Well, it has been Just about a week just under
a week since we heard the news since the world
Broke out of their workday took a look at their
stream of messages from friends or people you
haven't heard from in a long time and we We all
heard on Tuesday last week the 22nd of the passing
of Ozzy Osbourne an icon and not just heavy metal
music but in pop culture The likes of which we've
never seen and may never see again This show
obviously being Dan time is primarily me as You
know, I probably said it way too many times for
those active listeners But it's usually me and
the person on the other end of the line is another
Dan or we're talking about some Dan theme, but
You've noticed on occasion. I Bring in extensions
of either my family or something that I'm interested
in. And it just felt right. I think we've all
needed somebody to talk to or share memories
or shoot a few text messages back and forth over
the past week of and process how we're feeling.
And this is first and foremost on my mind, my
brother and somebody that you just might remember
from a few Dan time episodes in the past. He's
coming up on his third annual Halloween bonus
episode, which of course he will be featured
once again It's a tradition now also a July 4th
bonus episode Rob's beach vacation theme and
Who could forget a? rundown of the top glam metal
albums from 1989 My brother and a former musician
himself Front man for a death metal band, Impalement.
Guitar player and someone that I've jammed with
over the years. My brother Rob McArdle. Rob,
how are you doing today? I am doing pretty good
now that I'm off work. It was rough getting out
of bed this morning, tired, but feeling good.
It's more of a challenge in the summertime, especially.
Seems to be. Yeah, and you know, with what I
do driving the truck, yeah, the heat just really
gets to you and... You're still trying to recover
from the weekend. So Mondays are always tough,
but Monday nights are usually, usually pretty
good because you got that, you got the hard part
past you. Right. Well, you just let the week
go and get ready for the weekend. Well, you've
always been someone who, as my older brother,
who I've looked up to as someone who can roll
through the punches and just deal and just process
it and deal with it and do the best that you
can. And, you know, this past week, I think we're
so used to, Robert, wouldn't you agree that in
the technology age, and if you have a bunch of
alerts going off on your phone all the time,
you get all of these updates, you know, someone
died, someone, you hear about the conflicts around
the world, the famine in parts of the world,
you hear about the political stuff, you hear
about all the headlines, just sports and news,
and it's just, Almost I was talking to somebody
today about the information overload and you
just you desensitize to a lot of stuff But how
did you react? When you saw Ozzy Osbourne dead
at 76 I was taking a bag just in that split second,
but then you know as the I guess the seconds
and the minutes Rolled on it. It was like, you
know what? That makes sense, you know, cuz I
watched the show or what I could see on YouTube
He sounded great, but he didn't look good and
You know, I got the impression from watching
it that his days are probably numbered and it
seems to be like he knew that and I was gonna
do this show and go out on high note what you
did, but Still, you know Sometimes you think
some people are gonna live forever And of course
nobody does. So I just, you know, as the days
went on, you know, I would check for updates,
see other people's reactions to it. And then
on the weekend, I had my own little Oz Fest and,
you know, hearing a few songs and stuff, I did
get a little bit, little tears in the eyes. So
it was, it did hit me a little bit harder than
I thought it would. Oh, it's impossible not to.
Lot of these songs in the catalog. I don't know
if the same is true with you, but I Haven't gone
back and listened to road to nowhere. See you
on the other side Of course mama. I'm coming
home in some cases Robert in maybe it's been
12 years. Maybe it's been 16 years maybe Maybe
there was a one -off spin about eight or nine
years ago or something like that But some of
these songs I really haven't listened to on an
emotional level in right possibly a couple decades
or close to it and you're right when I've gone
back and We hear about people in music passing
away and you usually start thinking about if
you knew their catalog Okay. Well, what was you
know, I know about three or four or maybe ten
songs that were Right up there and you just you
go back to it you play it and you reconnect and
it was Like you said for me very powerful reconnecting
with some of these songs that I had quite frankly
put on the shelf and It was almost comforting
to hear on various platforms that You know metalhead
saying or even just non metalheads, you know
rock fans. I shed some tears listening to these
songs. I think part of that is listening to Ozzy
all week and you hear how masterful he was at
conveying emotion with his vocals. Absolutely.
