If Black Sabbath didn’t single-handedly invent a particular kind of heavy rock, the Birmingham, England group certainly refined it. Beginning with the band’s self-titled 1970 debut, Black Sabbath proved itself as an exemplar of a bluesy, doom-laden and melodramatic kind of proto-metal.

Sabbath’s first six albums are now widely recognized as highly influential genre classics. Tony Iommi’s drop-tuned guitar, Geezer Butler’s thunderous bass and Bill Ward’s rock-steady drumming provided a powerful and seething backdrop for Ozzy Osbourne’s tortured vocals.

Eventually, though, things would start to go wrong—thanks in large part to the usual rockstar excesses—and in 1979, Osbourne was dismissed from the band he had fronted. They continued without him, enlisting a succession of vocalists in his place.

But to the surprise of many, Osbourne surfaced with a new group of his own, Blizzard of Ozz. Pursuing a musical style not wholly removed from, yet not a copy of, Black Sabbath, he forged ahead with a highly successful solo career. To date he has released 11 studio albums of new material, and he’s currently on the road for what’s billed as the “No More Tours II” tour—his 15th run of live dates since 1980.

Osbourne’s first two solo albums—1980’s Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman from 1981—are undisputed hard rock classics, thanks in no small part to the guitar pyrotechnics of Randy Rhoads. Sadly, the guitarist would die in an airplane accident, but Osbourne would continue with other top-flight musicians. His subsequent output has included some uneven albums, but even the weakest efforts feature at least one noteworthy track.

Ozzy’s solo catalog includes no less than five live albums, three of which have gone platinum, but he says that as far as making music, his focus is on studio recordings. “I’m not a big fan of live albums,” he writes via email. “Live performances are not a mirror of the studio version; rather, they’re a reference to what is on the record.”

He does follow a rough guide—if not quite a standard method—for making albums. “Songs have their own roles on an album,” Osbourne explains. “When I make a record, I always do a track that’s a ballad, which might end up being performed on stage. There’s [also] an epic track that is not intended for stage and a rock track that is [specifically] written to be performed on stage.

Looking back upon his body of work post-Sabbath, Osbourne stands behind everything he has done, even the records that didn’t fare well with critics. “Each of the songs is a snapshot from that time period,” he says. “I always try and make the next song better than the last.”

As he embarks on this tour, Osbourne makes it clear that he’s not finished with music or performing. “This is not a farewell tour,” he emphasizes. “This is my farewell world tour, which actually means that I will be slowing down, but won’t stop performing.” And he hasn’t ruled out making another album (his last studio release was 2010’s Scream). “I would like to do another album if it can be worked out,” he says. “I have a few songs ready to record.”

What he has ruled out is anything to do with his old band. Osbourne, Butler and Iommi released a highly regarded reunion album, 13, in 2013, and followed it up with an extensive tour. “As far as I’m concerned, that book is closed,” Osbourne says.

Osbourne’s antics onstage and off have been the subject of endless tabloid fodder; there’s the possibly apocryphal story of him biting the head off of a bat, and his often tempestuous relationship with wife and manager Sharon Osbourne keeps him in the news even when he’s not touring or releasing albums. He’s on record admitting to extramarital affairs and continuing battles with drug and alcohol abuse, but he draws the line at what he describes as the biggest popular misconception about him: “That I’m a Satanist.”

With U.S. dates continuing into mid-October (and a UK/Europe tour this winter) Ozzy Osbourne’s criteria for what constitutes a good concert are rather simple and straightforward. “A good attitude and a good crowd,” he says.

Ozzy and Co. will share the stage with Stone Sour when he plays Shoreline Amphitheatre this weekend.

Ozzy Osbourne
Oct 6, 7:30pm $31+
Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View

Ozzy Osbourne’s notorious drug-fueled career in 70s and 80s is the ultimate rock ‘n’ roll cliché—how is the guy still standing after more than 40 years? What isn’t cliché is the performance Black Sabbath delivered Monday night at a nearly sold out Shoreline Amphitheatre.

For two hours, the iconic hard rock band ran through four decades worth of songs with the same churning persistence that brought Sabbath international fame and cemented the group as one of the founding members of the heavy metal genre.

The band set the tone opening with “War Pigs” as Ozzy jumped in place holding the mike stand. Guitarist Tony Iommi hit his classic two-chord riff and solo like it wasn’t a big deal, Geezer bobbed cooly with his bass and tour drummer Tommy Clufetos added some muscle behind double kick drums topped with an arsenal of toms, cymbals and a giant gong.

Ozzy screamed “I can’t fucking year you” and “let me see your fucking hands” about a thousand times, dunked his head in buckets of water, blessed the crowd with the leftovers and told us “It’s fucking great to be crazy.” And it was great to be a Sabbath fan with nearly flawless takes on classics “Snow Blind,” “Black Sabbath,” “Sweet Leaf,” “Fairies Wear Boots,” “Iron Man” and “Children of the Grave.”

