'Dad Was Mad Into It' — The '80s Album Ozzy Osbourne Was 'Obsessed' With

It looks like Ozzy Osbourne and Eddie Van Halen have a mutual love for a decidedly not heavy album from the 1980s — Peter Gabriel's 1986 masterpiece So.

Ozzy's fascination with the Peter Gabriel album that gave us "Sledgehammer," "Big Time," "In Your Eyes" and the Kate Bush duet "Don't Give Up" came up during his son Louis Osbourne's guest appearance on Jack Osbourne's Trying Not to Die podcast.

What Ozzy Osbourne Thought of Peter Gabriel's So Album

"Dad was obsessed at the time, and with the musical production thing, [with] Peter Gabriel's So album. God we listened to that album .... Dad was mad into it. Most of our lives it was Beatles, Beatles, Beatles that we listened to all the time, but that was one of the albums that he [loved]," shared Louis, who later admitted that Ozzy had a crush on Kate Bush, who guested on the heartfelt duet with Gabriel called "Don't Give Up."

As was previously shared earlier this year, Peter Gabriel's So album was also Eddie Van Halen's Eddie Van Halen's all-time favorite album, according to Wolfgang Van Halen.

"His favorite album of all-time along with one of my favorite albums was So by Peter Gabriel. He had a very eclectic taste," shared Eddie's son. Wolfgang even chose "In Your Eyes" from Peter Gabriel as his wedding song as a way to honor his father, as he revealed in a 2023 Consequence interview.

Gabriel's fifth studio album peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, while "Sledgehammer" became the first song to hit No. 1 for Gabriel in the U.S. The album has been certified five times platinum by the RIAA.

What Else We Learned About Ozzy Osbourne's Musical Taste From His Sons

Within the podcast, both Jack and Louis Osbourne shared extensive insight into Ozzy's personal likes and dislikes musically.

"Everyone assumed that he was all into [rock] but he didn't really listen to rock. He would appreciate it. He could understand it. He was more intrigued with music with really amazing production and melody," revealed Jack Osbourne during the chat.

"He was listening to things like Tears for Fears and quite a lot of '80s music," Louis Osbourne shared of Ozzy's listening habits in the period leading up to his passing.

Jack added that it wasn't out of form for Ozzy to listen to stuff outside of the rock and metal world. "He loved music from the '80s. He went through a heavy Michael Jackson phase over the last couple of years," he shared.

Louis added, "I'll tell you who really, really, really did blow him away was Adele. He was massive. He was massively in awe of her vocal range and her singing. He was really quite blown away..... and Amy Winehouse as well. He played Amy Winehouse a lot. But in the last 20 years, they are probably two of the greatest voices to come out of the U.K."

Jack then shared Ozzy's appreciation for Annie Lennox and added that Sharon Osbourne had been pushing Ozzy to doing a duets record with some of his favorite female vocalists in the latter years of his life.

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So what did Ozzy listen to from the rock world? "He would listen to AC/DC. He would listen to some .... but really only actually probably AC/DC," started Jack Osbourne, before expanding the list. "I would hear him listening to Metallica occasionally. Guns N' Roses."

Check out more of the chat below.

Louis Osbourne Guests on the Trying Not To Die Podcast