He, very unique sounding, you know, maybe not
all of his songs, you know, had a strong message,
but the ones that did, my God. As you said, you
know, Ozzy's music always finds its way into
my weekend playlist, but usually it's just a
song or two and then you move on to something
else. But then going back and pulling out. Mama,
I'm coming home and see you on the other side
this weekend You kind of forget how great and
powerful those songs are Road to nowhere has
always been one of my favorites and and it creeps
into the weekend playlist quite a bit But then
I remember that song in particular Robert Road
to nowhere going back into the deeper catalog
And be like, oh man, I forgot about this one
It's it's it's a loss Yeah road to nowhere Remember
you and I particularly have some intertwined
memories where we were we were there at the same
time on the same Friday night in front of the
stereo Blasting songs like of course, I don't
know crazy train No more tears desire and road
to nowhere was one. I remember you and I would
connect on it'd be playing and we'd be making
the The brotherly eye contact and you're getting
into the song i'm getting getting into the song
we would occasionally Maybe a little bit of a
little bit of booze involved. We would do the
back -to -back air guitar Yeah, i'd mimic some
of the zac guitar solos, but Yeah, you know the
like lyrics to road to nowhere Desire like I
was looking back on my life and all the things
i've come to be I'm still searching for the answers
I'm still looking for the key. Some of the lyrics
are kind of straightforward kind of basic Yeah,
but nobody but Ozzy could Just put that that
Ozzy a pixie dust on it and make it so spectacular
and so He just has that has that timeless quality
to his vocals Yeah, I was um, I was watching
the video for road to nowhere over the weekend
and kind of remembering that time when no more
tears album came out and Ozzy is planning to
retire you know it's called the no more tours
tour and watching the video and watching him
look at video clips of him through the years
and thinking at the time the guy was only like
43 or 44 years old right and and i was thinking
at the time i was 13 yeah i was like yeah he's
had a good run he's been around a long time Yeah.
You know, but yeah, you got, you know, now guys,
a lot of the hair metal and the metal, they're
all in their sixties and a lot of them have either
said they're going to retire and come back out
or just didn't retire and they're still going
strong. So I always thought that was kind of
a little interesting to think about. Robert,
going back to what you were saying about the
performance at back to the beginning not even
three weeks Prior to his passing and how he seemed
and I agree if you watch the video watch the
performances of any of those songs He's just
got that Look in his eye or he's got the presence
that that just conveys. I'm I'm not long for
this this world you know, he seemed very very
moved and It seemed like he wanted to just do
the best he possibly could for that performance
and save it all up for that last curtain call.
Yeah, God, what a way to go out. I mean, I can't
think of any better way. And I can't think of
any other musician that has just gone out on
top like that. Yeah, honestly, because there
are a lot of a lot of artists, frontman in particular.
They're seeing that and thinking, that's what
I want. I was thinking about that today, that
Are we going to see some manufactured version
of that with some other band and front man that
wants the same legendary send off? I don't think
it can be done again because also you would have
to kind of agree to die shortly after that as
well for it to be wrapped up the same way. I
can't. I just I can't imagine. I mean, I don't
know that we really have any elder statesmen
of of metal anymore everybody's kind of in a
band you know kids have their retirement tour
maybe if metallica decides to do something and
actually sticks with uh retiring maybe they could
have a big show like that where a bunch of bands
come out and play a couple metallica songs and
then play some of their own stuff and then metallica
comes out and plays a set but i don't think you
could do it yeah i agree um now Let's talk about
something that we were agreeing on. You've got
your Black Sabbath Ozzy fans and your Ozzy solo
era Ozzy fans, and then you got people that kind
of like a little bit of everything, or maybe
some people that want to have it all. If we're
being honest with ourselves, Robert, you and
I are, we are squarely in that Ozzy solo era.
Now we like, we can pick out the Black Sabbath
era songs that we do enjoy. But when we were
in our early 20s, we were blasting Blizzard of
Oz, Diary of a Madman, No Rest for the Wicked,
and so on and so on. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I
like a lot of Ozier and Sabbath. Although to
me, a lot of it is very overplayed. You know,
I don't I don't listen to Iron Man and Paranoid
anymore. But there's some deep tracks that are
pretty good. But I am, you know, I know this
might be blasphemy to some people, but I am more
of a Dio. uh Sabbath guy but um yeah Ozzy solo
stuff i mean i'm i'm just i'm all over that i
think it's it's kind of similar to where you've
got people who maybe over the past decade or
so or longer who've gotten back into vinyl records
and collecting vinyl maybe they never did maybe
they used to and they're you're back into that
hobby i appreciate that but i was i was a CD
guy i'm not trying to be a vinyl guy i'm i'm
a CD guy i'm an ozzie solo car very much so yeah
i love the compact disc and the liner notes and
the jewel case and the way it opens and it clicks
shut and you still have that in your car i mean
even riding with you you know over the last couple
years when i'm down uh in your neck of the woods
there's the cd let's put in a cd you know just
like something's so cool about When you You pick
out a CD which you don't really have to do this
anymore because you can and I most the time yes
I'm just listening on Spotify or Apple music,
but you know to grab that copy of corrosion of
conformity wise blood and it's It's the one that
I bought in 1999 or what? 2000 or something.
