The 2005 Complete Ozzy Osbourne Biography/FAQ
The *LARGEST* source of info on Ozzy on the Internet
After three years this FAQ is updated again!
Current Update: September 1, 2005
Written By: Mike (ozzyfaq@hotmail.com)
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Disclaimer
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This article is provided as is without any express or implied
warranties. While every effort has been taken to ensure the accuracy of
the information contained in this article, the author, maintainer,
contributors assume(s) no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for
damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.
There are discrepancies in certain dates depending on which source is
used. Iıve attempted to make this the most complete and accurate source
of information on Ozzy Osbourne. I believe Iıve succeeded.
This FAQ is protected free speech.
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Author's Note
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Most web pages, which offer you information on Ozzy Osbourne, are
sketchy. Other pages are never updated and remain the same for over a
year. Even the commercial pages can't beat the pages run by Ozzy fans.
This text file is without a doubt the largest source of information
available on Ozzy, which can be found on the Internet.
This file may be freely distributed in all forms, or put on your web
page, providing the contents are not changed, though I doubt much would
happen even if you did :)
Itıs sad but true that the only way internet users are able to have any
contact with the members of Black Sabbath is to throw up a web page and
jump into bed with the record companies. If you put up a web page then
the marketing team will offer you items to give away and youıll be able
to phone them for the latest news. This has always been a solo effort
and will remain so, with no benefits handed to me.
I welcome any suggestions, corrections or complaints you may have.
I have been asked if it is acceptable to use this FAQ. The answer, as
stated above, is YES. The only condition is that you DON'T MODIFY THE
FILE OR REMOVE THE CREDITS.
The majority of people may not share my opinions - or they may.
But they are mine to make and mine alone. I enjoy his music so feel
free to enjoy this biography.
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Table Of Contents
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* = UPDATED September 1, 2005
THE EARLY YEARS
[1.0] Introduction
* [1.1] What was Ozzy's childhood like?
[1.2] How did Ozzy start his music career?
* [1.3] Who was Jim Simpson? (Manager Number One)
* [1.4] Who was Earth/Black Sabbath?
* [1.5] How Black Sabbath came to be?
[1.6] Paranoia
* [1.7] An act of SABOTAGE?
[1.8] Manager Number Two
* [1.9] When and how did Ozzy leave Black Sabbath?
THE SOLO YEARS
* [2.0] Randy Rhoads
[2.1] What the hell is this about biting a bat? (Diary of a Madman)
* [2.2] When and how did Randy Rhoads die?
* [2.3] What is this about a dove?
[2.4] Wife as Manager/Speak of the Devil
[2.5] Suicide Solution
[2.6] Bark at the Moon
[2.7] The Ultimate Disaster
[2.8] No Rest for the Wicked
[2.9] No More Beers
[2.10] Ozzmosis
[2.11] Why did Zakk leave Ozzy?
* [2.11b] Ozzfest
[2.12] Of Priests and Devils
* [2.13] Will there ever be a reunion?
* [2.14] After Ozzmosis/Ozzfest
FAMILY
* [2.15] The Osbournes (2002-2003)
* [2.16] Kelly
* [2.17] Jack
* [2.18] Aimee
NEW * [2.19] Louis
* [2.20] Who is Robert Marcato?
* [2.21] The Family
* [2.22] Money, money, money
NEW [2.23] Kerslake and Daisley
2004-2005
[2.24] Continuing
INFORMATION
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Updated Soon [3.0] Ozzy Album Discography
Updated Soon [3.1] Rare/B-sides/etc.
* [3.2] Song Definitions
* [3.3] Did You Know?
[3.4] Tattoos
* [3.5] Milestones
* [3.6] Questions
* [3.7] Quotations
* [3.8] Fan Club Info
* [3.9] Ozzy and Black Sabbath books
* [3.10] Ozzy's Movie Career
* [3.11] Where are they now?
CONCLUSION
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* [4.0] Closing Remarks
* [4.1] Credits
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1.0 INTRODUCTION
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1968
====
In a small German club, a band by the name of "Earth" is up on the
stage. The audience is ignoring the band as audiences typically do.
The lead singer, Ozzy, decides to get their attention. He goes back to
the dressing room, unnoticed by the audience. Backstage, he coats his
hands, face and feet with purple paint. He returns to the stage and then
screams at the audience. The audience remains oblivious to this purple
man screaming at them. The band resigns themselves to the fact that the
audience is just not going to pay them any attention.
