Highlights From Our Wild Ozzy Osbourne Tattoo Party

There was a Blizzard of Ozz-themed tattoos at Inked NYC as we got our first chance to listen to his new album, "Ordinary Man."

Even at 71-years-young, Ozzy Osbourne knows how to throw a damn party. On Thursday, 50 different locations around the world through a tattoo party to celebrate the February 21 release of “Ordinary Man,” Osbourne’s twelfth studio album.

Here at Inked NYC, we had a line of rabid Ozzy fans waiting out in the cold hours before we opened our doors. At noon, we let them all in, and for the next 10 hours, there was a constant stream of folks coming in and getting tattoos honoring the Prince of Darkness.

As “Ordinary Man” played from our speakers at the appropriate rock level, we spoke with some of the incredibly stoked fans. Everybody who came in on Thursday walked away with an Ozzy Osbourne tattoo, but only Terrance walked away with five of them.

On Thursday, Terrance had Bright Bones add a small portrait of Ozzy to his robust collection of Ozzy tattoos. On his forearm, he has “Ozzy” in a stylized/graffiti script. On a bicep, he has a Black Sabbath album cover. Across his knuckles… you already know. He has “Ozzy.” Upon inspecting some of Terrance’s tattoos, Ozzy himself recognized what a dedicated fan he was. So what got Terrance hooked in the first place?

“When I was a kid, 15 years old, took a hit of acid and the first time I heard his voice—Black Sabbath, ‘Hand of Doom’—I was hooked,” Terrance says with a laugh. “The trip was great. Bugging out all night. Listened to ‘Paranoid’ all night and when I got up the next day the [cassette player’s] batteries were so dead.”

Another equally dedicated pair of fans got their introduction to Ozzy in a little more wholesome manner—from their parents. Sean and Alyssa came in from Jersey for the day. The siblings were tattooed by resident artist Tom Kraky—Sean opted for a portrait of the singer while Alyssa grabbed a skeleton hand making the rock sign.

“I chose this one because I was in school for sign language,” Alyssa explained. “I actually wanted to do it with the thumb out since that means ‘I love you,’ which is pretty close to ‘rock on.'” “Rock on’ is pretty much an international language,” Sean laughs.

Kyle Brown came in after having a pretty hectic week at work. He needed something to help take away the stress, and a tattoo of a pig holding an AK-47 (a literal war pig) did the trick perfectly.

“I remember discovering all the Black Sabbath tapes,” Kyle said. “I had the over-the-ear headphones and I would just put on fucking ‘War Pigs’ on repeat. I don’t know if Ozzy specifically influenced me into getting tattoos, but that’s something I’ve wanted as well.”

As the night died down, people had some drinks, looked admiringly at their new tattoos and made new friends with fellow Ozzy fans. It was one hell of a night that we won’t forget for quite some time.

Ozzy’s new album, “Ordinary Man,” is available everywhere you can grab music. Throw the album on, start rocking out and enjoy the photo gallery below.