Sophie Lloyd has marked the first anniversary of Ozzy Osbourne’s death with a full-shred YouTube tribute to the late Prince of Darkness.
If you are familiar with the English virtuoso’s treatment of the popular canon of rock and pop, then you know the drill. This is Lloyd, backed by Marshall and Randall half-stacks, her Kiesel signature guitar in hand, reworking a classic as a guitar instrumental.
She has done Oasis, Pink Floyd, Bon Jovi, Iron Maiden and Metallica – she’s reimagined the Pokémon Theme Song, too. Now you can add Black Sabbath’s Paranoid to the list.
It’s been a minute since Lloyd has posted one of these Shred videos. There has been a lot filling up her calendar, not least her touring schedule as Machine Gun Kelly’s guitarist. Yesterday, one year after we lost Ozzy, was a fitting time to return.
“In loving memory of the Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne,” writes Lloyd. “Thank you for being such a huge inspiration to me from such a young age. Thank you for everything.”
Lloyd’s version is far removed from the eponymous single from Sabbath’s 1970 sophomore album, Paranoid. Her guitar assumes Ozzy’s role as vocalist. Her style is more pyrotechnic than Iommi’s. But as Lloyd explained to MusicRadar in 2022, her process always preserves the melody.
“It’s like having reference points to go back to,” said Lloyd. “I’ll venture out and then go back so the melody is still there. We did Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd, and I really stripped back my shredding and played a lot more melody stuff, and I’ve been playing more with harmonies as well, so that’s been quite fun. It’s something new I’m trying out a little bit because, you know, a lot of those things you don’t want to oversaturate with shred, even though it’s fun.”
Lloyd wasn’t the only player to post a solo guitar tribute on social media. Alex Skolnick of Testament performed a medley of Randy Rhoads’ classical piece Dee and Ozzy power ballad Goodbye To Romance for solo nylon-string guitar, performing it on his Cordoba Iberia GK Studio through a Henriksen Bud 6.
Lloyd is one of the most high-profile YouTube guitarists to have landed high-profile gigs after building a huge audience on the platform.
Her advice to any young player looking to grow their online following: find your own niche and go for it. Posting your first video is the hardest part.
“My first videos look like they were filmed on a potato and the audio quality is awful,” she said. “You’ve got to start somewhere, so I’d say, just go for it as much as you can and have fun with it. Try and develop something unique to you. Look for some sort of gap in the market and try and fill that.”
Lloyd released her debut album, Imposter Syndrome in 2023. You can join 1.27 million others and follow her on YouTube.