Present day
===========
Ask someone if they have heard of Celine Dion or Tom
Cochrane, and even if their answer is no, they have most likely heard
about Ozzy Osbourne or Black Sabbath. Since his debut in the late 60's
as a blues/rock singer, this man has had a worldwide impact on the music
scene.
You may think of him as a drugged out lunatic who sacrifices animals and
eats dead frogs for supper while worshiping Satan with dead bodies
around him. This is of course complete and utter nonsense... I have
never heard of him using more than one dead body. :)
The most common stories are the beheading of the bat, wasn't there
something about a dove?, and what was that about the Alamo? From his
childhood right on up to his current Ozzmosis album, this file will
attempt to explain it all.
At the age of 57, this man still has the mind, and at times, the body of
a 22 year old. His records still continue to sell and make it to the
charts, his concerts sell out within minutes, all this despite his never
having followed any given 'trend' as a lot of music groups try to do
today. When Britney Spears is 48, do you think she will still have sell
out concerts?
With the introduction of The Osbournes on MTV, a new younger generation
of Ozzy fans is heading to the internet, exposed to the singer in a new
light. The newsgroup has never so much activity. Unfortunately most of
it comes from young people who have no ability to express themselves
without the use of profanity.
"When I left school I wanted to become a plumber. When I heard the
Beatles I wanted to become a Beatle" ...Ozzy
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1.1 What was Ozzy's childhood like?
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"It doesn't give me a very good reflection about the state of crime in
the country.²
Ozzy, former thief, on his English home being broken into
The year was 1948 and John Michael Osbourne was born on December 3rd in
the industrial town of Birmingham, England to Jack and Lillian Osbourne.
John was the fourth of six children (2 brothers, Paul and Tony) and 3
sisters (Jean, Iris and Gillian) in a small two bedroom home at 14 Lodge
Road in Aston, England. Needless to say the house was more than a little
crowded.
Ozzy's father worked nights in a steel plant while his mother worked
days in the Lucas car plant assembling electrical circuits. His family
was in poor financial shape with no money, no car and little food. Ozzy
says his childhood consisted of one pair of shoes, one pair of socks, no
underwear, one pair of pants and one jacket. There would be a bucket at
the end of the bed to urinate in, which sat there for months. Their beds
never had clean sheets, and sometimes they used overcoats as bed sheets.
Ozzy was beaten quite a bit by his father; most of it was deserved for
stunts like trying to kill his siblings. (Ed: While I don't condone the
beating of a child, I also don't think one should attempt to kill one's
siblings either. Take the above comment with this in mind.)
One day Ozzy's friends gave his brother a used condom and told him it
was a balloon. His brother went into the house with the condom blown up,
and his father washed his mouth out with soap.
In his spare time, Ozzy would watch television. He liked shows such as
"I love Lucy", "Lassie" and "Roy Rogers". This was the lifestyle of
Birmingham, a time where you went to work all day and then to the pub to
drink and play darts until deciding to stagger home. For the Osbourne
family, life was no different. It was all work and little time to enjoy
the finer moments in life. While the Beatles were singing about flower
power and loving one another, the people of Birmingham simply had to
take a good look around them to see the reality of the world: it was
hard. Life was no different for the Osbourne family.
While attending school at King Edward VI on Frederick Road, the other
students called John, "Ozzie" or "Oz-brain" with respect to his last
name. Quite the rebel, Ozzy did however take part in various school
opera-plays such as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Mikado and The Pirates of
Penzance. There was one student at school named Tony Iommi whom Ozzy did
not get along with. Tony and John were from two different crowds and
there was no love lost between the two. Tony and his mates would make
fun of Ozzy's high voice and compared his singing to that of girls. The
two of them would later reunite later on under totally different
circumstances.
Ozzy did not do particularly well in school and wanted to get out as
soon as he could. When asked on a school survey what his ambition was,
he wrote that he wanted to become a plumber. This was not to happen
however. Ozzy was kicked out from school. His parents argued often, and
the main issue was their lack of money. Ozzy decided that he could fix
this if he could go out and get a job. So at the age of 15, Ozzy took
his first job as a plumber's assistant. He proceeded to cut the end of
his thumb off, and it had to be reattached. He still bears a scar.
His second job was as a toolmaker's apprentice. Ozzy then went on to
work in a slaughterhouse in Digbeth for two years, killing cows. Perhaps
this influenced his musical style, I do not know. Other jobs included an
auto mechanic, house painter and even two weeks at a mortuary. His first
musical job was working in the Lucas electrical plant tuning car horns.
He later said, "I liked heavy metal better because it was louder".
