Blizzard of Ozz is the debut studio album by English heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne, released on September 12, 1980 in the UK and on March 27, 1981 in the US. The album was Osbourne‘s first release following his firing from Black Sabbath in 1979. Blizzard of Ozz is the first of two studio albums Osbourne recorded with guitarist Randy Rhoads prior to Rhoads‘ death in 1982. In 2017, it was ranked 9th on Rolling Stone‘s list of “100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time”.
Much of the album was written by guitarist Randy Rhoads, bassist Bob Daisley, and Ozzy Osbourne in a live-in rehearsal facility in Monmouth, Wales, with a friend of Osbourne‘s named Barry Screnage performing as the group’s drummer. Screnage was never considered as a candidate to be the group’s permanent drummer and was not involved in the songwriting process at all.
The band recorded demos of the songs “I Don’t Know”, “Crazy Train”, “Goodbye to Romance”, and “You Looking at Me Looking at You” in Birmingham in early 1980 with ex-Lone Star drummer Dixie Lee.
They had hoped Lee would be a permanent member but “he wasn’t the final piece of the puzzle”, bassist Daisley recalls. After auditioning several drummers, ex-Uriah Heep member Lee Kerslake was hired as the permanent drummer. The completed lineup retreated to Clearwell Castle in Gloucestershire for six days to rehearse and give Kerslake an opportunity to learn the new songs. A week later, they travelled to Ridge Farm Studio to commence recording.
The first track written for the album was “Goodbye to Romance”. Osbourne has stated that the song was his way of saying goodbye to his former band Black Sabbath, as he had thought his career was over after leaving the band.
After performing a show in Birmingham, the band hastily returned to Ridge Farm to remix “Goodbye to Romance” for a single. The next morning they were informed that their label Jet Records instead wanted a brand new song to release as a single. Rhoads, Daisley, and Kerslake quickly put together the song “You Said It All”, with drummer Kerslake performing the guide vocal at soundcheck while a drunken Osbourne slept under the drum riser.
The song was ultimately never recorded, though a live version was released on Ozzy Osbourne Live EP in 1980. The final track written was “No Bone Movies”, which was originally intended to be used only as a B-side but was added to the album in order to give Kerslake a writing credit, as all the other material had been written before he joined the band. Keyboardist Don Airey claims that parts of “Revelation (Mother Earth)” as well as the intro to “Mr. Crowley” were written by him in the studio, though he never received writing credit for these contributions.
Chris Tsangarides was originally hired to produce the album, with Max Norman to serve as studio engineer. Osbourne and the band were very unhappy with Tsangarides‘ production and he was fired and replaced by Norman, who stepped in to complete producing and engineering. Norman‘s production work on Blizzard of Ozz is uncredited, though he did go on to produce all of Osbourne‘s albums prior to 1986’s The Ultimate Sin.
Tracklist:
Side One
- I Don’t Know
- Crazy Train
- Goodbye to Romance
- Dee
- Suicide Solution
Side Two
- Mr. Crowley
- No Bone Movies (Osbourne, Rhoads, Daisley, Lee Kerslake)
- Revelation (Mother Earth)
- Steal Away (The Night)
Credits
Ozzy Osbourne: lead vocals, harmony vocals
Randy Rhoads: guitars
Bob Daisley: bass, harmony vocals, gong, lyrics
Lee Kerslake: drums, percussion, tubular bells, timpani
Don Airey: keyboards
Production
Produced by Ozzy Osbourne, Randy Rhoads, Bob Daisley, and Lee Kerslake
Max Norman: engineer
Chris Athens: mastering at Sterling Sound, New York
Thom Panunzio, Herman Villacota: reissue engineers
Stephen Marcussen: reissue remastering
Randall William Rhoads (December 6, 1956 – March 19, 1982)
Lee Gary Kerslake (April 16, 1947 – September 19, 2020)