Newer songs like “God is Dead?” from this year’s full-length 13 were met with less enthusiasm but stayed in form enough to fit with older songs and keep the crowd’s interest. Clufetos added to the mix with an epic extended drum solo midway through the set.

The night peaked with the Iommi’s best guitar solo of the night on “Dirty Women” before the band hit the encore like a ’71 Camero redlining down the 101 with “Paranoid.” Despite the wear and tear, the Sabbath machine has a few miles left.

More photos from the concert.

After an 18-year break between studio albums, Black Sabbath did what’s expected for an aging iconic rock band looking for a comeback in 2013—they recruited super producer Rick Rubin to record their new album.

Rubin, who helped reinvigorate the careers of Johnny Cash, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Neil Diamond, among others, asked Black Sabbath to channel the energy and spirit of their groundbreaking self-titled debut, an album that many consider the first in the heavy metal canon. Rubin’s magic worked again, with the album, called 13, scoring the first No. 1 release from the group in 33 years.

Black Sabbath performs at Shoreline Amphitheatre on August 26 with all but one of the band’s original members. Frontman Ozzy Osbourne spoke about the tour and the new album in a media conference call earlier this year.

On splitting with original Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward for the album and tour:
We would love to have Bill back in the fold, but unfortunately it didn’t work out. We knew we had to deliver an album because we had kept people waiting for, like, 35 years. We all just got on the boat and, unfortunately, Bill had some discrepancy about something or other, but we’d love to have him back and work something out.

On working with Rubin, who asked the band to revisit their first album before recording 13:
For us, when Rick says, “I don’t want you to think of a classic heavy metal album,” I’m like, “Well, what the fuck do you want me to do? What are you looking for?” I know either way it took me the longest to understand what he was saying. He says, “Forget all the other albums. I want you to concentrate and zone into the vibe that you had on the first album.”

I thought, “What is he talking about, you know?” And then the [record needle] drops, and then I suddenly remembered that we originally started out as a jazz/blues band, and that was a part of the first album. We hadn’t written that many songs and it was just like a jammer on side two—a bluesy album sound to it.

So I got what he was saying. he didn’t want a structured album in the respects of verse, riff, verse, riff, middle, solo … He wanted that freedom that we had on the first album, which was just a natural vibe.

On how his voice and how it has lasted 40 years:
Well, I’ve stopped smoking cigarettes. I’ve stopped smoking dope. I’ve stopped taking drugs. I’ve stopped drinking alcohol. Before I go on the road now, I try and warm my voice up and before a show I warm my voice up.

I’ve got one instrument and that’s my voice that’s given by God. I’ve got to start taking care of it because it ain’t going to last very long.

I was abusing it. I mean, my voice [was there] all the time when I used to smoke, and I just thought, it’s a good idea to quit. I haven’t smoked a cigarette or dope in a long, long time.

On being labeled a heavy metal band:
You know, the ’70s heavy metal, the ’80s heavy metal, the ’90s and the new millennium metal are nothing like each other, but yet we’re all under this one bag and I never really got my head around it.

We never said, “Oh, we’re the godfathers of heavy metal,” because we’ve always felt that it doesn’t say anything. Musically, it just puts you in one bag. It was heavy rock, which was more of a musical thing to me.

I’ve never really liked using that word “heavy metal” because ’80s metal was all Poison, Motley Crue, Ozzy and so on, and the ’70s was a different thing, and it got different in the ’90s. I mean, it’s like it doesn’t have any musical connotations for me.

On his nickname ‘Prince of Darkness’:
It’s a name. I didn’t wake up one morning and go, “You know what, I’m going to call myself…”—it started as a joke name really. I’m okay with it. You know, it’s better than being called an asshole.

On touring now compared to 30 years ago:
Well, we’re all a few years older and nobody gets stoned or drunk. Geezer’ll take a drink now and again but I don’t drink or use anymore. Every time I do I get in fuckin’ trouble. We’re just guys now; we’re men. We’ve got families and we got responsibilities, but I’m still fucking crazy. I’m still having fun, you know?

On playing with guitarist Tony Iommi again:
The guy is a warrior in the respect that when he was about 17 he was working in a factory and he had the tips of his middle two fingers on his hand lopped off in a metal shaving machine. They told him that he would never play guitar again. He proved them all wrong by making these signatures, and for years I would say to Tony, “How do you know when you’re touching the strings?” And he goes, “I just do it,” you know.

But you say to him, “You can’t do this again,” and he’ll find a way if he wants to do it. When we started this last album, he was struggling with lymphoma. We all thought, “Oh, this is never going to happen.” He marched through it, and for that alone he’s my hero. I mean, he pulls things off like when you think he’s done, he’ll come up with something bigger, better and badder than before.

Black Sabbath performs August 26 at Shoreline Amphitheatre. More info.