Flying High Again

1981 single by Ozzy Osbourne
"Flying High Again"
Single by Ozzy Osbourne
from the album Diary of a Madman
B-side"I Don't Know" (live)
Released16 October 1981[1]
GenreHeavy metal
Length4:44
Label
  • Jet
  • Epic
Songwriter(s)
  • Ozzy Osbourne
  • Randy Rhoads
  • Bob Daisley
  • Lee Kerslake
Producer(s)Max Norman
Ozzy Osbourne singles chronology
"Mr. Crowley"
(1980) 		"Flying High Again"
(1981) 		"Over the Mountain"
(1982)
Music video
"Flying High Again" on YouTube

"Flying High Again" is a song performed by English heavy metal musician Ozzy Osbourne. It came out in 1981 as a part of his second album as a solo artist, which Osbourne titled Diary of a Madman. Released as a single, "Flying High Again" achieved commercial success and eventually reached the number two spot on the Billboard publication's Top Tracks chart for rock music and related styles in 1982.[2]

Background and legacy

Although the song has been assumed to be about marijuana use, Osbourne has stated that the song was inspired by his successful re-emergence as a solo artist after being fired from Black Sabbath and subsequently believing his career was over.[citation needed] The song is in the key of A-flat major.[3]

Gina Boldman of AllMusic praised guitarist Randy Rhoads for the solo in the song as one of his best. She called "Flying High Again" "a good-time heavy metal song that was hard to take seriously" but "one of Ozzy's most likable and memorable songs of his early-'80s period."[4] In 2015, radio station 100.7 WZLX ranked it the 223rd greatest song.[5]

An animated music video was released to YouTube on 5 November 2021 celebrating guitarist Randy Rhoads, who was killed in an airplane accident a year later following the single's release.[6]

A retrospective article released by Loudwire.com in 2023 lauded both the song and parent album Diary of a Madman, with music journalist Jon Wiederhorn remarking that "Osbourne [had] skillfully" devised "storming fist-in-the-air rockers" including not just "Flying High Again" but "Over the Mountain" and "S.A.T.O." as well. He stated in addition that Rhoads had "shined bright as the sun all over the record" when it came to the tracklist as a whole. Wiederhorn also noted that "[t]ragically" Diary of a Madman wound up being the last studio album to feature Rhoads after the musician's death on 19 March 1982, although multiple singles including "Flying High Again" relying on Rhoads' artistry became popular hits.[7]

Personnel

See also

  • icon1980s portal
  • Rock music portal

References

  1. ^ "Music Week" (PDF). p. 54.
  2. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Rock Tracks. Menonomee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. p. 103. ISBN 0-89820-153-5.
  3. ^ "Flying High Again". Musicnotes. 25 May 2013.
  4. ^ Boldman, Gina. "Fling High Again Song Review". AllMusic. Retrieved August 22, 2020.
  5. ^ "Top 1,007 Classic Rock Countdown: 300 – 201". WZLX. December 30, 2015. Archived from the original on February 4, 2016. Retrieved August 22, 2020.
  6. ^ "Ozzy Osbourne – Flying High Again (Official Music Video)". YouTube. Retrieved 2022-03-03.
  7. ^ https://loudwire.com/ozzy-osbourne-diary-of-a-madman-anniversary/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral
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