All that we had has gone away
There are times that fade away
But you'll still be my enemy"
First things first, this is not the page for the funny Muppet bear. No, this is about the band. Fozzy is a Heavy Metal band fronted by the one and only Chris Jericho, whom you all may know as the popular, ripped, handsome, and multi-talented professional wrestler. The band started off as mostly a cover band; their first two albums feature mainly cover songs, while their next 3 feature all-original music. The band was formed in 1999 in Atlanta, Georgia. Fozzy plays a melodic style of metal, combining elements of alternative metal, hard rock, traditional heavy metal, and progressive metal, leaning the most towards the former two. However, most class the band as simply 'heavy metal'. The band's drummer and guitarist, Frank Fontsere and Rich Ward, respectively, were previously members of the Rap Metal group Stuck Mojo.
The band's name comes not from Fozzie Bear, but from a parody of Ozzy Osbourne's name; originally, the band was called Fozzy Osbourne. One year after the band's formation, they released their self-titled debut album. Due to Chris's time in WWE, the band often takes a few years to release albums. They have a bit of a following in the metal world, and have had a bit of commercial success. Their 2005 single, "Enemy", received radio airplay on about 80 stations country-wide. This was followed by Sin and Bones, their fifth album, which Chris claims to be their Black Album, referring to how he believes it will bring the band mainstream success as Metallica's 1991 album did.
Since the turn of the decade, Jericho has managed to split his time more efficiently as a musician and a wrestler, often taking large breaks between his WWE runs to work with Fozzy.
Cover Albums:
- Fozzy (2000)
- Happenstance (2002)
Official Discography
- All That Remains (2005)
- Chasing the Grail (2010)
- Sin and Bones (2012)
- Do You Wanna Start a War (2014)
- Judas (2017)
- Boombox (2022)
"I'm becom-, I'm becom-, I'm becoming I'm becom-, I'm becom-, I'm becoming Tropes in, Tropes in my mind:"
- Alter-Ego Acting: For a while Jericho & McQueen denied they were the same person, although they both admired the other.
- Being Evil Sucks: "Judas" from the eponymous album is about a man haunted by his own evil ("Is there something left of me to save in the wreckage of my life?").
- Concept Album: Their first two albums tell the fictional story of how the band was huge in Japan. The covers of other band's songs were theirs in the story, and the real artists ripped them off. The story was cut after the band began writing original music, however.
- Doom Metal: The song "Scarecrow" borders on this.
- Dress Rehearsal Video: "Judas" consists mostly of a close-up of Jericho, with the band playing in the background. Other characters wander in and out of shot from time to time, along with the band members (Jericho included) randomly speeding up or slowing down while still keeping time with the song.
- The video for Judas was filmed with the band miming along to the song played back at half speed. The resultant footage was then doubled in speed, causing Jericho to remain in time with the normal-speed song while having everyone's movements look strange.
- ...and the video for Painless seems to do it the opposite way, with the miming/walkthrough being done to a double-speed playback, then having the footage halved, so Jericho's mouth movements match up while making everything look like slow-motion.
- Epic Rocking: They have created two original tracks that past the 10+ min. mark: Wormwood (13:55) and Storm the Beaches (11:35) and it's really damn good. Not bad for a band that did covers in the 2000s.
- Hair Metal: "Tonite"
- Kayfabe: The story as to why the first two (especially the first) are mostly covers? According to their "history", they were performing in Japan and set to tour all of Asia in The '80s...until they got bootstrapped to an incredibly shady contract, effectively trapping them overseas...while the various Hair Metal and Heavy Metal bands of the West were free to pilfer "their" entire catalog and pass it off as their own without consequence or repercussions.
- Live Album: 2005's Remains Alive
- Renaissance Man: Let's see, Chris Jericho is a wrestler, actor, author, businessman, AND has time to record with the band. Talk about multi-talented!
- Special Guest: Several:
- Myles Kennedy and Mark Tremonti of Alter Bridge on "Nameless Faceless" and "The Way I Am", respectively
- Zakk Wylde of Black Label Society on "Wanderlust"
- Rapper Bone Crusher on "It's a Lie"
- Marty Friedman formerly of Megadeth on "Born of Anger"
- Jeff Waters of Annihilator on "Martyr No More" and "God Pounds His Nails"
- M. Shadows from Avenged Sevenfold on "Sandpaper"
- Phil Campbell of Motörhead on "She's My Addiction"
- Michael Starr of Steel Panther on "Tonite"
- Stage Names: As part of the group's Kayfabe backstory, Jericho was billed as Moongoose McQueen.
- Villain Song: "Judas", which has been famously used by Chris Jericho since late 2017 for his latest "dastardly heel" phase. The song is framed as a treacherous, violent fiend of a man warning an innocent about the sheer depths of his depravity. Curiously, despite the song sounding very fierce and very badass, the lyrics show the POV character to be haunted and somewhat remorseful (if unwilling to change), giving it shades of "The Villain Sucks" Song.What have I become? Now that I've betrayedEveryone I've ever loved, I pushed them all away.And I have been a slave, to the Judas in my mindIs there something left of me to save in the wreckage of my life?
