The Prepper Broadcasting Network - RIP OZZY! My OZZFEST 98' Story

Episode Date: July 23, 2025

The legend passes. This is my story of the one and only time I saw Ozzy live. It was one hell of an adventure for sure! His influence had a profound affect on my life.

The The The legend has passed. Ozzy Osbourne. I want you guys to take just a brief listen of The Intrepid Commander back in his high school days. Hate it, kill it. Defilement. The album. The full studio release. Circa 2000 and probably two or one. I don't even remember. But suffice it to say, you know, for those of you who are unaware thus far, the legend, really the godfather of metal, the godfather of my childhood in terms of music.

Ozzy Osbourne passed away today, 76 years old, following a pretty massive concert with almost everybody who could exist. I'd say I'd like to be there, but I've been to so many concerts in my life. I've met a lot of rock stars in my life and you know when I was young it was a thing we did that it's like you want the real truth about it all it's always a letdown fundamentally you know. Kids if you're out there listening don't meet your heroes it's usually a letdown but I never met Ozzy I don't know could have been different I, you know, people are just people at the end of the day it's very rare that you can meet somebody who can

You know sort of like in a five to ten minute span that you get to meet them You've listened to them for you know hours on end and you know You want to be them that they can do something that makes you like wow, okay, you know, this is really meaningful impressive But I wanted to talk to you about Ozzy and walk you through Ozfest 1998 for those of you who are interested if you're not interested and look we do a lot of podcasts but I have to give honor to this guy because he gave birth to everything. That really I floated my, you know, fifth through twelfth grade life on really, maybe eleventh. Twelfth I started to splinter a

little bit and get into other music. But I was a metalhead all through those years, one hundred percent sat at the table with the freaks, you know what I mean? Dated the freak girls. I mean, it was the, this was my life. Had a band from probably sixth, seventh grade on. Really got really sort of dedicated to that. You know, we put out like three CDs worth of music in that span of time, really more like eighth and ninth grade till about 11th grade. We put about three CDs out You know did live shows the whole thing. I mean had a had a

Blast as a high school rock star. I mean really fun. You know what I mean? nothing notable nothing big never really made any money or anything like that, but it was big fish in a little pond kind of thing you know what I mean and None of it would have been You know the bands that I got hooked on early, the Korns and the Cole Chambers and the Panteras and the Machine Heads, you know, these bands that I got hooked on, White Zombie, yeah, White Zombie was a big one, these bands that I got hooked on early, man, they, you know, they're all born out of Ozzy Osbourne 100% like born out of

that with other influences of course you know when I when I think of like Rob Zombie and White Zombie though that's really sort of like Ozzy Osbourne's kid musically speaking stage presence speaking I saw him in the Family Values tour in like oh God, 99 maybe. 99, 2000 at the latest and his show was unbelievable. Giant robots on the stage and stuff. Fun. You know what I mean? Like a real live show, like fun, like fun, presentation, a performance, if you will,

even if you will, I was lucky enough to see Ozzy live. Camden, New Jersey, 1998. I guess I was 12, way too young to be at OzFest. I'll tell you that right now. Way too young for the day that was ahead of me. I gotta thank my cousin Dan. My cousin Dan, you know, we're not on great terms. We haven't been for decades, but when I was getting into metal man, he was the guy who took me there He was the guy who took me to a lot of the shows early on before I was young enough I mean old enough to go myself with my friends He took me to my very first show to see Faith No More in 1997 a little band called

Limp Bizkit opened up for Faith No More in 1997 and got boot off the stage almost immediately at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia. The lead guitarist, Wes Borland, came out and he had this mask on, this really weird mask, and he was walking back and forth and they were trying to like tease the crowd into their song counterfeit. And it's a slow beginning, the song is kind of a slow, slow beginning guitar riff, and he's walking back and forth with his goofy mask on in the Philly. The Philly MFs just weren't having it. You know what I mean? And they started throwing shit and booing and we never heard Limp Bizkit. They left.

They got pissed. Screw you, Philly! All that kind of stuff and they left. And then it was good. We were one band closer to the main act, which was all we were there for anyhow. But this was a big deal, you know, the Oz Fest was the biggest deal. And it was the biggest deal because the Oz Fest was a festival of metal. You know, it wasn't just one, for those of you who don't know, it wasn't just like an Ozzy show. It was like 20 bands, two stages, crazy. You know what I mean? It was a festival of metal, just metal, no punk, nothing else, right? And for me, it was particularly important

because I had fallen head over heels, myself and all my friends really, by this point, had fallen head over heels in love with this band, Coal Chamber. I mean, just, you know, as insane about an artist as you can be, right? Crazy. Like, like if my parents had, it was that age where it was like, if you could change yourself into a person, I'd have changed myself into the lead singer, you know, sort of like almost akin to the transgender feeling you know what I mean like I don't feel like me I feel like Dez Fafara from Cole Chamber but anyhow you know how kids are you I'm sure you remember being that age like and this

