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Jack Black lavished praise on Ozzy Osbourne last night (October 19) as the actor inducted the rock icon into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Osbourne, 75, was being honored by the institution for his lengthy solo career, having previously been inducted in 2006 as a member of heavy metal pioneers Black Sabbath.
Black, 55, compared Osbourne to another legendary hellraiser by saying he had: “so much charisma, the Jack Nicholson of rock.”
The School of Rock star opened his speech by reeling off a list of Osbourne’s jobs over the years: “Plumber, car horn tuner, slaughterhouse worker, the greatest frontman in the history of rock and roll.”
He went on to recall the first time he played one of Osbourne’s records, Blizzard of Ozz, at the age of 13, saying: “When the needle hit, the vinyl heaven opened up above me, I don’t know. Then track two, ‘Crazy Train.’ There was an explosion of colors in my brain. ‘Suicide Solution,’ ‘Mr Crowley,’ ‘Revelation,’ even ‘Goodbye to Romance.’ You best believe Ozzy could take it down a notch. He could do it all. Blizzard of Ozz was the best thing I’d ever heard. A heavy metal masterpiece.”
Black went on to point out that while “a lot has been made” of Osbourne’s “evil alliance with the Dark Lord Satan.” In truth, “Ozzy is a loving father, and husband, and friend, loyal to his family and friends to the end of the world and back.”
He concluded by telling young music fans that while they could “go stream Post Malone and Taylor Swift and get all the warm hugs you need for your broken hearts,” they might instead “stay up all night and get your minds blown by Ozzy’s entire catalog for the first time.”
Elsewhere at the event an eclectic mix of artists was inducted into the institution, including Mary J Blige, Cher, Dave Matthews Band, Foreigner, Peter Frampton, Kool & The Gang and A Tribe Called Quest, alongside Osbourne in the performer category.
Alexis Korner, John Mayall and Big Mama Thornton were also honored with the Musical Influence Award, while Jimmy Buffett, MC5, Dionne Warwick and Norman Whitfield received the Musical Excellence Award.
Earlier this week, Ozzy Osbourne spoke out after the apparently random shooting of his former guitarist Jake E Lee in Las Vegas, calling it “another senseless act of gun violence.”
