OPINION: Jack Black once said that hearing Ozzy Osbourne's 'Blizzard of Ozz' for the first time "changed his whole brain", and now, in 2025, watching him tear up track six from that record has done the same for me.
Jack was a ten-year-old when he first got his mitts on Ozzy's debut solo album, right around the age I was when I fell in love with the Prince of Darkness after watching his reality show, 'The Osbournes'.
My older brothers introduced me to Black Sabbath when I was a toddler, but I sunk my teeth into Ozzy's solo stuff as a pre-teen. I used to play 'Mr Crowley' on repeat on family road trips, miming organ-playing, furiously air-guitaring and butchering the vocals.
By the time I was at intermediate school, 'School of Rock' was easily one of my favourite movies, constantly quoted around the playground. And once I was at uni, my flatmates and I performed Tenacious D's self-titled album, front to back, in the living room, almost nightly.
Anyway, all of this to say that watching Jack Black note-perfect NAIL my favourite Ozzy song, flanked by a band of young musical prodigies a la 'School of Rock', at the farewell show for Sabbath and their original frontman was enough to make a thirty-something metal fan shed a tear of joy.
The performance - a surprise addition to the 'Back to the Beginning' live stream over the weekend - was pre-recorded, but that does in no way impinge upon its majesty or awesomeness.
Watching it alongside the original, which I highly recommend, illustrates the reason for the pre-record: Jack and his supremely talented young band-mates have paid tribute to the original 1981 TV performance of the song.
Not only has Jack donned the iconic blue tasselled shirt emblazoned with 'OZZY' in rhinestones, but Roman Morello, son of Rage Against The Machine's Tom Morello, plays the Polka Dot Flying V belonging to Ozzy's late great guitarist Randy Rhodes.
Jack even picks up Roman during the second solo of the song, a nod to the iconic moment Ozzy hoisted Randy aloft during his final concert in 1982 before his untimely death.
The rest of the band is made up of other jaw-droppingly good musicians at the start of their careers, Revel Ian, son of Anthrax's Scott Ian, Hugo Weiss on keyboard, Roya Felz on bass, and 15-year-old Yoyoka Soma on drums, who first went viral for covering Led Zeppelin when she was just eight.
Jack's stage presence and powerful voice is no surprise, but what is stunning is just how well he knows the song, Ozzy's mannerisms and how such a lovable dude can so easily channel the Prince of Darkness.
This YouTube commenter might have summed it up best: "Jack has a PHD in the song, like he knows every single nuance of delivery. Every chortled larynx, every broken shred, every push into the nasal and then back out again....He's the real effing deal, it seems. And of course, the kids crushed it."
It's got to be a mammoth, terrifying task to honour a bunch of rock legends as they watch on (from this mortal plane or beyond), but Jack and his tribute band make it look effortless.
And yes, before anyone comes at me - Heart performing 'Stairway to Heaven' in front of the surviving members of Led Zeppelin with Jason Bonham, son of late John Bonham on drums, backed by an unreal choir, has held the title of best rock cover ever until now. And deservingly so - if you can bring Robert Plant to tears, you're doing something right.
For many, that historic 2012 performance will remain number one, or there will be others - my mum is obsessed with Disturbed's cover of 'Sound Of Silence'. But for me, so many crucial elements of my musical upbringing combined with a send-off for one of my all-time favourite artists is almost too much to bear.
In the best f*cking way.
