Tony Iommi has shared a deeply moving tribute to his lifelong friend and Black Sabbath bandmate Ozzy Osbourne, revealing that he still watches videos of the Prince of Darkness on YouTube because it makes him feel as though Ozzy is still here.
One year after the world lost one of heavy metal’s most unmistakable voices, the guitarist responsible for some of the heaviest riffs ever committed to tape has spoken about the friendship behind the legend.
Not the platinum records.
Not the sold-out stadiums.
Not the awards, the screaming crowds or the endless arguments over who truly invented heavy metal.
Just two old mates from Birmingham who helped change music forever — and continued ringing each other to discuss what was happening in their lives.
Tony wrote:
“Well, it’s now a year since Ozzy’s passing and I still can’t believe that he’s not with us.”
He then revealed:
“I watch him on YouTube and it feels like he’s still here with us.”
And honestly, that one lands harder than the opening note of Black Sabbath echoing through a darkened arena.
🖤 TWO OLD MATES WHO CHANGED THE WORLD
Before the mythology, reality television, stadium tours and mountains of outrageous rock ’n’ roll stories, Tony Iommi and Ozzy Osbourne were working-class lads from Birmingham trying to make some noise.
Alongside bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward, they formed Black Sabbath and created a sound heavier, darker and more intimidating than almost anything audiences had heard before.
Tony’s enormous riffs collided with Ozzy’s haunting voice, Geezer’s rumbling bass and Bill’s thunderous drumming to create the foundations of heavy metal.
Songs such as Black Sabbath, War Pigs, Iron Man, Paranoid, Children of the Grave and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath did not simply influence rock music.
They opened a portal and unleashed an entirely new genre.
Decades later, countless bands are still walking through that portal carrying downtuned guitars, black T-shirts and suspiciously large pedalboards.
But behind all that history was a friendship stretching back across most of their lives.
Tony explained that he and Ozzy remained in regular contact, often speaking every week or so.
Their conversations were not always about Black Sabbath, recording studios or enormous farewell concerts either. According to Iommi, the pair would frequently compare ailments before catching up on what they had been doing during the week.
That image is strangely wonderful.
Two genuine architects of heavy metal, responsible for terrifying parents across the globe, having a weekly chat about aches, pains and whatever had been occurring since their previous phone call.
Absolute legends — but still gloriously human.
📱 KEEPING OZZY CLOSE THROUGH YOUTUBE
Tony’s admission that he watches Ozzy on YouTube will feel familiar to millions of fans.
Since Ozzy’s death, people around the world have returned to old concert footage, interviews, documentaries, music videos and brilliantly chaotic television appearances.
One minute you are watching Black Sabbath tearing through Paranoid in the 1970s.
The next, you are twenty clips deep watching Ozzy shout at something in his house, laugh uncontrollably during an interview or stare at a presenter as though they have just asked him to explain cryptocurrency.
That is the strange power of online video.
A performance recorded decades ago can suddenly feel immediate again. A familiar voice fills the room, the crowd starts roaring and, for a few precious minutes, it feels as though nothing has changed.
For Tony, however, those videos are not simply footage of a famous singer.
They are memories of his friend.
He is not only seeing the Prince of Darkness commanding an audience. He is seeing the man he rehearsed with, travelled with, argued with, laughed with and stood beside during some of the most important moments in rock history.
🔥 ONE FINAL NIGHT IN BIRMINGHAM
Tony also reflected on the importance of Black Sabbath’s final performance at the monumental Back to the Beginning concert.
Held at Villa Park in Birmingham on 5 July 2025, the event brought the original Black Sabbath line-up — Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward — back together for one final performance.
Ozzy died just over two weeks later, aged 76.
That knowledge has made the concert feel even more significant.
What was already billed as a historic farewell became the final chapter in the live story of both Ozzy and Black Sabbath.
Tony wrote:
“I’m so glad that we were able to play one final show with the original line-up of Sabbath at the Back to the Beginning show in our hometown of Birmingham.”
It was more than another reunion.
It was four friends returning to the city where everything began.
The city of factories, smoke, industry and post-war streets that helped shape the dark, mechanical sound of Black Sabbath.
The city where four ordinary lads somehow created extraordinary music.
And the city where they were able to stand together one final time.
🎸 THE GODFATHER REMEMBERS THE PRINCE
Tony thanked fans for the extraordinary love and respect shown towards Ozzy during the past year.
From enormous public tributes and memorial events to handwritten messages, murals, shared memories and millions of replayed songs, the rock and metal community has refused to let Ozzy’s legacy fade quietly into history.
Nor should it.
Ozzy was never a quiet figure.
He was funny, unpredictable, flawed, warm, outrageous and completely impossible to replace.
He could command a stadium while sitting on a throne, turn an ordinary interview into glorious chaos and deliver a vocal line that sounded as though it had travelled directly from some haunted industrial wasteland.
Tony ended his message with words carrying more emotional weight than any elaborate tribute possibly could:
“There will never be another Ozzy. I miss you, my dear friend.”
No theatrical farewell.
No massive speech.
Just one mate missing another.
🦇 THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER OZZY
Tony is absolutely right.
There will never be another Ozzy Osbourne.
There may be other larger-than-life singers, other controversial performers and other musicians capable of holding tens of thousands of people in the palms of their hands.
But there will never be another kid from Aston who helped invent heavy metal, survived decades of madness, became a global television personality and remained unmistakably himself through every bizarre chapter.
His music continues to blast from bedrooms, pubs, festival campsites, record shops and battered car stereos across the planet.
New generations continue discovering Black Sabbath.
Young guitarists continue learning Tony’s riffs.
Fans continue shouting Ozzy’s name whenever the opening notes of Crazy Train explode from a sound system.
And somewhere, Tony Iommi occasionally opens YouTube, watches his old friend and feels as though he is still in the room.
That might be one of the most powerful legacies music can offer.
Ozzy may be gone, but every time somebody presses play, turns the volume up and hears that voice again, the Prince of Darkness returns for another song.
Ozzy forever. Black Sabbath forever. Heavy metal forever. 🖤🤘
💬 What is the Ozzy performance, interview or music video you always find yourself returning to?
Drop your favourite memory in the comments, turn the speakers up and let us celebrate the one and only Prince of Darkness.
Proudly Welsh. Proudly Loud. Zero Apologies. 🤘🔥
