time (compare a contemporary show, The A-Team, where gunfights were frequent but no one ever died). Even so, McCall would warn the criminals and give them a chance to relent, before resorting to violence.

There's another Denzel flick that does the revenge plot pretty well: Man on Fire. Denzel plays a bodyguard for a little girl and goes on a vengeance spree when he finds out she's been kidnapped and murdered. But when he learns she's alive, he gives up on his own revenge and offers himself in her place. The A. J. Quinnell novel is a pretty straightforward revenge thriller, but I can imagine Washington (being probably the most bankable Christian movie star in Hollywood) had the influence to turn the movie script into something better.

 

[Ekklesian]

Does anyone watch Lucifer on Netflix?

Why or why not?

 

[abcaines]

Does anyone watch Lucifer on Netflix?

Why or why not?

Two reasons.

1. I don't subscribe to Netflix nor do I have any desire to do so.

2. Judging from the title, I would have no interest.

 

[Ekklesian]

Two reasons.

1. I don't subscribe to Netflix nor do I have any desire to do so.

2. Judging from the title, I would have no interest.

Basically, in the series, the Devil is a good guy. You kinda feel for him.

I don't watch the series, but a coworker loves to talk about it.

But the 'devils' in the other movies mentioned are the bad guys.

That's what would elevate the morals of those stories above that of 'Lucifer.'

So, what was the vibe in the overtly Satanic performances of Black Sabbath and Osbourne?

Was it meant to repel or entice? To satisfy a lust for that kind of thing...biting the head off a bat...or to deny?

 

[abcaines]

So, what was the vibe in the overtly Satanic performances of Black Sabbath and Osbourne?

Was it meant to repel or entice? To satisfy a lust for that kind of thing...biting the head off a bat...or to deny?

IDK. Ozzy was never a big draw for me. I was disgusted by his dove and bat stunts. He was an enigma for sure. I did like Randy Rhodes' work on Crazy Train and whoever played bass on No More Tears. I liked his World Detour, especially when they visited Memphis and the Mississippi Delta.

 

[ALAYMAN]

I don't think Ozzy was cranking out music about death and other dark subjects in the vein of great authors like Stokker and such. Dude was just trying to make a buck, exploitatively for the most part, and in a culture that lapped it up. The definition of worldliness, for sure.