In a heartfelt conversation with Australian Musician, former Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach opened up about the deep emotional impact of Ozzy Osbourne’s recent passing.
Bach recalled that he was still recovering from the emotional high of seeing Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne’s farewell concert, Back To The Beginning, when the news broke.
(Transcribed by Australian Musician)
“I was still recuperating from the concert, [Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne’s farewell show] ‘Back To The Beginning,’ [when I found out Ozzy had died],” Bach said. “I never pay for streaming or whatever, but I saw, the day after that concert, there was some footage on YouTube from the pro-shot [livestream of the event], and I cried watching it ’cause I love Black Sabbath and I love seeing them, at their age, get together and play one last time.”
He explained that he had even invited friends over to watch the livestream together.
(Transcribed by Australian Musician)
“So I watched it and I was blown away. And so I invited my friends over… So I had this packed house… and I had paid the money for the stream, and we watched as much as we could. And it was just so heavy watching them that I wasn’t prepared for him to die. I was still recuperating from watching that concert, which was only one week or a week and a half before he left us. So the day that he died, I was not prepared. I don’t think any of us were prepared, because we had just seen that concert literally days before.”
Coping With Loss
Bach went on to speak openly about grief, revealing how he has learned to compartmentalize his feelings after the loss of loved ones.
(Transcribed by Australian Musician)
“I have this thing… I learned this when my dad died in 2002. I cried so much that I had no more tears left. For months, I was so hurt that my dad died at the age of 57, which is how old I am right now — knock on wood. Anyways, so we all go through that. That’s life. Every one of us has to deal with that. But what I did learn is that sometimes I have to compartmentalize things in order to get through the day.”
He admitted that sometimes he pretends a death hasn’t happened as a way of coping.
(Transcribed by Australian Musician)
“And since my dad died, sometimes now when a family member dies or one of my heroes dies, like Ozzy or Gregg Allman or Eddie Van Halen or Neil Peart, sometimes I pretend that it never happened. I know that’s kind of a lousy thing.”
Bach also spoke about losing his cousin Kevin to cancer.
(Transcribed by Australian Musician)
“I just lost my cousin Kevin — he was 52 — from cancer, and part of me refuses to accept that. In my brain, I’m, like, ‘F-ck cancer. F-ck you. I’m not gonna let myself really feel that.’ Of course, I do feel it, and sometimes it hits me, but when my dad died, I had no compartmentalization. So as I get older, maybe it’s cold, maybe it’s not right, but sometimes I just pretend that this never happened. And I still haven’t accepted that Ozzy Osbourne is dead, because a part of my childhood dies with Ozzy, and I’m not a child. [Laughs] So I’d better get used to that.”
Sebastian Bach’s raw honesty offers a powerful reminder of how personal and complex grief can be, especially when it involves the loss of an icon who shaped one’s life and career.
