Ozzy Osbourne: Diary of a Madman 180g Vinyl LP

Why you'll love it

This Legacy 30th anniversary LP is a 180g pressing mastered from the original master tapes. Diary of a Madman went triple platinum in the US and reached the top 20 in Canada, the UK and the US.

This edition

180g vinyl
30th anniversary edition
Mastered from the original master tapes

About the album

Second albums are supposed to be the difficult ones. Ozzy Osbourne and his band made theirs at Ridge Farm Studio in the Sussex countryside in 1981, barely a year after Blizzard of Ozz, and came out sounding even more sure of themselves, with Randy Rhoads' neo-classical guitar running the show.

"Over the Mountain" opens on a thundering drum pattern before Rhoads takes off, and "Flying High Again" is pure swagger, both singles. "You Can't Kill Rock and Roll" stretches out to seven minutes, "Believer" rides a heavy, bending bass line from Bob Daisley, and the title track closes the record with acoustic passages and Louis Clark's string arrangement. Max Norman engineered and co-produced with Osbourne, Rhoads and Daisley, and Lee Kerslake's drumming gives the whole thing its punch.

Rhoads died in a plane crash in March 1982 during the American tour, which makes this the last full studio statement from one of metal's great guitarists. Rolling Stone placed it 15th on its 100 Greatest Metal Albums list in 2017. Guitar teachers have been assigning it as homework ever since, and their students have been politely pretending to have practised.

Also at Kops: more Ozzy Osbourne on vinyl · browse Metal