Vol. 2:
Personally, I believe that "the general public" is a bit of very vague label, to be honest. I'd go with "casual listeners", so that we can talk about single individuals more easily.
So, I think that casual listeners keep track of one most superficial aspect/Facet and ignore all the rest, especially if artists try convey to messages that require careful analysis while loud guitars (music: think of rock songs offering social commentary...) and other very distracting elements feature prominently. I also think that casual listeners may be generally aware of the most popular song by a band, the one that might feature at the radio or go viral on social media (and so on), and lack awareness of a band beyond this very shallow exposure. Casual listeners are casual, indeed.
Said this, I remember reading musicology/psycholinguistic studies showing how genres with stripped down musical structure (e.g. folk broadly defined, country, rap, etc.) allow listeners to better understand lyrics simply because "the music does not get in the way". I can dig up again the links to the papers on request: I was struggling to find them, right now. The general result though, from what I could gather, is that song lyrics are not so easy to decode anyway, especially if people want to be entertained (=relieved of boredom). Personally, I struggle to remember the content of any lyrics outside rap songs, and I actually have to be interested in the songs to make the effort of remembering. Even when I am not a casual listener (i.e. I focus on a song I appreciate), I tend to gloss over texts. If somebody has some criticism to move against war, I prefer a simple written text reporting specific evidence, possibly to be read in quiet and peace
I'd add that this is a general tendency: how many people watch anime/movies/tv series to see bright explosions and miss whatever points the writers/directors wanted to make? Think of
Gundam and any anime with an anti-war message, like
Votoms, which started with a virulently anti-war series and ended up as a "military weapons" franchise to sell mechas to the otakus. Again, I for one generally do not pay attention to messages, even though I can admire artists who wish to convey something via their art: it is a though proposition, technically speaking. I also admit that I struggle to take messages seriously when they are packaged into extremely expensive audio-visual productions from big studios, as in this case. I am more willing to pay attention to single artists with simple messages, but provided that they actually know the subject matter.
Re: irony. I believe that I saw an Anglican priest in the pictures of Ozzy's funeral, and I remember reading that "the Prince of Darkness" was actually a staunch supporter of various humanitarian's causes, via the local (Anglican) churches. I am more or less sure that he loathed mentioning any of this in public. More in general, though, I am aware that several Metal artists orbiting around the whole "Satanic/dark" imagery like to play it with a very "meta-fictional" attitude. Mikael Åkerfeldt of
Opeth makes jokes about "Black Metal non-sense" (about lyrics) during concerts. I think that Ozzy in particular really like the self-ironical jokes, as he apparently had this really sophisticated sense of humour. A legend I heard is that he would sneak in at Aston Villa matches (association football? Black Metal? Nonsense!...he tried to be discreet, in general), and recite forbidden spells when the team was playing poorly and/or in need to score goals
"The only desire the Culture could not satisfy from within itself was one common to both the descendants of its original human stock and the machines [...]: the urge not to feel useless."
I.M. Banks, "Consider Phlebas" (1988: 43).
They had a great final decade, between Inferno and Bad Magic. Buddy went out on the road like he swore he would. ;w;7
Got into his work via Abigail cohort Mikkey Dee's long Motorhead tenure, coincidentally. Scandinavia is a mighty metal people! ABBA too ofc
Fuckin killer record. That balls-hard tone does sound recall 1916, now you mention it. 
Nothing like a quiet pub and good company on a cold night.