It's the same jewel case. So it's kind of scratched
on the outside The liner notes are crinkled where
I've read them before open the whole thing up
and full all of that stuff. That's the whole
Part of the enjoyment. I probably over explained
it. Yeah But where was I going with this? Yeah,
so I agree with you and And honestly, it's not
Very popular to like Sharon Osborne, but you
have to appreciate what she was able to accomplish
in prolonging Ozzy's life by no joke, probably
about 40 years. That might be a conservative
figure. Yeah. Well, I mean, he was, I mean, he
was living in some rundown apartment and she
goes in there and there's beer cans and drug
paraphernalia and pizza boxes all over the place.
I mean, he's going to drink himself to death.
Yeah. And then convinces him to get it together,
put together a band. And we've seen what what
happened since. Just all the great music that
he's he's given us Yeah, so if not for Sharon
coming into his life Maybe the last recorded
music Ozzy is a part of is something like technical
ecstasy Probably so there's no Blizzard of Oz.
There's no solo career. There's no Sabbath reunion
and then black Sabbath Who knows what happens?
They may not they probably just don't Maybe you
know, maybe in some way they they are still heralded
in this decade, you know in the 2020s in some
similar fashion, but Probably not quite the same
No, because I mean obviously they would have
done their stuff with DO and then you know Ian
Gillen and Tony Martin and then back together
with DO to do dehumanizer but they probably would
have you know when when grunge happened they
would have fizzled out and disappeared and they'd
probably end up playing the state fair. Yeah.
Going forward. The critical part of all this
was protecting Ozzy and preserving Ozzy. And
that was accomplished when it very nearly could
have all fallen apart. Yeah. And also could you
imagine if, if Ozzy something happens in the
early eighties, you know, he does get his solo
career off the ground, but relapses or something,
and then he dies back then, and just how he's
perceived now versus how it all was finalized.
I mean, he is, there's people well outside of
our community, anywhere from respect Ozzy, admire
him, maybe don't love the music, but you know,
the Osborne show, I watched a little bit of it,
but I think that helped to humanize him. to a
degree yes it did well what would you go back
robert and i remember i was thinking all the
stuff that you think about when something like
this goes on for the past week i remember your
bedroom back when we were teenagers and the posters
that you had on the wall wasn't there a a poster
of the osman cometh maybe like a promotional
poster you had some kind of ozzie poster yes
yeah it was that Remember that cross Yeah, I
don't remember what happened to it. I think I
also had a t -shirt of that as well. I wish I
had more Ozzy posters Yeah, and then when I'm
15 years old and you're 16 you've got that the
first car the white Oldsmobile Yeah, and I remember
a very specific CDs that were in rotation. There
was the offspring there was typo negative there
was Slayer there was it was actually a pretty
decent variety there was the really hard stuff
there was um a little bit of jackal in the mix
yeah but uh but i remember osmosis probably would
have been played back then that was in there
no more tears i remember hearing like like perry
mason we're just really loving the way that album
started out with perry mason It's a weird album.
I like the album, but it's it's it's odd because
Perry Mason was the first single I believe that
was released. I think this is great. It's gonna
be heavy. Yeah And then you play the album and
it's a lot of balance on it and they're good
balance But really Perry Mason and my Jekyll
doesn't hide. I mean are the two Rockers on that
album. Everything else is kind of a balader or
mid -tempo But it's good. It's a good album nonetheless,
and it's one that I've I listen to a good bit
When you come back to something like old LA tonight
Give me your thoughts on that one. I Love that
song. I don't know what it is. I mean it it comes
out in 95 on osmosis but I mean it sounds like
it could be an 80s song and It's I love the piano
with I Love his his vocals Zach solo in that
song. I was just incredibly it's one of the best
balance I think that he's got in his catalog
and one of one of my all -time favorite Ozzy
songs that I have over the last year have revisited
and it's it's made the weekend playlist quite
a bit. Oh Just an incredible buildup. Oh Yeah,
again the lyrics, you know just look into the
future Look into my eyes and tell me everything's
alright Tell me where we're going I'm so afraid
cause I don't know what's going on with my life
Tell me where we're going I'm so afraid cause
I don't know what's going on with my life Yeah,
just try to imagine another front man putting
a spin on that Versus what Ozzy did and he just
he knows how to build up to that the the chorus,
you know those summer nights When I look in your
eyes, I'm falling to pieces out of my mind and
I'll never know why I'm falling to pieces Would
love to have been in the studio when he's Ozzy
and the engineer and the producer kicking around
Different vocal melodies and how that happened.