was the first time they were opening the main stage at Ozfest 1998, Cole Chamber was, and I get to go see them, man. I get to go see them in person. And I cannot wait to see them, man. I'm just losing my mind. Listen, the lineup was unbelievable also, by the way, on the main stage. We had a crazy lineup. We had Cole Chamber opening, right? I loved all of them, all four of them. The bass guitarist was a girl. I was in love with her. Raina, Raina Foss. Okay, 7 Dust was following Cole Chamber on the main stage. Huge band that I was

just in love with. Really standout band. And they had a black lead singer who was unbelievable. Like very, like I don't think there was another black lead singer in metal at the time and he was awesome man Martin Marshawn La shawn I can't remember he was he was unstoppable I was a huge Sepultura fan Right this might all sound like gobbledygook if you weren't into metal, but whatever bear with me Huge Sepultura fan huge fan of the guitar playing dreadheaded Brazilian, Max Cavalera right? I loved him. And because at the time I was doing some of the same things at band practice playing guitar, singing you know pretending to be him. Sepultura broke up, he started a new band called Soulfly

and Soulfly was playing too and it was the first time I ever saw them live. Couldn't wait, right? Couldn't wait to see Soulfly live. Limp Bizkit was on after them, you know, a few years after, or a year, I guess it was just a year after. They were much more popular. And then, you know, maybe we'll talk about the end line up later, because it was kind of crazy. There's a second stage, too, at Osfest, you know, and unfortunately, they play at the same time, which kind of stinks. But my cousin Dan in 1998 left me to watch Cold Chamber. Twelve years old, sitting there.

Kind of weird. I didn't really care that much, but I thought like, oh, he was nervous. But I think it was fine. I think he did the right thing. But anyway, he left me. He wanted to go second stage. Dan was super music guy. I mean, he knew all the stuff coming up. And he wanted to go see this band, man. I never even heard of them. Nobody heard of them at the time. But he was in love with them. And man, was he right. Because they were tremendous, especially back in the day. He was going to see this crazy band, this crazy one-off band with this weird lead singer with big long dreads and tattoos on his hands

called Incubus. He was going to go see I Wish You Were Here Incubus long before the flowy freaking Japanese anime hairdo that the lead singer has now. Long before they were super popular and on the radio. They were an amazing band back in the day. The second stage opened up with another crazy band that nobody wanted to hear and you couldn't even believe it when you heard them, right? I heard them from a distance and I was like, get me the hell out of here. This crazy band, right? With, uh, what, with the, this Armenian freak show of a band with this lead singer with a big old beard looked like Osama bin Laden or something like that.

Called system of a down. You ever heard of them? You didn't hear of them back then. Nobody knew who the hell they were back then. This was pre chop suey days. You know what I mean? Nobody knew. Nobody knew who the hell they were back then. This was pre chop suey days You know what I mean? Nobody knew Nobody knew system of down you went there and you saw something you never saw before you like I don't even know Like I think I like this Sometimes and then I think it's the goofiest thing I've ever seen at other times

But suffice it to say, you know, we went we went into Camden, New Jersey Head headed on into the shows. I remember being in my glory. The Cole Chamber show was unbelievable. They had all these giant stuffed animals and toy soldiers and crazy shit. Big blocks, like those blocks with the numbers and letters

on the stage. And it was glorious, man. It was glorious to see. It was a beautiful thing. And Dan went and saw the system of a down and you know the plot thickens too by the way. The plot thickens because you never know who you're going to run into at a metal show. I didn't know anybody. I knew people through Dan, right? But I'm 12 and there's one angel in the world that is so far above my reach. But an angel she was nonetheless to me.

And her name was Gina. And Gina showed up at OzFest. We were between stages. We were probably getting food or something like that. I don't remember what we were doing. Maybe taking our leek. I can't remember. We were running into Gina. And the only problem with running into Gina was we were running into Gina's boyfriend. Now that wasn't really a problem at the time because I was 12 and I think she was 18 so it didn't really matter but in my head it mattered right in my head it was like she was like Dream Weaver you know like you know the Dream Weaver song that's what it was like when I would see Gina Mack at shows and I was relentless with that girl too I got her

number from my cousin Dan I call her all the time and bother. There's no chance in hell PBN family, you know what I mean? It was just it was illegal fundamentally. But I didn't care. You know what I mean? I didn't care. I was in love. Just sitting there watching these crazy adult metalheads talk. I'm 12 years old watching them. I remember Gina, she had like... It was a gory amount of hicickies all up and down her neck And I remember looking at it. I remember my cousin Dan said Jesus dude. What are you doing? You're beating on her or something and it was funny And we parted ways after seeing Gina so that was sweet that was cool for me at 12 years old that kept the dream alive

