Gene Simmons of Kiss is certainly not one to hold back from speaking his mind. The good part for music fans is that he gets asked to do so a lot. One might not always like what he has to say, but at least he is honest.
During a discussion on the Fail Better With David Duchovny podcast, the death of Ozzy Osbourne was talked about, and Simmons gave a breakdown of what it was like to know the Prince of Darkness, someone he had known for many decades.
After all, Kiss formed not too long after Black Sabbath began producing records, and both Kiss and Sabbath were part of the hard rock milieu. One way or another, the band members were going to run into each other. Simmons and Kiss's Paul Stanley didn't do drugs or drink, while Ozzy did.
Kiss' Gene Simmons explains the kind of person Ozzy Osbourne truly was
One might assume the two bands might not get along, but that assumption would be far from correct. As Simmons tells it, what you saw from Ozzy Osbourne was what one got, and everyone would see the same thing.
Simmons said, "(T)here was a unique human being, a giant who, no matter what anybody said, was always Ozzy and treated you and the next-door neighbor exactly the same. 'Hey, how are you? Nice to see you.' No airs about him. No anything...(He was) not about (self-aggrandizement) at all. Just, 'Hey, how are you? How are the kids?'"
Ever since Ozzy Osbourne died in late July, more and more people have stated what a normal and down-to-earth person the rock god was. Instead of feeling entitled because of his success with Black Sabbath and in his solo career, he never lost track that everyone else was a human being just like he was.
This is how we want our heroes to be, right? Sure, we might look up to them, and many don't want us to. They want us to appreciate their music or art, but they want to be treated like everyone else. According to Kiss's Gene Simmons, Ozzy Osbourne was exactly like that. That should be a lesson for us all.