Watch Ozzy Osbourne’s Nostalgic ‘Ordinary Man’ Video
Ozzy Osbourne looks back at joyous and painful memories in his new "Ordinary Man" video.
The clip, set in the singer's hometown of Birmingham, England, finds Osbourne watching a home movie of his life in a movie theater. The images move chronologically - from his childhood to the early days of Black Sabbath to his solo career to home life with wife Sharon and his children to the family's stint on reality TV show The Osbournes to his recent live performances. The video also touches on darker moments, flashing a mugshot from his 1984 arrest for public intoxication.
"Ordinary Man," which features both Elton John and Slash, is the title track from Osbourne's recently issued 12th solo LP. The record also features "It's a Raid," a collaboration with rapper Post Malone.
Red Hot Chill Peppers drummer Chad Smith, who played on and co-wrote the bulk of the album, detailed the origins of the power ballad in a recent interview.
“Ozzy loves the Beatles — it's his favorite band,” Smith told SiriusXM. “So he's, like, 'We need something mid-tempo, not so heavy.' So [producer Andrew Watt] had this little piano idea thing, and we made it into this song, and it's epic. And Slash plays the solo. It's so epic, there's two Slash solos. ... We decided, 'Well, it has a piano. Who is a really good piano player? … Let's get the Rocket Man. … And he played the piano on the song, and he plays it beautifully, of course. And then we're like, 'Why don't we have him sing a verse?’”
Osbourne, who has struggled with a series of health issues in recent years, was forced to cancel his entire 2020 tour in order to seek additional medical treatments. He also scrapped a planned screening of the documentary Biography: The Nine Lives of Ozzy Osbourne at the South by Southwest festival due to concerns over the coronavirus, but the entire event has since been canceled.