If you play everyone in the world a Black Sabbath song, despite being considered one of the best heavy metal bands of all time, you are by no means going to get concise yes or no’s on whether or not it is good music. This is the divisive nature of art, as what some people like about a track, others will hate. Despite eclectic taste and plenty of time in the music industry, Ozzy Osbourne is no stranger to sound’s divisive nature.
Osbourne has never held back his opinion, and this has often seen him get in trouble, as a lot of his ill-considered points paint the Prince of Darkness in a particularly bad light. However, some of his opinions are bang on the money, at least they are when appealing to his fanbase, as is seen in his overt critique of house music.
In a clip, Osbourne is sitting in a chair, looking confused and disgusted, and a repetitive house song persistently plays in the background. The Black Sabbath singer quickly looks at the camera before shouting over the bassline, “That music, it’s like music to get your brain kicked in to… It’s like a four-hour-long record, all the same music, you know?” Eventually, when the song is cut off, Osbourne composes his thoughts momentarily before concluding that the silence “is the best part of the record”.
House music has always been a controversial genre. Whereas some people think it’s a lot of fun to listen to and is good to have on at parties and events, others criticise it for lacking creativity. Their criticism aligns with Ozzy Osbourne’s, as they say that every song sounds the same, and there is no sound variation throughout the entire genre.
Rock music and house music have never been able to get on. In the modern day, as strictly sticking to genre dissipates, we see a huge variety of playing styles merge, but house music and rock music have never really been able to get on. Some bands use electronic sounds in their rock music, but to utilise key parts of house in rock is pretty much unheard of.
The fact is that house is a legitimate form of music that stems from disco. Since its development, there have been several different branches of house music, and the result is that it is now one of the most popular genres of music on the planet.
Just because it is mainstream now, though, doesn’t mean that it is immune to criticism. Many of the rock community still disdain house, probably because both genres couldn’t be further away from one another. The result is that if Ozzy Osbourne ever tried to kick someone’s brain in for listening to house music, many die-hard rock fans would lend a boot.