I Don't know and also why that song was never
a single. I don't be on me Yeah, I think Harry
Mason see you on the other side. I just want
you Were the singles that I remember hearing
on on 105 not the bear before they went completely
alternative rock and quit playing anything metal.
But I remember hearing that. Those songs were
on rotation a good bit. Now, Deezer Butler plays
bass on this album. Yes. What do you think? Like
you said, you've added it to the weekend playlist
again. But Robert, when you hear that, or I'm
sorry, this is See You On The Other Side, which
I've probably listened to 18 times in the past
five days. But when you hear that... Yeah, I
mean, it's great. And that song has a whole new
meaning now. He played on several IgE albums
if I remember. I think he might have played on
one in ages. I could be wrong. And Dean Castronovo
on drums in the studio. For osmosis? For osmosis.
He was a member of Bad English, Hardline, and
Journey. Wow. Okay, so he is a Journey member.
Yeah. Yeah. That's an interesting group of musicians
and kind of interesting how somebody like Ozzy
will pick somebody like that. But, you know,
if you know how to play the songs, then you're
a musician and it's Ozzy's bad. You know, he's,
he's the one that's getting all the attention.
So I guess it doesn't really matter where the
guitar player, the drummer or whatever come from
as long as they could do the songs. Do you remember,
this is pretty far into the episode to ask you
when you got into Ozzy. Do you remember what
year it was or was it just like the same day
that you picked up a metal edge and you also
got into another band or two? Yeah, it's, um,
gosh, that is a good question. Because I really
don't have memories that go prior to the No More
Tears album. I remember you coming back home
with the long box CD for No More Tears in that
1991, that magical spring and summer and early
fall before Nevermind hit. Yeah, I know. I guess,
you know, I guess I kind of gradually came into
Ozzy because, you know, he wasn't the first Artists
that I started listening to I mean I was listening
to Motley Crue and poison Talaka before Ozzy,
but I do remember seeing when I was real young
MTV I believe they were playing Something off
of what is the video? What is it might be bark
at the moon? I always thought it was Gary the
madman But he's in he's in like some kind of
old -time laboratory And I think it was the first
Ozzy song I ever heard I might have been bark
at the moon Yeah. And then after that, it was,
it was no more tears. But then I started going
back into his back catalog. I was like, Oh my
God, why did I not hear this stuff before? And
I think maybe when I was a little kid, I was
kind of scared of him just because of the, the,
the reputation that he had. But yeah, going back.
Yes. I guess, yeah, I was around when no more
tears came out. I started listening to more of
his back catalog and really get it into the The
Ultimate Sin and No Rest for the Wicked. I love
The Ultimate Sin. I mean, that is hair metal
Ozzy. If you listen to the sound of the album,
watch the videos. I mean, he's got the teased
up hair, the makeup. Jake E. Lee is a glam guitar
player, if there ever was one, but I love that
album. Shot in the Dark, when I first heard Shot
in the Dark. But yeah, I still listen to that
song quite a bit. I know it's one of his most
well -known songs, but Shot in the Dark is still
one of my favorites. I'm not tired of it. Lightning
Strikes. Love that song. I love that. I love
that chug -a -lug riff of the title track. Oh,
yeah. Now, what about, and we'll get into, if
we have time, a top 10. Maybe we'll do a rapid
fire without a lot of explanation, top 10. But,
um, did you get a chance to see Ozzy live? Yes.
Uh, I was fortunate. We saw him, we saw him at
Oak Mountain Amphitheater back on the Osmosis
tour. It was Ozzy, Sepultura, and Typo Negative.
I actually got to shake Peter Steele's hand,
uh, before the show. We were kind of by the little
chain link fence area and Peter just kind of
walks out and says hello and I shook his hand.
Mean that was it. But then yeah, we saw Ozzy.
This was back when they had the grass Were you
wearing the were you wearing the leather jacket
with the shin guard boots or the combat boots?
