Summary (by AI): I enjoyed exploring the regenerated Canal District in Birmingham to pay tribute to Ozzy Osbourne and was fascinated by the story of how Tony Iommi’s injury shaped the heavy metal sound.
Blog: I’ve never necessarily been a heavy metal fan. Although, to be fair, this year—2026—I’ve booked myself to go and see Iron Maiden. I’ve always actually wanted to experience a heavy metal concert. I’m not entirely sure I’m a fan of the music itself; I don't mind it, but it’s not something I'm going to listen to full-time.
But over the last couple of decades, the one character from that genre who has obviously been incredibly fascinating is Ozzy Osbourne. He pretty much defined the world of heavy metal. He was well-known with Black Sabbath, of course, but then he became a household name through his reality TV show, The Osbournes. Not that I ever watched it, but you could always sense he was living life to the absolute absolute fullest—no doubt fueled by drugs and other substances over the years. Sadly, he passed away last year, which put him right back in the spotlight and, in particular, shone a light on Birmingham and the West Midlands.
Because of that, I decided to go have a look, thinking to myself that there must be a statue of Ozzy Osbourne somewhere. While I couldn't find a specific statue of him, I did find the Black Sabbath bridge, complete with the memorial bench and pictures of the band. I thought, well, in terms of my "ABC" categorisation, that definitely counts as a statue.
I had a wander around the area. It’s right in the heart of the Canal District, which is really nice. They’ve done a lot of work to regenerate it, and it's become quite an entertainment hub. It wasn’t quite as glamorous when I visited on a slightly chilly evening in early May, so it wasn't super busy. But I can imagine that in the summer, it must be absolutely fabulous down there.
I went and sat on the bench to take a selfie, pretending to be a hardcore Black Sabbath fan. I probably didn’t look the part, but it’s lovely that a city pays tribute to one of their own like that. Long live Ozzy.
There’s also a great story that ties back to when I visited the Silver Factory as part of my "Tradition" category. Over there, they use these massive, heavy iron stamps to stamp out the metal before it gets silvered. As it turns out, the guitar player from Black Sabbath—Tony Iommi—severed a couple of his fingertips on one of his last days working a metal press.
Because he couldn't play the guitar properly anymore, he engineered himself a pair of false fingertips using the plastic caps of Fairy Liquid bottles, which he melted down and shaped to fit his fingers. But because of those improvised caps, he could only play the guitar in a very specific, heavy way. That exact physical limitation ended up defining the signature heavy metal sound. Through the literal crushing of his fingers under heavy metal, he went on to design and develop a whole genre of music that took the world by storm.
It's a very cool story indeed. Though, to be fair, he probably didn’t think it was that cool at the time!
The Map: