Rock legend Ozzy Osbourne sadly passed away earlier this year, and tributes poured in for the beloved metal frontman from both the rock and wrestling worlds.
Hard rockers FOZZY, whose original name Fozzy Osbourne was a tribute to The Prince Of Darkness, released a surprise cover of the Ozzy mega-hit “Crazy Train.”
The band posted on social media: “Our cover of ‘Crazy Train’ by the legendary @ozzyosbourne is officially out NOW on all streaming platforms OZZY FOREVER!! Our ode to the life and legacy of #Ozzy. In celebration of the 45th Anniversary of the release of ‘The Blizzard of Ozz’ (released on September 12th, 1980).” Artwork for the single was also designed by graphic artist 97abdulmalik.
FOZZY frontman Chris Jericho was asked in 2022 by PopCulture about being compared to Ozzy vocally. “I’ve always had that in me. It’s not trying to sound like Ozzy; that’s my vocal range — that really high-end… So there’s always been elements of it. As a matter of fact, on the ‘Sin And Bones’ record, I said, ‘Let’s just f*cking record a Sabbath song. Let me try and sound like Ozzy.’ And we did ‘Fairies Wear Boots’. And if you listen to it, it’s, like, ‘Okay, now that’s Ozzy.’ So we’ve always had some of those elements.”
Jericho continued: ”But you’re right — there’s a couple of songs… I mean, ‘Nowhere To Run’, even when we play it, we play it live every night, I feel like, ‘Oh, this is the Ozzy part.’ And I think one of the reasons for that is when Rich Ward writes the melody line, or Johnny Andrews, our producer, who co-writes all the songs with us, they know what my wheelhouse is, and they know that there’s that high-end, I guess you’d say ‘Ozzy-esque’ style to it. Some people sound like Steve Perry; some people sound like Bruce Dickinson; some people sound like McCartney — I sound like Ozzy. So that’s kind of my wheelhouse. And [we’re] not trying to write songs that sound like Ozzy, but there are definite parts that have that vibe to it, and even I can feel it and I know it. Which is cool — it’s fun to know that if you’re gonna be compared to somebody… Listen, people forget — Ozzy’s one of the greatest rock and roll singers of all time, so I’ll take that comparison any day of the week, man.”
Check out FOZZY’s cover of “Crazy Train” below.
