Before I dig into the BOTB business, is anyone else having difficulty getting back on track? I suppose if you didn't do A to Z maybe you are just fine, but finding my feet in May has been tricky. I am typing this Tuesday afternoon and my Thursday post is not shaping up well. Yeah, I have complained about this before and then everyone writes great stuff on Wednesday, YouTube comes through, and it all works out.
The thing is that I struggled with the bands in this battle. How much time can one person waste on YouTube? Don't answer that. I am sure I exceed your best guesses. These two made my list of potential battles from Day One, but I wasn't sure I was actually going to go there. HOWEVER, I believe it was on Stephen T. McCarthy's first BOTB (click here to read for yourself) post that he discussed how different the same song can sound. And in some ways that is one of the things that makes a battle truly great. If the cover sounds like the original, there really isn't anything that distinguishes it from the original. So... why do it?
I know that some of you will HATE the cover for this song and that is fine. Even so, you must applaud it for originality... even if you don't like it. The song in question is Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne. Everyone has heard this song... I think. Heck, even I know this song and this style of music is not my usual fare. My ex-husband liked Ozzy and their short-lived reality show, The Osbournes. If you didn't know, you are about to find out that there was a soundtrack that was released because of the show. On that soundtrack was Pat Boone's cover of Ozzy's Crazy Train. I can only surmise that Ozzy was tickled by this cover and included it on his own record. So, before you go mental over this recording... just remember that it has Ozzy's stamp of approval.
Way back in the day when having a MySpace account was cool... one of my favorite ways to waste time was to play around with my "wallpaper" on my MySpace account. Once that was done, then I chose graphics to go with it and ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS a song. Sometimes Pat Boone's version of Crazy Train was that song. And it always went with THIS BACKGROUND:
and THIS GRAPHIC:
What I am trying to say is that the Pat Boone version cracks me up. Maybe not saying it successfully, but still trying. I think it is fantastically clever by taking something so un-Pat Boone and putting his own spin on it. I will let you decide if it is better than the original...
First up, Ozzy and Crazy Train:
versus
Pat Boone's Crazy Train:
Keep in mind that I am early, but ON THE 15TH the following blogs will be posting their own Battles. I hope you go over and vote. If you visit F-FFF and Faraway Series you could win a CD!
Other battles can be found by clicking the following links, so be sure to visit them and cast your votes there!
Now it is the time to vote. Do you prefer Ozzy or Pat Boone? Yep, sound off about what YOU think. What appeals to you? This is your chance to share because I want to know... in detail.
My own band, were I in this Battle, would be NIGHTWISH ( when Tarja was in it) although their tune, THE ISLANDER is evocative. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2sd8UMUaIk
ReplyDeleteI agree that the post a-z re-entry this year is a bit tough!!! Can't wait to watch these videos!
ReplyDeleteI have to say - I was a teen when Ozzy's Crazy Train came out. That will always be the only version to me.
ReplyDeleteROBIN, The Girl Wonder ~
ReplyDeleteHA!-HA! This was "GR-R-REAT!"
Quite possibly my favorite 'BOTB' you've posted so far.
It reminds me of the one I did with Jim Morrison and The Doors going against Tiny Tim and His Majesty. (And, by the way, I have another one in the works that will be just as bizarre as your Ozzy Vs. Pat is. Again, it will be a Classic British Hard Rock group going against a Jazzy Cocktail Lounge sound.)
Anyway, I loved, Loved, LOVED this one!
To me, Ozzy is already kind of a joke, so turning it into an xtreme joke by using a Pat Boone cover (which is 180 degrees different) isn't quite the shock to me that it will be for some listeners.
Your 'BOTB' installment here made me think of the Ethel Merman 'Disco' Album. (No! I'm not making that up - there really IS such a thing! Google it.)
Anyway, because I prefer horns to guitar, I'm going to vote for Pat Boone's version. Plus, I don't want to see him get shut-out, so I'm going to end the suspense very early in the voting.
The Pat Boone version sounds like the theme song to a TV sitcom. I do recall that late in his career he released some ridiculous album in which he tried to recast himself as a "bad boy". The album cover had him wearing black leather and posing with a motorcycle (probably a Harley-Davidson). It was SO-OOOO stupid! (I wonder if this cover of the Ozzy song is also on that late Pat Boone album.)
