The Grammy Awards paid tribute to late heavy metal icon Ozzy Osbourne on Sunday (Feb. 1) in fitting fashion, with a hard-rocking performance fronted by some of his late-in-life collaborators, led by Post Malone and Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash.
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With the stage bathed in blood red lights, the homage opened with a doomy instrumental that dove right into 1970s iconic “War Pigs,” with Malone taking on vocal duties, his quavering voice belting out the pointed Vietnam-era lyrics about politicians who start wars for profit and send young soldiers to die in service to their greed and avarice.
As he sang the lines, “Evil minds that plot destruction/ Sorcerer of death’s construction,” the camera panned to the late metal god’s family, showing widow Sharon Osbourne, as well as daughter Kelly and son Jack tearing up in the audience. The homage that took place during the second half of the evening’s In Memoriam segment also included Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan and producer Andrew Watt, who helmed Osbourne’s final two studio albums, 2020’s Ordinary Man and 2022’s Patient Number 9.
Slash and McKagan appeared on Ordinary Man, while Smith and McKagan also appeared on Patient Number 9 and Malone sang a duet with Ozzy on the Ordinary Man track “It’s a Raid.”
Midway through the song, Slash and Watt faced off for a guitar duel as Malone took a knee behind them, a red Solo cup in hand, before he hopped up and tapped out a series of notes on the neck of Watt’s instrument. The pyro-filled performance thundered to a close with Smith hitting the track’s thundering final drum roll in perfect time as the screen behind him filled with a youthful image of Osbourne.
During his lifetime, Osbourne — who died on July 22, 2025, at age 76‚ was nominated for 12 Grammys and won five, including for best rock album (Patient Number 9) and best metal performance for that album’s “Degradation Rules,” as well as best metal performance in 2014 for “God Is Dead?” and best metal performance for Black Sabbath’s live version of “Iron Man” at the 2000 awards.
