VIDEO: Howard Stern Remembers Heavy Metal Icon Ozzy Osbourne

The King of All Media paid heartfelt tribute to rock and roll’s Prince of Darkness as Howard remembered heavy-metal icon and longtime Stern Show guest Ozzy Osbourne, who passed away recently at the age of 76.

“Ozzy is gone, and I am profoundly sad,” Howard told listeners during a surprise broadcast on Wednesday. “[He was] one of the most fabulous guests on this show — ever.”

Howard’s warm remembrance touched upon Ozzy’s unrivaled musical accomplishments as both the frontman of Black Sabbath, one of the most influential heavy metal bands of all time, and a platinum-selling solo artist as well as his undeniable cultural legacy, including the reality TV fame he found later in life as the wild patriarch on “The Osbournes,” which helped kickstart a new era of shows that followed larger-than-life celebrities and their families.

“Ozzy and [his wife] Sharon [were] so good on the air, and then they brought their kids in,” Howard recalled Wednesday. “And that’s when I said to him, ‘Hey, do a reality show.’” “I was thrilled when that reality show came out because Ozzy was so interesting as a human being,” he added.

Looking back at some of Ozzy’s most memorable Stern Show visits, Howard played clips of the trailblazing musician discussing his loving family, the origins of Black Sabbath, and everything in between.

“One day, I can’t believe this, I had a show where I had Ozzy on in the morning and Paul McCartney on after Ozzy, and the two of them met in my Green Room for the first time,” Howard recalled. “It blew Ozzy’s mind.”

When Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich joined the Stern Show later Wednesday morning, he reflected upon what Ozzy and Black Sabbath had meant to both him and his band. “My relationship with these guys goes back to [Metallica] opening for Ozzy on the Ultimate Sin tour back in 1986,” he told Howard, explaining how the metal pioneer helped Metallica land one of their first big breaks.

The drummer considered himself lucky to take part in Black Sabbath’s final concert in July, just a couple weeks before Osbourne’s unexpected passing. “[Black Sabbath] sounded great if not better than ever, and then Ozzy came in singing and everybody [knew] they were gonna fucking kill it,” Lars said of the band’s performance that night. “Nobody walked away going, ‘That’s the last time we’ll see Ozzy’ … So when he passed two weeks later, we were all just so stunned.”

“At the same time, he got to accomplish that concert that had just been in him since before COVID,” Ulrich added. “Maybe it was just the load off his shoulders that he got to accomplish what he wanted, and then maybe he just sort of let go. Who knows?”

Ozzy Osbourne, born in 1948 in Marston Green, Warwickshire, England, is survived by his children and wife, Sharon Osbourne.

“Rest in peace, Ozzy,” Howard said.