This was a wonderfully comedic match-up, and of these two idiots, I'm voting for the older one who should-a known better. (The horn arrangement on the Pat Boone cover really wasn't bad!)
Be watching in a few weeks when I do you one better with my own British Hard Rock group Vs. a Jazzy Lounge Lizard cover.
Great stuffs, Robin.
~ D-FensDogg
'Loyal American Underground'
I do believe that the song appeared on Pat's album In A Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy. He covers a TON of metal songs but just like this. Metal to Big Band. I can't say that I have heard them all, but now that I am typing it I will have to try;) I haven't seen the album cover, but it may be as you described. If that is the case (and I suspect it might be), I don't think he was actually trying to recast himself as a bad boy. I think it was a pun. Pat Boone doing metal music... And as you heard, it didn't come out as bad as you thought it might.
DeleteCute that Pat Boone did this, but it's clearly a 'made to be a TV show intro' treatment. I'm sure Ozzy got a kick out of it. Still, this is an Ozzy trademark song. So yeah, it's got to be Ozzy.
ReplyDelete::gasp:: She votes again. If you're not careful you might start liking this feature;)
DeleteNotice it's when you do the seriously weird ones that I jump in!
DeleteIf you exceed my best guess, we've got to talk. Sometimes I wonder what would happen if all of a sudden we had to pay to be on YouTube...
ReplyDeleteThat said, who'd believe I'd ever say I'd prefer Ozzy Osbourne....
Well, I wouldn't pay for YouTube. Undoubtedly, someone would come up with a free service and around and around we'd go somewhere else. I mean,seriously, I don't have THAT KIND OF MONEY.
DeleteYup, have to give it to the original. Takes me back...sigh
ReplyDeleteCompletely lost with this one.
ReplyDeleteI like the Pat Boone version. Marginally. Not really my kind of music.
ReplyDeleteSweetie always loved this song. Which really surprised me. She's actually a bit of a metalhead. She likes this and Warrant (I think?) and some other surprisingly metal stuff.
SERIOUSLY SWEETIE? I was away from MY computer for like 5 minutes. SIGN OUT ONCE IN A WHILE.
ReplyDeleteI don't even know why she has to sign IN.
I actually prefer Ozzy's version. :-D
ReplyDeleteI'm going with Ozzy. My kids like it, so I'm used to it.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, that's just wrong. Wrong Wrong Wrong Wrong. And I love a big band swing sound, which I heard in the background (of Pat Boone's Song), but still...
ReplyDeleteAnd LOLOLOLOL!!!
I'm voting Ozzy. :)
Ozzy! Definitely!
ReplyDeleteha ha ha ha! so much fun!
ReplyDeletei almost always go with the original =)
did you see what topic i picked for my blog tour?
I remember the original, so I'm there. :-)
ReplyDeleteDeb@ http://debioneille.blogspot.com
I actually did a Time Machine bit with Pat's take on Holy Diver. It weren't half bad. After hearing Ozzie like seven million times, it needed a pick me up. I guess I'll be the lone Boone vote.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't familiar with either version of this song...at least I didn't think I was. But when I heard the intro of the Pat Boone version I realized I did know it. The instrumental version is a standard played at football games by my grandson's high school band. So I'm voting for that version - Stebbins High School!
ReplyDeleteOkay, I can't vote for SHS. But I couldn't get my head around Pat Boone's voice with this song so I guess I'll vote for Ozzie.
A great post, but the Blizzard Of Ozz album is a masterpiece (IMHO), with great guitar work from Randy Rhoads and the best song crafting of Ozzy's career.
ReplyDeleteWhen I purchased the CD version (the first time, back in 1987) a co-worker accused me of listening to Satanic music, so I broke out the lyric sheet, squinted a little, and read from the positive messages in the songs.
And did I mention Randy Rhoads on guitar (although you gotta credit Eddie Van Halen as a MAJOR influence for Randy)?
So while I agree with Stephen T's comment about Ozzy being a joke, I believe Ozzy became a joke years later (by the time he did a reality show)-he was still relevant in 1981, and this album was a fine slice of rock and roll.
No contest for me (although somehow I knew McCarthy would vote for Boone's version). A vote for the Ozzman!
I'd almost picked up the Boone disc when it came out-Tom Jones had done a rock album that was pretty darn good, but everything I read about Boone's made it sound like a novelty record, and the clip above confirmed that for me.
