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From album
Blizzard of Ozz
Ozzy Osbourne · 1980 · Track 1
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The story behind
That first take of I Don’t Know that opens Blizzard of Ozz sounds like someone who just got a weight off their shoulders. It’s not the desperate scream of someone seeking attention, but the relief of someone who can finally craft their own sound without being told how. The main riff — the one that cuts in from the first measure — doesn’t stay still: it shifts between octave jumps and a groove that refuses to be confined to four beats. It’s not a song that invites you to dance, but it doesn’t let you breathe either; it’s as if Randy Rhoads’s guitar and Bob Daisley’s bass were arguing in code, while Lee Kerslake’s kick drum marks the pace relentlessly.
They recorded it in England in the late 70s, when Ozzy Osbourne was no longer the singer of Black Sabbath but a musician needing to prove himself. The album was released in September 1980 in Europe and the following year in the United States, but the process wasn’t a walk in the park: there were tensions over the lyrics of Suicide Solution and rumors that tarnished the release. Yet, the album ended up being a turning point: in 2017, Rolling Stone magazine ranked it 9th on its list of the 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time. It lasted 5 minutes and 17 seconds, but in that time it made it clear there was no room for half-measures here.