Ozzy Osbourne chooses his favorite Paul McCartney song
(Credits: Far Out / Ozzy Osbourne / Linda McCartney)
Towards the end of the 1960s, the Beatles’ collective momentum began to falter as the four members became increasingly disillusioned. After the public announcement of the band’s breakup in April 1970, fans mourned the end of an era. However, the Beatles had finished their race and changed history forever. With this announcement, they passed the baton to a new generation of rock stars, including Ozzy Osbourne.
The Beatles’ influence was most evident in bands that combined the psychedelic rock wave with the later complexities of prog rock. In particular, bands such as Genesis, Yes and Pink Floyd took up the abstract qualities of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in their early masterpieces. Although less pronounced, the Beatles also played a part in the creation of heavy metal.
Some musicologists trace heavy metal back to ‘Helter Skelter’, Paul McCartney’s powerful hit from The White AlbumOthers claim that John Entwistle of The Who invented metal a few years earlier with “Boris the Spider.” That’s a valid counterargument, considering McCartney admitted The Who’s influence. “The Who had made a song that was the loudest, wildest rock’n’roll, the dirtiest thing they’d ever done,” he said, looking back on “Helter Skelter” in 1985. “And we decided to make the loudest, meanest, sweatiest rock number we could.”
Whatever the case, the Beatles’ influence on metal was huge, but largely indirect and untraceable. Ozzy Osbourne is one of the most obvious connections, as he was a huge fan throughout his life. “Helter Skelter” certainly raised eyebrows in 1968, but the Fab Four had already won him over with some surprisingly mellow favorites like “Yesterday” and “Hey Jude.”
Although we generally associate John Lennon with the rougher and more provocative music of the Beatles, most of Osbourne’s favorite Beatles songs seem to come from the McCartney side of the partnership. Over the years, the two have met several times and conveyed a charming level of mutual appreciation. “I’m a huge Beatles fan, and when I first met Paul McCartney, it was like meeting Jesus Christ,” Ozzy said on The Osbournes Podcast. “He was a very nice man, a very nice man.”
Speak with The sun On another occasion, Osbourne said that meeting McCartney for the first time was “the highlight of my life.” This statement is no exaggeration either. The Sabbath singer has repeatedly stated what a decisive influence the Beatles had on his life. “Imagine going to bed today and the world is black and white, and then waking up and everything is in color,” he told Blabbermouth. “That’s what it was like!’ That’s the profound effect it had on me.”
When the Beatles split up in 1970, Osbourne had already made a name for himself with Black Sabbath’s eponymous debut album, and Paranoid was imminent. Despite the exhilarating highs and paralyzing lows of his career, he never forgot his greatest influences and followed the Beatles’ solo careers closely.
When he chose his top ten favorite songs for a contribution to Rolling StoneOsbourne chose three Beatles classics and also saved room for McCartney and Wings’ song “Live and Let Die,” the theme song to the 1973 James Bond film of the same name. Osbourne called the symphonic rock anthem “a damn good song,” before adding, “I love it!”
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