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Blizzard of Ozz 1980
Album · by Ozzy Osbourne ↗ View artist

Blizzard of Ozz

When Blizzard of Ozz hit the shelves in September 1980, it not only marked Ozzy Osbourne's debut as a solo artist after leaving Black Sabbath in 1979, but also defined a sound that still sounds fresh today. Recorded between March and April of that year at Ridge Farm Studio in England, the album condensed months of rehearsals at Clearwell Castle and adjustments in Birmingham with a lineup that still lacked a permanent drummer. The result was a heavy metal record with sharp riffs, unforgettable melodies, and lyrics ranging from personal to controversial. Songs like Crazy Train and Mr. Crowley not only became pillars of his live repertoire but also defined Osbourne's style beyond the shadow of his former band. The album was first released in the UK and later in the U.S. in March 1981, but its impact transcended borders.

Year
1980
Songs
9
Duration
39 min 33 seg
Listen to the album ★

9 song|s

Song list

# Title Available ⏱
01

I Don’t Know

5:17
02

Crazy Train

4:56
03

Goodbye to Romance

5:36
04

Dee

0:50
05

Suicide Solution

4:20
06

Mr. Crowley

4:57
07

No Bone Movies

3:58
08

Revelation (Mother Earth)

6:09
09

Steal Away (The Night)

3:30

About the album

Blizzard of Ozz, according to DoReSol

What stood out was not just the music, but the context in which it was created. The first song written was Goodbye to Romance, an explicit farewell to Black Sabbath that Osbourne composed feeling his career was over. The pressure to compete with his former band led to the album being recorded in record time, with Randy Rhoads handling the arrangements and Bob Daisley on bass, though controversy over Suicide Solution overshadowed its release. The song, accused of influencing a teenager's suicide in 1984, sparked a legal debate that Osbourne settled by arguing it referred to the death of Bon Scott of AC/DC, though Daisley always maintained it reflected Osbourne's own excesses. Beyond the lyrics, the album shone for technical details: Dee, an instrumental dedicated to Rhoads' mother, and Revelation (Mother Earth), which incorporated keyboard passages written by Don Airey in the studio. The closing track, Steal Away (The Night), aimed to break the album's solemnity, following Osbourne's idea of ending concerts with energy, as Black Sabbath did with Paranoid.

Commercial success came quickly: Crazy Train reached No. 9 on the *Mainstream Rock Charts*, and the album sold over 4 million copies in the U.S. alone, without needing a *Top 40* hit. Yet the shadow of controversy lingered. In 1986, Daisley and drummer Lee Kerslake sued Osbourne for unpaid royalties, securing credits in the 2002 reissues—though these versions replaced their original parts with new recordings, a change fans saw as a betrayal. Despite everything, Blizzard of Ozz remains his best-selling work and a benchmark of 80s metal, with a total runtime of 39 minutes that encapsulates the essence of a band that, in just two albums, forever changed the course of the genre.