Waking to the news that Ozzy Osborne had, not unexpectedly, died, Jamie went straight to the vinyl - sadly, not in the best condition, being well used and scratched. When you grow up with certain music, there's a kind of sadness, as if you are saying goodbye to your childhood. There's the nostalgia that comes with remembering how the music made you feel and what you were doing at the time.

Osborne & Sabbath were of course known for their associations with the devil, which was quite amusing as their use of satanic symbols and biting heads off bats were all just for show. These days we understand how bands create an image to sell records - back then, it was quite confronting.

It's super hard, though, to reconcile fond memories of the band with more recent political actions by the Osbornes.

One of their most famous songs of all time was War Pigs - you can probably hear the notes just reading the first few lines. Even if you weren't a Sabbath fan you'd recognise this song. What’s striking is that ot speaks to the very themes of war propaganda, disinformation, and manipulation of the masses, but Ozzy and his wife's support of Israel and it's current oppression and slaughter of Palestinians seems to align with the systems - the war machines and their propaganda - that Black Sabbath sung against.

Generals gathered in their masses
Just like witches at black masses
Evil minds that plot destruction
Sorcerer of death's construction
In the fields, the bodies burning
As the war machine keeps turning
Death and hatred to mankind
Poisoning their brainwashed minds
Oh, Lord, yeah

It's this song that perhaps is the greatest irony, given the Osborne's vocal support of Israel. How can someone who sang about the devastation of war, and who was known in his younger years for his rebellious spirit, endorse the perpetuation of violence and oppression?

Ozzy sings about war tactics - adversaries are seen as enemies of truth and they twist the narrative to suit their own agendas. The BBC’s Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone documentary was framed as ‘Hamas propagisanda’ by the Osbournes - and it was pulled because of the controversy and the 200 signatories that asked for it's removal due to impartiality - but the real issue lies in how easily people can be brainwashed into believing that criticism of one side is being supportive of the other. The Osbournes' petition to remove the documentary shows another example of how ‘anti-Zionism’ becomes conflated with ‘anti-Semitism’. It's a false connection that just serves to silence dissent and continue the story of 'us vs them', and in this case 'you've always hated Jews, and this is just another example of that', often playing on shame around the Holocaust.

As far as I can understand, having not seen the documentary, the biggest problem was that the narrator was related to someone in Hamas, rather than all the voices being anti Zionist. There was a range of interviews with both sides, including victims of the atrocity of October 7th. There was certainly criticism of Hamas from both sides. Again, the criticism seems to stem from confusion about 'anti jewish' and 'anti zionist' and 'pro Hamas' arguments. If you speak out against war, specifically the mass killings of woman and children and journalists in Gaza, you must be 'pro Hamas' and anti semitic. The BBC refuted this, arguing they were really careful to make this distinction. Still, they pulled it anyway.

Whose minds are poisoned here?

Israel propaganda continues to deny what is happening with three main arguments as far as I can see - one, they're actually helping Palestinians and feeding them, rather than bombing and sniping them when they gather for aid. News coming out of Gaza unequivocally argues children are dying of malnutrition if they aren't dying of their injuries. Two, they argue that all news coming out of Gaza is Hamas lies - well, that's the pot calling the kettle black, and it's fascinating how Israel doesn't let in neutral journalists and more journalists have died in that conflict than any other war. Three, anyone speaking up against the IDF and Israel must be anti semitic. Oh, and a fourth - when anything terrible happens, they assure us it's an accident or they'll investigate, and then they go and do it again.

Arguably, we shouldn't associate any of this with the death of a much loved musician that was a cultural icon. It's yet another case of confusing the art with the artist.

But whilst we played Sabbath this morning, I couldn't help but feel uncomfortable.

Maybe we should separate the art from the artist - we've done it many times before - but the Osbornes actions in this current climate make that hard to do. How can we fondly remember a band who sang with metallic fury against the establishment yet ended up staunchly supporting the status quo of a government and landscape with a fraught political history?

It was Sharon Osborne that called for the removal of Kneecap's US visas, a band who is staunchly anti IDF and pro Palestine - not pro Hamas, as many zionists will cry in protest. What kind of cognitive disconnect exists in people who say in the same breath that you cannot be pro Israel and anti genocide at the same time? That you can live with the 'ashes of bodies burning' so long as the state of Israel persists? How can one support a system that uses violence and disinformation to maintain power and support but also say you're pro peace? How can you silence bands who are critical of the IDF and speak up against genocide?

Now, in darkness, world stops turning
Ashes where their bodies burning
No more war pigs have the power
Hand of God has struck the hour
Day of Judgment, God is calling
On their knees, the war pigs crawling
Begging mercies for their sins
Satan, laughing, spreads his wings
Oh, Lord, yeah

I don't think there will be a day of judgement for the war pigs. I'm a little cynical like that. I think both 'sides' believe they're on the right side of history. But there's many who certainly judged Ozzy Osborne for playing a concert in Israel against a boycott. Did he play War Pigs whilst children were dying? To say that 'politicians don't understand me and I don't understand them.' was a cop out - as the drama with the BBC's accidental live streaming of Bobby Vylan's chant 'death to the IDF' at Glastonbury proved, music is political - and his wife's cry to ban Kneecap from Coachella certainly suggests that music can absolutely lack neutrality.

Besides, if he was speaking up against anti semitism, then he certainly wasn't afraid to voice his own views against atrocity, discrimination and religious persecution.

It's awesome to see that some musicians are banding together to resist the censorship of their voices against genocide, and that finally some politicians are speaking up against the horror in Gaza at last. I'm not sure if I expected Ozzy speak up at all - he was an old man and not all there and his wife arguably was the voice in his ear - but I find it difficult to feel joy listening to his music when I think of the atrocities undertaken in the name of Zionism. I guess that's why I haven't made this a #threetunetuesday post for @ablaze. It's one thing to talk about the fact Black Sabbath were the godfathers of metal and another to ignore the relationship of the Osbornes to the silencing of voices against genocide, and the continued support of an imperialist regime who believes that God has given them the right to the land at the expense of an entire people.

Sure, you can advocate for peace and the state of Israel, but you can't do that whilst silencing all the other voices that decry the war pigs and the minds that plot destruction.

In the end, it’s hard to reconcile the rebellious anti-hero who sang ‘War Pigs’ with the man who played in Israel, a country whose policies who the vast majority of the world cannot help but find reprehensible. We are listening to a music from long ago that calls out for justice and truth, and at the same time we're aware that it's creator has muddied that message. I can't help feel the tragedy here is is that the music we grew up with is yet another battleground for the same old wars.

With Love,

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