Ozzy did not care for working for other people so he decided to try
crime instead. He once tried stealing a 24-inch television set. Balanced
on top of a wall with it, and trying to keep his balance, he fell off
with the television landing on top of him. He did some more break and
enters but used a pair of gloves with the fingers cut off. Naturally he
was caught.
Ozzy also broke into his 63 year old neighborıs home. It would be many
years later, in 2004 that this act would be repaid to him.
Caught breaking into Sarah Clarke's clothes shop while trying to steal
sweaters, Ozzy served six weeks of a three-month sentence at
Birmingham's Winson Green Prison. His father refused to pay the £40
fine.
While incarcerated there, Ozzy tattooed the now famous letters O-Z-Z-Y
on his left knuckles and happy faces on his knees using sewing needle
and a graphite slab. One happy face can be seen on his left knee on the
"Diary of a Madman" album cover. He would later be put in jail again for
punching a police officer in the mouth.
Shortly after his release from prison for burglary, Ozzy wound up in the
hospital on glucose for 12 hours after being thrown through a glass
window while fighting 3 men.
The current owner of Ozzyıs Lodge Road home, Ali Mubarret says that he
will either put the front door on E-Bay and give the proceeds to charity
or give it away to a hardcore Ozzy fan. Ali is tired of the fans that
drop by looking for the house Ozzy grew up in, leaving graffiti on the
front door.
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1.2 How did Ozzy start his music career?
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After getting out of jail, Ozzy decided he did not want to go end up
going back. At this time, The Beatles were becoming increasingly popular
and becoming the craze. Ozzy thought that this would be the way to go.
There was money to be made in singing as opposed to crime. In fact the
Beatles were one of his main influences. Even to this day he still
listens to the Beatles before going out on stage. It is of interest to
note that this would not be his first musical experience though: earlier
at the age of fourteen he had already been in a band named 'The Black
Panthers'.
A band by the name of "Music Machine" needed a singer because theirs was
sick. Ozzy liked the idea of being able to travel to gigs and meeting
women so he filled in. Later on he joined a band named "Approach" but
didn't like the band so he quit. He then decided to call himself "Ozzy
Zig" and placed this ad in the local music paper/shop: "Ozzy zig
requires gig. Ozzy's father loaned him some money and together they
purchased a 50-watt amp.
Ozzy placed an ad in a local record store reading, "Ozzy zig requires
gig. Owns own P.A.". Another 18-year-old Brummie named Terence 'Geezer'
Butler had been playing guitar for just six months when he saw Ozzy's ad
on a shop bulletin board and decided to go look him up. After the two
met, they decided to form a band named "Rare Breed". Rare Breed lasted
only two shows before disbanding.
Elsewhere Ozzy's old schoolmate, Tony Iommi had teamed up with an 18-
year-old assistant truck driver named William Ward who had just quit his
job. Tony and Bill also decided to form a band, "The Rest", and
recruited a singer named Chris Smith. The Rest eventually moved north to
a small town named Carlisle where they renamed themselves "Mythology"
and gained a large following of fans. They played mainly blues songs
inspired by such groups as The Yardbirds, Cream, The Beatles and John
Mayal.
Mythology eventually split up; Tony and Bill returned to Birmingham and
went to the music shop where they also saw Ozzy's ad. Tony was hoping
this was not the same 'Ozzy' he had went to school with because that
Ozzy could not sing well and the two of them disliked one other. It
turned out that it was indeed the same Oz and decided it would not be a
good idea to form a band together. Tony was also not impressed with Ozzy
because he had very short hair (really!). Since Ozzy and Geezer still
needed a drummer they later approached Tony to see if he knew of a
drummer. Bill was at Tony's place and agreed to join them but only if
they'd let Tony join too. So along with a slide guitar player named Jim
Phillips and a saxophone player, they formed a new band. The new band
returned to Carlisle where Tony and Bill had been a success and played
some gigs. Not being pleased with a six-piece band, they broke up and
then rejoined once the two extras had gone. This was a polite way of
getting rid of the two unnecessary members. The foursome them learned 18
songs in their first week together. Ozzy named the band "Polka
Tulk Blues Band" after a tin of talcum powder. It has also been said
that the name came from a Pakistani clothing store named the 'Polka Tulk
Trading Company'. Two days after Ozzy and Geezer met, Geezer Butler said
that Ozzy defecated on a car.
Geezer Butler switched to playing bass guitar since Tony was now
the lead guitar player. Unable to afford a bass guitar, Geezer simply
took two of the guitar strings off his guitar and re-tuned it to make a
bass guitar. Another name change ensued and the group was soon known as
"Earth".
