Another One Bites The Dust, Ozzy & Now Ace

Being a man who is now very quickly spiralling towards his 50th year on this planet, I think I am now of the age where I can look back to my teenage years and seek out those fond memories that kept me going when things got tough.

You know the moments as we all have that particularly journey to go through as we learn how to ‘adult’ in the eyes of wider society. Whether that be life in general, finding your brethren and a place to fit in, or the dreaded ‘girls’ issue that seems to creep up out of nowhere and times itself perfectly for when you are an acne filled bag of uncontrolled (and ever changing) raging hormones.

It probably does not help that the teenage years are probably when you can fake bravado and confidence in any situation, or on any subject, without even thinking about it and a healthy dose of that self belief in your decision making when older and using sites like PlayMichigan.com can make a difference as long as you remain sensible. Yet, when younger, it is also the same point in your life where all you have really mastered is tying your shoelaces and maybe eating without making a mess.

Music is always a good go to as I look back. Grunge, Metal, Freddie Mercury and Queen, whatever takes your fancy in the moment and your particular mood and 2025 has not been good for my musical memories. Others will disagree depending on their favoured bands and artists of the time, particularly given musical quirks and the different genres that you can fall into, but there cannot be many out there who did not take a sombre moment when the late, and great, Iron Man fell after his final swansong gig in his hometown of Aston, Birmingham, England.

Marston Green native (I was born there!!) Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath’s final Villa Park gig will go down in history as one of the greatest musical events ever, and for those who may be a little bit more spiritual in life, seeing him pass at the age of 76 after having achieved his aim of saying a proper goodbye to his adoring fans is both magical, very fitting and will keep the conspiracy nuts Paranoid for a couple of months at any rate.

Having now reached October as the New Year begins to beckon, things have not really improved as we now know founding guitarist of KISS, Paul Daniel ‘Ace’ Frehley has also now moved on to meet his musical maker as well, and he was only two years shy of Ozzy, albeit he generally used a hell of a lot more make up.

The iconic and bizarre more ‘Glam Rock’ and ‘Shock Rock’ styling of Kiss always led them to stand out to those who were looking to rebel and I clearly was not alone in being drawn to the Spaceman along with Paul Stanley, Peter Criss and the inimitable Gene Simmons. They quickly became another regular listen on my headphones as well, but sadly he has smoked his last guitar and we too have to bow our own wigs for a man who made an impact on the lives of so many, simply by having fun.

As you get older you notice your nostalgia goes through ‘Changes’ but your more formative years certainly gave rise to some ‘Ace’ memories that will always be respected and cherished.

RIP