The late Princess of Darkness? A latter day Apostle Peter? Now essentially the same man, delivering much the same message, if you go beyond the sheer basics?
How so? Both were very spontaneous, in what could be seen as impulsive, but in their own way loyal, with measures of both unusual faith and maybe even more doubt, were the go-to ones for the good powers that be, and thus made their mark on the world and beyond, despite obvious ADHD, and had (self-styled?) religion at the forefront of their being, if at times going south (of heaven?) as sayeth semi-spiritual-soulmates Slayer.
Peter was The Rock on which Christ built His church, and Ozzy Osbourne, who recently passed, was the voice and soul of the original Black Sabbath, regarded as the seminal and original heavy metal band, as his clear vocals brought the profound lyrics, many involving a complex view of religion, to life. (Ozzy was indeed a Christian, despite what you might have heard, his denomination being Anglican Protestant, not unusual for a Brit. He and his bandmates sat down and prayed before every concert. Ozzy was into the Bible, though had trouble reading it because of his dyslexia.)
Ozzy’s antics fueled by impulsivity, even while singing songs about Christ-meets-Marvel figures, are well-documented, although often inaccurately. And it was Peter who impulsively asked to be crucified upside-down — Slayer would reference that — although once the blood was finally rushing to his head, he might have rethought that. And Peter denied Christ three times, again impulsively, then was haunted and very depressed about the action once reconsidering. He then went and wept even before Jesus soon would in the garden, right before his death.
But there were other moments. Peter was the only one besides Jesus who walked on water, with faith, but then the doubt slipped in and he started to slide into the beckoning depths. But could he still right himself? This would take even more faith. Ozzy’s method in this manner, is saying sincerely and literally thousands and thousands of times to the sinners in his concert audience, for one time being consistent, God Bless You. Where does faith come in? The band did this despite the risk of turning off their core audience. Though so many groups often reference God, few will admit to being any kind of Christian metal, as it is the kiss of death for record sales. And bands did not make much money in those days; the stories of the broken-down band van yet again breaking down on their way to a show, with no money to fix it, are true. Ozzy and mates did not care about this, they leave that role not to the poor, but to the rich record companies.
But back to the impulsivity. This is a hallmark of ADHD, which also brings about a higher level of mental thought, if properly organized. Both things like that would have to be present to have the gall to ask Jesus Christ some of the questions, about mutual love, that Peter did.
Note that it was John who Christ said was the disciple he loved, but Peter was the Rock. But a rock can crumble when struck, though it takes forever to erode.
Every good musician, or even man-deity, needs a right-hand-man. And another John, the Baptist, could be seen as Christ’s original, saying yet another would come who was much greater than he, and then he had his own band of brothers, the 12 apostles who included Peter, who like Ozzy, also, were anything but perfect. And Ozzy, of course, had his own band or bands, with the driving force of the bass players who also wrote most of Ozzy’s lyrics, thus forming a cadre themselves. Without Ozzy, there would be no heavy metal or hard rock, Christian or otherwise, and without Peter there would be no church.
Peter, thus, was very complex, and Ozzy had the odd distinction, too, of collecting both crucifixes and devil figurines. He said it struck a “balance.”
Again complex. Would you expect anything less from followers of Jesus?
To complete the analogy, Ozzy has done so much good for the vast number of youngsters in his audience, actually far from his Prince of Darkness persona. (See an earlier post, three down from this one.)
In that post, we compared Ozzy to fellow Black Sabbath lead singer, who took over for him, that being Dio. To bring Peter back in, he is believed to be present in the Biblical Transfiguration, a reference made in one of the first Dio songs, and the only thing written on his tombstone, Man On The Silver Mountain. (OK, we douby Ozzy was there.) But all three men were prominent, in their own way, in spreading the Gospel. Peter had an especially prominent role in doing so late in his life, after Christ’s death, and was named the church’s first pope.
While Dio’s death was before the heyday of the internet, and did not spread like wildfire, Ozzy’s continues to do so, being the first rock mega-star to have died since the onset of online being everything. That trips up the legacy, among others, of people like Curt Cobain, Prince and even Chris Cornell, the latter two of which wrote a lot about spirituality. Or even religion. Check out some of Cornell’s stuff, with various groups.
A sampling of Ozzy songs you can check out that show this religious side in a more straight-forward way are: After Forever, Revelation (Mother Earth), and God is Dead? Note the question mark. Also the end of War Pigs, the early anti-war anthem.