In a heartfelt conversation on August 6 during Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk on SiriusXM, Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy spoke openly about the impact of losing legendary Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne, who passed away on July 22 at the age of 76.
“The impact has been huge. I don’t know if I’ve felt a loss like this… This is as big as John Lennon or whatever,” Portnoy admitted (via Blabbermouth). “Obviously, in our world, in the metal world, you have losses like Ronnie James Dio or Lemmy or Eddie Van Halen, and those are massive. But this has been a whole other level of mainstream. Because he transcends metal, he transcends rock even, he transcends music. He’s a pop culture figure. So this has been a huge one.”
The drummer explained that he has been revisiting Ozzy’s music since the news broke. “First, I was going through the whole Sabbath catalog after the Back To The Beginning farewell concert [in early July],” he said. “And then after he passed, I’ve been going back through the solo catalog. And it’s been a great, great musical trip to be revisiting all this stuff. It’s amazing. What a career. But, yeah, what a loss.”
For Portnoy, the fact that Ozzy had one last chance to stand before his fans makes the loss bittersweet. “What a blessing that that happened, that he got to say goodbye to the fans, do a final show surrounded by every band that loves him and grew up with him and he influenced,” he said. “And what a blessing to have done that.”
He even wondered whether the preparation for that farewell might have taken a toll. “Now, I don’t wanna be like a conspiracy theorist, but I wonder if some of that contributed. ‘Cause it had to have been so stressful, it had to have been so exhausting. It probably took a lot out of him to go through rehearsals and everything like that. So I can only imagine. But thank God he got to do that show and to have that goodbye.”
That final performance — held at Villa Park in Birmingham before 40,000 fans in person and over five million via livestream — is something Portnoy will never forget.
He threw the greatest farewell concert of all time. Incredible… It was a gift for him and a gift for the fans and his loved ones. What a way to say goodbye, really. I mean, you’ve seen these tribute concerts, like the Taylor Hawkins tribute concert, which was amazing, and the Freddie Mercury tribute concert. But this was a rare case where you had a tribute concert when he actually got to be there and attend it and be part of it. So, really, it was the ultimate farewell. Incredible.”
According to his death certificate filed in London, Ozzy Osbourne died of a heart attack. He also suffered from coronary artery disease and Parkinson’s disease, conditions that had been a challenge for years.
