Josh Homme likens Ozzy Osbourne’s death to David Bowie’s passing: “A poetic ending”

Posted On August 22, 2025August 22, 2025

Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme has compared the death of Ozzy Osbourne to the passing of David Bowie in 2016, which he has described as a “poetic ending”.

In 2022, Homme made a guest appearance on Osbourne’s final solo album, Patient Number Nine, and also previously played OzzFest with Queens of the Stone Age.

While he didn’t appear at Osbourne’s farewell show in Birmingham, Back to the Beginning, which took place just weeks before the rock icon died on July 22nd, Homme believes it was the perfect way for the Black Sabbath singer to bow out.

During an appearance on The Evening Show with Dan O’Connell on Radio X, Homme shared, “Well, I think it was such a poetic ending to a career that you just can’t take your eyes and ears off of. I mean, I could watch Ozzy do anything. Well, almost anything.”

The rocker continued: “But, you know, if he was squeezing orange juice, I’d be like, ‘We should watch this. Something beyond juice is coming,’ you know? I just think he’s a classic. And I think his passing was poetic, and I feel for the family, because that’s such a loss.”

However, Homme does believe there is a beauty to be found in Osbourne being able to say goodbye at Villa Park and bow out on his terms, saying, “But I also think that I believe that they see the poetry in that too. You know, I think David Bowie’s passing was that those are two poetic ways to go.”

Two days before his passing in 2016, Bowie released his final album, Blackstar, which found him dealing with his own mortality.

In recent years, Homme has also dealt with his own health struggles, but on a positive note, he revealed in the same interview, “I feel really well. I’m doing well”, and also said, “I’ve really had a lot of joy lately.”

He recently shared that he spent seven months in bed after undergoing surgery last year, which caused Queens of the Stone Age to cancel a host of shows.

Thankfully, Queens of the Stone Age are back on the road. Next week, they play two huge shows in Sheffield, and Homme told Radio X that he plans to “go to all the Arctic Monkeys guys childhood homes” while in South Yorkshire.

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