It seems appropriate to lead with Ozzy Osbourne's wild persona because he did, after all, bite off the head of a bat. He also played kind of a regular family man on the reality TV hit "The Osbournes."

Co-founder of the influential heavy metal band Black Sabbath, Osbourne enjoyed a lot of success in his career. He also abused some heavy-duty substances.

You'll hear more about him in this short story. And you can find various versions of "Crazy Train," the highlighted song in this episode, on YouTube. Here's an official version.

The photograph in the thumbnail shows Osbourne in 1970 and is credited to Warner Bros. Records. Published in Billboard magazine as a trade ad for the "Black Sabbath" album, the photo is an excerpt from a shot of Osbourne with fellow band members. It's available on Wikimedia Commons.

In the chapters, you can see the full photo, also available on Wikimedia Commons.

Also in the chapters, there's a 1975 shot of Osbourne on the cover of Circus Magazine (attribution: Circus Magazine, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons). That file is available here.

The art that frames two sides of the thumbnail photo was created by Bob Jones.

Song of the Day creator Sheldon Zoldan researched, wrote and narrated this story, one of 35 tributes to music stars who passed away in 2025. Song of the Day used to be a daily feature delivered to an email list of subscribers. Sheldon ended it in early 2026 which, I suppose, means that Song of the Day deserves a tribute of its own someday. The good thing is that the tributes to music makers live on. Each is a snapshot of the life of one music maker whose work made an impact on the lives of many.

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This is Kate Jones. Thank you for listening to Everyday Creation®, available on YouTube and in podcast directories including Apple, Spotify, iHeart and Audible.