This would have been 95 maybe 96 so it may have
been the combat boots Yeah, I loved both of them
I think that the other boots came into play maybe
in 97 Maybe it was late 96 -97. I got to see
him again at Ausfest. It was in Nashville. I
want to say it was around maybe 2002 -2003 because
I think Judas Priest was on that bill and Dewey
Borger, Slayer. It may have been 2003. I think
Pantera had broken up by then. Yeah. I've never
seen Pantera live. I saw Pantera on The Ozfest
tour, I believe it was 2000 in Nashville and
then saw them in 2001 in July of one. Yeah. And
that was it. Yeah, that's that's I guess that's
the regret is I never got to see see them. I
know they're coming to Birmingham, but I'm not
paying on 100 plus dollars a ticket to go minutes.
It's not really Pantera. Yeah, this is a different
whole different topic, but I Have to chime in
on this Going to see Metallica going to see Pantera
this version of Pantera for some of the big bands
like that in 2025 and You've maybe you've maybe
you've seen them before you saw them 20 years
ago And you had a blast and you saw them in their
prime and you spent you know $32 or maybe 50
if it was part of a festival, which it was like
OZFest02 was something like 55 bucks or something
like that. I saw that in that text and stuff.
Like fifth, wow, I mean, today it'd be, you know,
200 bucks. And that's the whole day. Gates, the
doors are Gates at nine 30. But Robert, it is,
and you know what it's like when you go to a
concert now, especially at a large venue. and
you're just, you're seated around a lot of similarly
aged people who we don't run around and get sweaty
and drunk. We're just kind of seated with our
wives and our phones. And we're just, it's not
really like the same atmosphere, but not to say
it's not worth it to people that can budget for
this, but I don't know. I'm still drawn to vinyl
music hall, going to see a band where I can stand
up on the floor of a kind of a small venue. Right.
And just take that in, get in, see the show,
get out, go home. I just feel like it's a lot,
a lot of money for something that's not what
it once was. Right. And I mean, I don't really
have any desire to go see, you know, an arena
show anymore because I'm just, I'm going to sit
there in my seat and just watch it. You know,
something like back to the beginning. If if I
could have made that happen could have gotten
out there and gotten a ticket. I'm sure I would
have had a blast Possibly I want to say that
I would have liked to go under that but I'm just
afraid that I would have gotten there with the
gates open at 1130 and by three o 'clock I'm
probably thinking All right, my feet are tired.
My legs are tired. I want to sit down. I want
something to eat I don't want a $30 hamburger
and I'm probably like thinking I want to go home.
Well part of this going to shows at 40 something
years old You know, let's not kid ourselves people
that do this. We're trying to reclaim two hours
of our youth We're trying to remember what it
was how much fun this was in 2000 or like you
said the late 90s 2001 or 203 all that stuff
and you just you went to those concerts in a
completely different mindset. You weren't thinking
about the thing that you have going on at work
that's waiting for you on Monday or some leak
at your house that you're waiting for the contractor
to call you back, but you're gonna go try to
enjoy this concert or you've got a child that's
got a situation going on and you're halfway checking
out of it, but you're an adult. We're just at
an age where it's not... Fuck the world. I'm
you know Yeah, it's gonna be two hours of heavy
metal and to an extent maybe some people can
really compartmentalize and I kind of do it at
the little club shows that I like to go to but
I mean you're kidding yourself if you're gonna
spend $200 with the parking and the the booze
and the food and the babysitters and I Really
hate to get off on a negative end. That's my
whole take. I don't I don't spend the money.
Yeah I've seen what I wanted to see back when
I wanted to see it. Yeah. And you also, you probably
have a good idea of what the set list is going
to be. We went and saw Slayer several years ago
in Atlanta. It was Slayer. It was a great lineup.
It was Slayer, Testament, Anthrax, May Palm Death,
and I think it was Lamb of God. But I mean, one
beer was like 13 bucks. I drank one beer the
whole show. I was like, I could get a half a
case of this for $13. Now, look, I will say this.
I don't want to discourage people who are listening
to this and they've been having a great time
rocking out and going to shows for years and
years, but it's just my experience. I had the
best fun that I think I'm going to have at concerts,
you know, big venue concerts when I was in my
20s. And with that technology was sis. It was
just completely cut off. You're not Thinking
about I need to check my email in another four
minutes. I need to see what's happening on Instagram
I'm you know, I need that dopamine fix and and
let me just so you're not really all -in You're
just not no, but I think you're also I don't
think you're discouraging anybody. I think we
might be telling People that it's okay to not
want to go to the show Yeah, don't feel like
you have like you said if priestess coming you
don't want to go don't fucking go right if iron
maiden came I Might consider it because I was
once again. I've never seen them But I probably
at the last minute be like yeah No, I'm not going