Mike Portnoy Calls Ozzy Osbourne’s Passing a Monumental Loss: “This Is as Big as John Lennon”

With the music industry still processing the passing of Ozzy Osbourne, the Prince of Darkness continued to entertain fans all over the world. Since his death, Spotify saw a massive surge in streams surrounding Ozzy and Black Sabbath. For Ozzy, he went from 12.4 million monthly listeners to 18.7 million. And looking at Black Sabbath, they climbed from 19.8 million to 24.6 million listeners. A true pioneer in heavy metal, Dream Theater’s Mike Portnoy discussed the singer’s legacy, considering the loss on the level of John Lennon. 

Videos by American Songwriter

Appearing on Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk, Portnoy opened up about Ozzy’s death. “The impact has been huge. I don’t know if I’ve felt a loss like this… This is as big as John Lennon or whatever. Obviously, in our world, in the metal world, you have losses like [Ronnie James] Dio or Lemmy or Eddie Van Halen, and those are massive.” 

With Portnoy seeing the impact Ozzy had on more than just heavy metal, he continued, “This has been a whole other level of mainstream. Because he transcends metal, he transcends rock even, he transcends music. He’s a pop culture figure. So this has been a huge one.”

[RELATED: Sharon Osbourne Reveals Ozzy’s Moving Final Words About His Fans—and I’m Suddenly Riding a Crazy Train of Emotions]

How Mike Portnoy Decided To Celebrate Ozzy’s Legacy

Considering Ozzy a pop culture figure, the Black Sabbath singer got the chance to take the stage one last time at the Back to the Beginning charity concert in early July. With all of heavy metal taking a moment to celebrate Ozzy’s contributions to the genre, the singer also thanked the fans who made his dreams possible. 

While fans honored Ozzy, Portnoy explained how he took a trip down memory lane to remember the icon. “First, I was going through the whole Sabbath catalog after the [‘Back To The Beginning’ farewell] concert [in early July]. And then after he passed, I’ve been going back through the solo catalog.”

Having listened to the catalog several times over the years, it now held a powerful significance. And according to Portnoy, “It’s been a great, great musical trip to be revisiting all this stuff. It’s amazing. What a career. But, yeah, what a loss.”

(Photo by Walter McBride/WireImage)