About the Song
By the time he released Black Rain in 2007, Ozzy Osbourne was long past the days of biting heads off bats and causing a stir onstage. Yet his edge hadn’t dulled — it had simply matured. On “The Almighty Dollar,” one of the album’s standout tracks, Ozzy trades shock for substance, delivering a dark, urgent warning about the corrupting power of money, and the societal decay it leaves in its wake.
Musically, “The Almighty Dollar” opens with an eerie, aquatic-sounding bassline that feels more meditative than metal — until the guitars kick in with that unmistakable Osbourne grit. It’s moody, slow-burning, and heavy in all the right places, echoing the kind of melodic darkness fans love from No More Tears-era Ozzy. His voice, weathered yet commanding, floats over the arrangement like a preacher in the apocalypse — weary, yet unrelenting.
Lyrically, the song is a sharp critique of economic greed and environmental neglect. Lines like “There’s no God for the homeless / There’s no hope for the poor” and “Plastic oceans and acid rain” don’t pull punches. Ozzy channels both rage and sorrow as he sings about a world blinded by profit — where compassion is drowned out by corporate ambition, and the value of life is measured in dollars and cents.
What makes “The Almighty Dollar” especially compelling is its philosophical weight. Ozzy isn’t just railing against “the system” — he’s asking us to look inward, to question what we’ve prioritized, and what we’ve lost in the process. The song doesn’t offer solutions — but it doesn’t need to. Its strength lies in forcing reflection.
While Black Rain didn’t receive the same universal acclaim as his earlier records, this track remains a hidden gem — a reminder that even after decades in the spotlight, Ozzy still has something important to say. “The Almighty Dollar” may not be the loudest track in his catalog, but it might just be one of the most prophetic.