LC
LC ~
DeleteYeah, anyone who knows me as well as you do would probably not be surprised by my vote for Pat Boone. On one level, I seem to be attracted (naturally) to the most twisted thing. But on another level, I am a Jazz fan more than a Rock fan, and Boone's version is closer to Jazz.
If Ozzy had never written and recorded 'Crazy Train', and if Pat Boone's version was used as the theme song for a famous and long-running TV sitcom, we wouldn't find it so amusing and preposterous. It's ONLY because we know it's REALLY a Hard Rock song by Ozzy, redone, that we find it so ridiculous. But evaluated on its own merits - divorced from the Ozzy original - and it's really only... half bad. Ha!
Also, I want to clarify my meaning in saying that Ozzy is a joke to me...
LONG BEFORE there was a Reality TV show about the Osbournes, Ozzy was a joke to me. (In fact, I have never seen a single episode of 'The Osbournes'.) He became a joke in the early 1980s, at the earliest stage of MTV's life.
While hanging out with my fellow Soul Crusaders in "The League", we watched a lot of early MTV. They frequently played clips of Ozzy live in concert, and Ozzy had a habit of clapping his hands together and then raising his arms into the air, over his head.
We saw that SO MANY TIMES that, after awhile, ANYTIME we saw ANYONE raise their arms in the air, over their head, we would say, "AWWW, YOU AIN'T OZZY!!!"
So, that's the true story of how Ozzy became a joke to me. Aside from that, his brand of "music" wasn't really my thing. I was already into The Blues and on my way to becoming a "Jazzaddict", so Ozzy seemed like a flabby, baby dinosaur to me.
Ozzy will obviously win this 'Battle' and I fully understand why. But even so, although neither version Rocks my rocks, if I were FORCED to listen to one or the other version of this song once a day for the rest of my life, I'd be pissed, but I'd also select the Pat Boone version... seriously.
~ D-FensDogg
'Loyal American Underground'
Sorry to hijack your comments section, Robin, but STMcC:
DeleteBut evaluated on its own merits - divorced from the Ozzy original - and it's really only... half bad
I can agree with that...maybe even 3/4 bad!
if Pat Boone's version was used as the theme song for a famous and long-running TV sitcom, we wouldn't find it so amusing and preposterous
I'd still find it pretty amusing...not something I'd want to listen to...but you may have something about the context-it's kind of hard to listen to it without hearing Ozzy's version in the background.
I was never a big Sabbath fan, and only saw Ozzy live once (in the past decade) and was disappointed, but I have always felt 9still do) that that first solo album was a masterpiece (but you gotta like the genre).
Had you stumbled on it in your rock days, I wonder if you'd have agreed.
LC
No apologies. I enjoy reading the conversation:)
DeleteI go with Pat Boone...Not that I like PB.....but that other rock sound is too disturbing to my tender psyche. How's that for being a polly wall dootle?'
ReplyDeleteYou gotta love Pat Boone for trying, but I still like Ozzy's version better! The music in Pat's version was so over the top that it reminded me of some of the campy fighting scenes on the Batman TV show from the '60's!
ReplyDeleteJulie
You caught me off guard with this early post. I thought I was here yesterday but obviously I wasn't.
ReplyDeleteI recall when Boone put out this album and I've heard a good many cuts off of it. I don't remember having heard this one. I've got to hand it to Pat Boone for doing this experiment. Musically it was actually pretty commendable for what it was. Good arrangement and sharp orchestra. This version is very listenable and I can dig it.
Still, Ozzie version is my favorite. This is one of those songs that always perks me up when I hear it come on the radio. The Ozzie version is so full of energy that it's the aural equivalent to a crazy train rolling down the rails.
Vote for Ozzie.
Lee
Tossing It Out
Holy Carp!! I don't post much but you more than make up for it. I guess when I think about it, you really didn't post this on the 15th, but heck, I know I'm late but not that late, and I had to scroll back through two posts to find this BOTB.
ReplyDeleteAnyway...this is a tough one for me. I don't like Ozzy and never cared for Black Sabbath. But, then Pat Boone's version is just as far out there, in another direction. What was he thinking?
I guess I'll cast a reluctant vote for Ozzy. I don't watch TV, so I've never seen his reality show, but I give him credit for using Pat's corny version of his song as the theme. Never really thought of Ozzy as the kind of guy who could give a laugh at himself.