In 1981, the rivalry intensified between Ozzy Osbourne and his former band, Black Sabbath. Both parties were releasing singles around the same time to see who would chart better. And their albums of 1981 were released three days apart, to see which would sell better.
First up, Mob Rules. You know how when you listen to a good album for the first few times, or when you revisit one for the first time in years, the tracks resonate? They get stuck in your head, and sometimes you can hear the next track's opening notes before they even begin. Well, I've listened through Mob Rules 3-4 times in the past two weeks, and very little of it has resonated here. It goes in one ear, out the other. That being said, I don't find any songs bad, just forgettable. Even the decent ones. Maybe it's the slowed down pace from Heaven and Hell? Mob Rules feels more straightforward, carefully constructed, than its predecessor, which doesn't leave room for surprises. Maybe it's the departure of Bill Ward, and a new drumming style? On that note, it's worth mentioning Bill Ward left the band before Mob Rules. He missed Ozzy and was dealing with his own inner demons, so it's understandable. It would be the first of many departures of Sabbath members, many of whom would later re-enter, demonstrating the band going forward would lack a consistent line-up and sound, which begs the question of how well the bandmates actually got along.
Three days after Mob Rules hit the shelves, Ozzy and his band released Diary of a Madman. Like Blizzard of Ozz, it bursts out of the gate with two pretty good, easy-to-digest singles (that stuck with me more than the songs on Mob Rules). Also like Blizzard of Ozz, this one is easy to interpret. Flying High Again was reactionary to his successful first solo album, a way of saying he moved on from Sabbath and enjoyed being in the spotlight again, making the best music he had since 1975. You Can't Kill Rock and Roll was self-explanatory. As we get into the meat of the Diary of a Madman, it strays away from the direct raw power we were accustomed to from Blizzard of Ozz. The songs get a little atmospheric and sometimes mystical-sounding. Although the atmosphere fed into my pet peeve with the album. I couldn't help but notice 5 of the album's tracks have a 40-60 second fade-out. There's a time and place for that sort of thing, if a song is a closer, or an epic. However, not every song on Diary of a Madman featuring a long fade-out needed one. By the end of Track 6, I was tired of it. Still, not a half bad album.
Overall, I think Mob Rules and Diary of a Madman are a notch below their predecessors. And again, I think Ozzy wins this round. I like DoaM a little more than Mob Rules. They're both better than the last two Osbourne Sabbath albums.
One thing is for sure, these two albums were going head-to-head against each other. The record labels, the media, the bandmembers themselves, probably all fueled this rivalry. And the statistics clearly indicate Ozzy won this round. DoaM far outsold Mob Rules, and the Ozzy singles charted better than Sabbath's. Ozzy may have taken pleasure that he was winning the commercial battle against his former band. However, as we move into 1982, both Ozzy and Sabbath ramped up the rivalry even more, while both sides were dealt serious blows from within.
I have to say that, at the time, when Ozzy left Sabbath, i thought that he had made a huge mistake (not understanding the machinations going on in the band) and that he would do nothing decent on his own. I was proved well and truly wrong.
There's more cohesion to Diary... than Mob Rules and it's a far more focused album for me.
Good point about the continual line up changes with Sabbath around this time and subsequently. I don't think that it was good for the band, the individuals concerned and the reputation of Sabbath TBH
Anyway. As I said, great write up and you pretty much captured my thoughts on the two albums but far more eloquently than I could
Having lived through that time, you would know better than us about Sabbath's reputation at the time. But I think the Dio years are looked upon somewhat fondly nowadays. A lot of people like the Dio albums. And in fairness to Mob Rules, Tracks 1 & 3 have grown on me, and overall the album isn't bad. However, I just can't get behind Repo's comment of 'Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules sounded completely different from Mach I Sabbath but were every bit as good.' It sounds like Johnnyo and I lean more towards Ozzy's 1980 and '81 releases than those of Dio-led Black Sabbath, whereas Repo leans the other way.
Updated rankings:
1. Paranoid
2. Black Sabbath
3. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
4. Master of Reality
5. Vol 4
6. Sabotage
7. Blizzard of Ozz
8. Heaven and Hell
9. Diary of a Madman
10. Mob Rules
11. Technical Ecstasy
12. Never Say Die
Personally, I LOVE both The Randy Rhodes Years of Ozzy and the Dio Years of Sabbath. In fact, I think Ozzy AND Black Sabbath pretty much owned the Metal Years of 1980-1982. It's just soooo hard to compare the two. As I said a bit earlier....
Repo wrote:
• Blizzard of Ozz and Heaven & Hell are such different animals. Kind of cool how different sounding the ex-couple became after just ONE album. They're pretty much in two separate sub-genres of Metal immediately.
• Ozzy hooking up with an Eddie Van Halenesque neoclassical gunslinger - Randy Rhodes -and taking Van Halen's guitar-centic Hard Rock meets Glam another crucial step into Hair Metal territory. Just as importantly but more singular, the Gothic Rock elements of Ozzy's first 3 albums is pretty much unequaled by any band. Perhaps the best Gothic Hard Rock of all time.
Ozzy owes the principle songwriter of the Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman - Bob Daisley - pretty much everything. Ozzy really lucked out getting hooked up with the right people. Randy Rhodes & Bob Daisley were a dream team! I LOVE the goth-metal-neoclassical concoction they came up with.
BUT, Black Sabbath really lucked out getting Dio too! It really was a mutually beneficial breakup.
I consider Ronnie James Dio as one of the most iconic Metal Vocalists of all time. He's right up there with Ozzy & Halford.
And if I had to Rank Dio's Discography it would be sth like....
1. Dio - Holy Diver
2. Black Sabbath - Mob Rules
3. Rainbow - Rising
4. Black Sabbath - Heaven & Hell
5. Dio - Last In Line
6. Rainbow - Long Live Rock 'n Roll
7. Dio - Dream Evil
8. Dio - Sacred Heart
.... & then I'd have to really twiddle my thumbs and relisten.
I think Dio has a very unique & powerful sound/vision that he brought to all 3 of these projects. LBH, Dio's Sound & Vision is one of the most important ingredients of what makes metal M-E-T-A-L.! \m/
Agreed Repo. Nice to be talking all things Sabb / Ozzy again.
I guess because RJD replaced Ozzy, at the time, I really didn't think that Dio's voice worked for Sabb but, looking back, I think that was because he replaced the rock god that was Ozzy. I look back on the Dio albums far more favourably now than I ever did then.
Is his greatest work. A superb collection of songs, brilliantly preformed by stellar musicians. Still one of my favourite Heavy Rock / Metal albums of all time (Bob Daisley involved here as well of course)
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Repo
