Special Issue – Ozzy Osbourne – June 2026

Edited by Asya Draganova (Birmingham City University, UK) and Benjamin Torrens (independent, UK)

For rock and metal communities around the world, 2025 was a year marked by Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath’s final performance and symbolic homecoming, Back to the Beginning, at Villa Park in Birmingham (UK), minutes away from the childhood homes of the four original members of the band. The city was transformed into an unprecedented site of pilgrimage for metal musicians and fans from all over the world. Ozzy’s passing just sixteen days later inspired an outpouring of tributes and reflections on the impact that he and Black Sabbath have had on many of us, and on the evolution of music scenes, styles, and sounds globally.

This special edited issue of Riffs explores the legacies of Ozzy Osbourne through a range of short written pieces, interviews, and visual contributions. The editors of this special issue, were led to the idea for this publication through a combination of research curiosity and our own biographical experiences, individual and shared. It seemed fitting for the journal to capture a conversation involving the perspectives of academic researchers, music industry professionals, cultural activists, and music artists. We gave our contributors complete freedom to articulate their thoughts, inviting them to honour Ozzy’s contribution to popular culture but also to reflect on a complex person, exploring rather than editing out problematic aspects of his life story. Starting with some existing contacts, we let our exploration snowball, resulting in an issue which represents the global reach and impact of Ozzy and Sabbath, and also highlighting their significance for the cultural identity, heritage, and the future music city image of Birmingham.

The full issue is available here.

Each of the articles in this special edited issue of Riffs are listed below. Follow the title links to view and download individual PDFs.

Design work by Iain A. Taylor. Riffs front cover design by Adam Williams.

Asya Draganova and Benjamin Torrens – Into the Journal: An editorial note

Asya Draganova and Benjamin Torrens – Back to the beginning, a night at “the bench”, and Sabbath memories: A scattered diary of the genesis

Part 1: Back to the beginnings of Black Sabbath and heavy metal: Birmingham and beyond

Jez Collins interviewed by Asya Draganova – Jez Collins: On Ozzy, Sabbath and the history of Birmingham as a music city

Jim Simpson – Ozzy Osbourne

Jeremy Wallach – Metal’s trickster hero

Gérôme Guibert – When Black Sabbath wasn’t the founding band of heavy metal

Part 2: Diaries of mad fans and academics

Jasmine Hazel Shadrack – “What is This that Stands Before Me?”: Ozzy Osbourne and the legacy of heaviness

Tom O’Boyle – Life lessons from the diaries of a madman

Peter J. Newton with Louis Clark Jnr – Hooked on… Ozzy?

Part 3: Making things happen: Industry reflections on Ozzy and Sabbath

Mike Exeter interviewed by Asya Draganova – Mike Exeter: On working with Black Sabbath as a sound engineer, producer, and…“cheerleader”

Tim Mobbs – Backstage to the beginning

Katherine Hogarth – Forging identity: Birmingham, heavy metal

Part 4: Thematic Sabbath

Sally Grant – Purple Reign: Ozzy Osbourne, surrealism and the art of becoming

David Gange – “Shrouded in Dark Wilderness”: Ozzy as prophet of earth’s ravaging or redemption

Clive Tonge – My first ever gig: Ozzy Osbourne’s Blizzard of Ozz

Part 5: Voices from the birthplace of metal music

Han and Liv of Meatdripper interviewed by Asya Draganova – Taking Birmingham on Meatdripper’s journey

Poppy Herbert – An honest account of music passion, hard work, and a legend’s legacy

Dan Hudson – Why aren’t Birmingham Airport taking the Ozzy airport campaign seriously?

Sam John Jones – Photographing Sabbath City