Ozzy Osbourne and Looney Tunes Record Store: Remembering the late icon's 2001 visit to West Babylon

The revving of 25 Harley Davidsons elicited screams from some 4,000 Long Islanders when Looney Tunes Record Store in West Babylon hosted the "Prince of Darkness" for a once-in-a-lifetime meet-and-greet with his devotees.

Ozzy Osbourne, one of four lads from Birmingham, England, who kicked off the Heavy Metal chapter in the history of Rock and Roll, followed the procession of Harleys, poking his head through the sunroof of a long, black limousine on that Oct. 18, 2001, afternoon, providing much-needed lightness after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center five weeks earlier.

"Like Santa leading his sleigh," recalled Karl Groeger Jr., the owner of the record store, part of West Babylon for 54 years and known for attracting artists for in-store events like signings and concerts.

Earlier this year, the store hosted record-release appearances by pop star Selena Gomez and music producer Benny Blanco as well as Joe Jonas, of the Jonas Brothers.

When Osbourne, who died Tuesday at the age of 76, arrived at the store more than two decades ago, he walked across a bridge above the crowd before entering the record shop, setting himself upon a makeshift golden throne and posing for Polaroid photographs with fans who had purchased his latest album, "Down To Earth."

"The place went absolutely crazy," Groeger said. "Ozzy was just super sweet. ... A lot of artists do a lot of appearances because I think they have to, but it looked like he genuinely really loved his fans and was really excited to meet everybody."

That indelible memory made the atmosphere at Looney Tunes "very depressing" after Groeger said he, his staff and his customers heard that Osbourne had died. The godfather of heavy metal, who cofounded and fronted Black Sabbath on and off for nearly six decades and released 13 solo albums since 1980, died following a 2020 Parkinson’s disease diagnosis, The Associated Press reported Tuesday.

"This was a big blow for us," Groeger said in a telephone interview Tuesday evening. "We’ve been playing Ozzy music and Black Sabbath all day long. Everybody’s kind of in a funk. ... We’re going to continue to celebrate his life and his music the whole week."

Groeger said he saw Osbourne live in concert either solo or with Black Sabbath more than 10 times since first seeing him in the mid-1980s at the Nassau Coliseum. He’s even encountered Osbourne and his wife, Sharon, on several occasions through record label events.

"But nothing was like having him at my store, introducing him to fans all day long," Groeger said.

For all the spectacle preparing for Osbourne’s arrival, Groeger said, the most "surreal" part of the heavy metal vocalist’s visit occurred when he ventured into the back of the store to use its restroom. The outside of the restroom door had long included a poster of Osbourne, upon which an employee scrawled in marker: "please close the bloody door."

"Ozzy saw the poster and he just started cracking up laughing," Groeger recalled. "He was just opening and closing the door, opening and closing the door ... and we snapped a picture of it."

While the poster was destroyed in a 2007 fire at Looney Tunes, the shop displays a large copy of the photograph of Osbourne sporting blue-tinted sunglasses and partly red-dyed hair next to the poster, hand on the bathroom door handle.

Groeger was impressed the most by how Osbourne treated his fans, just over a month after the Sept. 11 attacks and the shadow of gloom cast over Long Island, where so many victims lived.

The rocker stayed late at the meet-and-great to pose with "hundreds" of first responders. Groeger recalled Osbourne telling him they "don’t have to buy anything, they can come and just take a picture."

"He didn’t care how many there were, he was extremely gracious," Groeger said. "That just goes to show the kind of person he was."