It seems the whole world has been in mourning since the death of rock icon Ozzy Osbourne, whose work with Black Sabbath solidified heavy metal as a genre, while his equally (if not more so) successful solo career has served as the soundtrack to generations. Specifically, the song ‘Crazy Train’ has stayed in the collective consciousness thanks to its placement in movies and its iconic guitar riff, which is a rite of passage for budding shredders.
As popular and ubiquitous as the song has been since its 1980 release, ‘Crazy Train’ has never been more popular.
The song has hit the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time in its 45 years, reaching number 46 on the August 2nd-dated chart. According to Billboard and Luminate, the song was streamed 9.2 million times in the U.S. to mark a 194% increase over the prior week. It also reached 2.4 million radio listeners and sold 11,000 downloads, which is up a whopping 1,184% increase.
‘Older songs are eligible to appear on the Hot 100 and genre-specific song consumption charts if in the top half of a ranking and with a meaningful reason for their return,’ Billboard explains of the anomaly. ‘Released in 1980 on Osbourne’s debut solo album Blizzard of Ozz, ‘Crazy Train’ did not make the Hot 100 upon its release despite becoming one of his signature songs. It did rise to No. 9 on the Mainstream Rock Airplay chart in July 1981.’
‘Crazy Train’ features one of the most recognizable and headbang-able riffs in heavy music. The song’s aggressive F# minor run was written by guitar legend Randy Rhoads, who brought a neo-classical approach to the table, while bassist Bob Daisley helped shape it into a full composition.
‘That signature riff in F-sharp-minor from Crazy Train was Randy’s, then I wrote the part for him to solo over, and Ozzy had the vocal melody,’ Daisley explained to Louder Sound. ‘The title came because Randy had an effect that was making a psychedelic chugging sound through his amp. Randy and I were train buffs, and I said: ‘That sounds like a crazy train.’ Ozzy had this saying ‘You’re off the rails!’ so I used that in the lyrics.’
Follow along with the official score.
Similarly, ‘Mama I’m Coming Home’ has jumped back onto the Hot 100 chart again for the first time in 33 years. The 1991 power ballad was one of the final songs Osbourne performed in his life during the epic metal event, Back to the Beginning, on July 5th. Audience members were visibly shaken as Osbourne, who was suffering from Parkinson’s Disease, fought his way through the song.
Taken from the album ‘No More Tears,’ ‘Mama I’m Coming Home’ is the handiwork of Zakk Wylde. The studio version also features Daisley on fretless bass to enhance and support the emotional quality of Wylde’s descending acoustic motif. At Back to the Beginning, Wylde and Osbourne were joined by Mike Inez on bass. Watch the emotional rendition and give it a shot on your own with the score below.
Osbourne died on July 22nd, just 17 days after his grand finale concert that raised over $190 million for charity. The Prince of Darkness may be gone, but his music will live forever.