Right that kept this dream alive that that would ever I don't even know where that girl lived I don't know what high school she went to I have no clue anything about her all I knew is I'd hang out with Dan we'd go to shows and Gina would be there and I'd be like oh oh it is my lady it is my love oh god it's so funny when you're young and crazy and stupid. But anyway, and Bored, remember Bored? So the night falls, or begins to fall. And the second stage is a wrap, Motorhead wrapped it up. It was a cool second stage, just not Life of Agony, Killgore was an okay band, they

weren't too bad. But anyway, the main stage is bringing forth the night now and everyone's under the main stage and in the lawn and the pot smoking and the whole thing, drunk and disorderly, having a ball. Megadeth comes on. Megadeth did to date, okay, and I've been in the front row of concerts. I was not in the front row at OzFest, but I've been in the front row of many concerts. Megadeth did a song, I mean a set that at Ozfest, but I've been in the front row many concerts. Megadeth did a song, I mean a set that was the loudest set I've ever heard, by a long

shot. It was so loud that I thought like, I don't know if this is going to permanently damage me or not. Like that was my thought. I remember looking at Dan going like, he was he went a loud with his mouth and And yeah, I that that that said a lot with Dan, you know what I mean? That said a hell of a lot But anyway Megadeth goes off I

Get the chance of a lifetime to see tool live Tool comes on. It's it's 1998 guys. It's Enema, you know what I mean, it's probably in my opinion their best CD ever. And I mean that was just a crazy and magical time, you know what I mean, watching Tool do their thing live. Not that watching Tool is like magnificent, they're kind of boring to watch, you know, they're not like a super stage show. But it was cool to see Maynard live, you know, another superhero in my life back in those days for sure. And then by time Tool wrapped it up, man, it was nighttime. It was nighttime and the King himself came out. You know, Ozzy, the man who put the Ozfest together, put the

whole thing together, the guy behind it all, and it was a different vibe. I mean, it really was. It was a different vibe. It was, you know, you have Cole Chamber on there. Some people know the songs. You get up to Megadeth, you know, a lot more people know the songs. Tool, there were a lot of people singing.

Ozzy comes on, and it's a sing-along. I bought a two CD set the moment Dan told me we were going to Osfest. I can't remember how to save up money. I think it was like 60 bucks for a ticket in 1998. It was expensive. Now it's like you can't even go see a regular band for 60 bucks. There's some run of the mill band you can't go see for 60 bucks anymore. One band. But anyway, it was, big deal back in the day. And

the night turned into a lighter infested, pot smoke infested sing-along and it was magic man. It was magic. It really was amazing because you sort of watched the backwards evolution of metal. You know what I mean? You watched Ozzy to Megadeth, you watched Megadeth to Motorhead, you watched Megadeth to Limp Bizkit, and how crazy of a jump that is, but still the same thing. And then you see bands like Cold Chamber and 7 Dust, who are holding on to their metal roots, but adding different flair. All the way down to bands like Incubus and System of a Down, dust who were holding on to their metal roots but adding different flair all the

way down to bands like Incubus and System of a Down who were doing things that were really different and really fun and it was just like yeah it was just a magic night man. Ozfest 98 I wouldn't trade it for the world it was a blast Dan I know you're not listening but thank you man thank you for taking me those shows and and your influence you had on me as a big cousin it was really did direct my life in some fun fun directions man you know you know now that my mother's passed I could tell you the fact that we were out there and we were I never wanted to get Dan in

trouble but we're out there doing Whippets in the parking lot. At the end of these shows, they used to come around and sell the balloons full of laughing gas. And they were expensive. They were like 20 or 30 bucks a balloon. It was crazy. And yeah, we were out there, the whole crew, Gina, they're out there doing the Whippets in the parking lot.

And I remember falling falling probably passing out into a car not a moving car but into a car then my balloon went you know took off into the air and my cousin was like okay I think that's about enough let's not kill him before we get him back I don't remember I think I spent the night at his house that night. I can't remember what happened afterwards. Imagine that. And that was it, man. But yeah. Ozzy returns to the father. You know, eating the bats off and playing with all the satanic shit that he did. I have no doubt that he was probably at heart a really good guy and I don't know it's just one of those moments man it's a big moment the passing of Ozzy Osbourne the passing of sort of the progenitor of metal and without him my life would have been very different there's very few people like

that there's very few superstars like that right where you can say like without that person's influence my personal life would have been very different, but it would have been very, very different, guys. You know? I floated. My ship was 100% sailed on heavy metal through high school. It was the people I hung out with. It was what I did on the weekends.

It was how I got through the toughest, toughest moments in my life. I mean, in that song, which was called Surreal at the beginning of the show, the very last lyric in that, the very last line in that is, tonight I'm overwhelmed, tomorrow I'll be fine. And yeah. We all have those things that helped us get through, you know? And my friends were, my band was and heavy metal was you know metal really not even heavy

But I get like I think a spray hair spray and makeup when I say heavy metal. I really talking about metal I'm really talking about this lineup There's a few bands missing off of it, but I don't want to get into that But yeah Rest in peace Ozzy wild wild the legend is laid to rest Talk to you soon folks