Stuff you need to know about Ozzy Osbourne

Ozzy may be the Prince of Darkness and the strangest father figure in TV history, but the British rocker who founded Black Sabbath in the late 1960s is turning into a twisted Renaissance Man. He put out an album and an autobiography this year, he writes an "advice" column in Rolling Stone, and last summer he headlined the annual metal extravaganza Ozzfest, as usual.

And, of course, the man and legend pulls into Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.

Some key things to know about Ozzy:

HIS BEST SONG

"Supernaut" by Black Sabbath. We'll just come out and say it - the greatest heavy rock riff of all time. Ozzy told us: "Black Sabbath didn't write so much songs as rock passages. What we would do is get a good riff going. . . . Whereas a lot of my solo stuff, it's kind of formulated - a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, middle 8, solo."

HIS BEST SOLO SONG

"Flying High Again." This melodic 1981 hit has everything - naughty Ozzy ("I've been a bad, bad boy!"), a Randy Rhoads guitar riff that can slice through logs and two Rhoads solos that are almost as good.

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ANIMAL APPETITES

Ozzy truly did bite the head off a bat - and a dove. In the early '80s, Ozzy picked up what he thought was a toy rubber bat that a fan had thrown onstage, and bit into its neck. He also bit the head off a live dove at a CBS Records meeting; we're told grizzled label observers were less shocked than sort of weirded out.

WHAT DID HE SAY?

Is Ozzy as incomprehensible as he comes across on TV? We once had an opportunity to interview Ozzy and Sharon, who were articulate and insightful. But the beginning of the transcription looks like this:

Ozzy: "NNNHeeeeah!"

Sharon: "NNNeeah! He's here!"

Ozzy: "Hello. . . . You know what, in the past. . . . I've gotta nnnnssshhhnnhh."

NICE GENES

Ozzy is a bona fide genetic mutant. Nathan Pearson of Knome Inc. recently sequenced Osbourne's genome (which sounds like a euphemism) and discovered gene variants "we've never seen before," according to ABC News. Quipped Sharon, at a San Diego medical conference: "I've always said at the end of the world there will be roaches, Ozzy and Keith Richards."

WHO Ozzy Osbourne

WHEN | WHERE 8 p.m. Wednesday, Madison Square Garden

INFO $50.25-$103.20; 800-745-3000, ticketmaster.com

Set list

Here's what Ozzy played last week at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg.

"Bark at the Moon"

"Let Me Hear You Scream"

"Mr. Crowley"

"I Don't Know"

"Fairies Wear Boots" (Black Sabbath cover)

"Suicide Solution"

"Road to Nowhere"

"War Pigs" (Black Sabbath)

"Fire in the Sky"

"Shot in the Dark"

"Rat Salad" (Black Sabbath)

"Iron Man" (Black Sabbath)

"Killer of Giants"

"N.I.B." (Black Sabbath)

"I Don't Want to Change the World"

"Crazy Train"

ENCORE

"Mama, I'm Coming Home"

"Into the Void" (Black Sabbath)

"Flying High Again"

"Believer"

"No More Tears"

"Paranoid" (Black Sabbath)

What critics say

"Ozzy's voice was mostly as flat as RC Cola. He could barely pick up some notes, let alone carry them, and relinquished some of the more difficult choruses to the crowd."

- Ben Gelinas, Edmonton Journal

"The bottom line at an Ozzy show is, did he entertain us? And that he did for a Calgary crowd of about 7,500 at the Dome, thanks to an outstanding new band and a set list that wasn't as stale as it has been on recent tours."

- Heath McCoy, Calgary Herald