"Black Sabbath makes Led Zeppelin look like a kindergarten house band"
...Advertisement by Jim Simpson
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1.3 Who was Jim Simpson? (Manager Number One)
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Jim Simpson was a musician in a band named Locomotive who played jazz
trumpet. He was also the manager of a Brummie band named 'Bakerloo Blues
Band'. Unable to find a place where he could promote the band, he opened
his own place called "Henry's Blueshouse". Henry's, located at Hill
Street and Station Road was an instant success. It wasn't before long
before the club had to stop accepting new bands. A band that was just
starting out, Led Zeppelin, would also be one of the first bands to play
Henry's.
In 1969, the four members of Earth approached Jim and asked if they
could play at Henry's. They also wanted him to be their manager since
they knew nothing of the business sense of things. He told them that
they could open for the band 'Ten Years After', which pleased them.
Happy to have a manager who supposedly cared for their interests, they
recorded a song in tribute to him, "Song for Jim". The song was a spoof
of their manager and the jazz music he played. This elusive song is
still sought after by Sabbath fans worldwide. Simpson would also give
the band some of his jazz records to inspire them to write songs.
It is of interest to mention that around this time, Tony left to join
Jethro Tull. While Tony did not appear on any of Tull's albums, he did
make an appearance at the "Rolling Stone's Rock and Roll Circus" which
was never released, because the Stones were upstaged by other acts. Tony
and Jethro can be heard on a bootleg called "Archangel Rides Again". The
movie was eventually released in the movie festival circuit.
Tony's stint with Jethro Tull was very brief (for two weeks). He left
Tull and was soon back in Earth.
Jim Simpsonıs band, Locomotive hit the international charts with a song
titled Rudiıs In Love.
Simpson is currently head of the Big Bear Music Agency. If you write to
Jim (jim@bigbearmusic.com) regarding The Rebel, donıt expect a reply of
any sort.
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1.4 Who was Earth/Black Sabbath?
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BAND MEMBER FULL NAME BIRTHDATE
1) Tony Iommi [guitar] Anthony Frank Iommi Feb 19, 1948 in Aston
The In Crowd (pre 1966)
The Birds and the Bees (pre 1966)
The Rockinı Chevrolets (1964-65)
The Rest (1965-67)
Mythology (1967-68)
Polka Tulk Blues Band (August 1968)
Earth (Sept. 1968 Aug. 1969)
2) Bill Ward [drums] William Ward May 5, 1948 in UK
The Rest (1965-67)
Polka Tulk Blues Band (August 1968)
Earth (Sept. 1968 Aug. 1969)
3) Ozzy Osbourne [vocals/harmonica] John Michael Osbourne Dec. 3, 1948
in Aston
The Black Panthers
Musicmachine
Rare Breed (1966-1968)
Polka Tulk Blues Band (August 1968)
Earth (Sept. 1968 Aug. 1969)
4) Geezer Butler [bass] Terence Michael Butler July 17, 1949
Rare Breed (1966-1968)
Polka Tulk Blues Band (August 1968)
Earth (Sept. 1968 Aug. 1969)
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1.5 How Black Sabbath came to be
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"When we hit America we were the wild bunch. We bought dope and f***ed
anything that moved" ...Ozzy
While waiting to go into a rehearsal one day, they noticed a Boris
Karloff movie playing named "Black Sabbath" (1935). Geezer mentioned it
was strange that people would go to a movie to scare themselves silly.
Until this time they had only played other artist's material. They
decided to use the name of the movie as the name for their first
original song.
One day the band showed up to do a gig at Henry's. There, someone
mentioned they liked the bands single. The only problem was the foursome
hadn't ever released a single! They then realized that there were two
bands by the same name. The audience was upper class and expecting a
totally different type of music. Unable to back out of the show, the
scruffy four played blues and rock to the audience. It was a disaster!
The band however did have some fun in watching the crowd try to dance to
their type of music.
As a result, Geezer came up with the idea to change their name to that
of the Karloff movie, 'BLACK SABBATH' to avoid being confused with the
other band named Earth. They now had a song and a band name taken from
the movie's title. This would also reflect the groups interest in the
occult.
It has also been said that the name Black Sabbath came from Geezer's
interest in occult writer Denis Wheatley.
Not having any money, the band relied on Tony's mother who owned a
chocolate shop, for the use of a van, food and cigarettes. Sometimes the
group would get gigs on their own, other times they would show up at a
place where another band was to be playing. In the event that the
scheduled band failed to show up, the Sabs would take their place. They
played the Star Club in Hamburg in Jan. 1969, a place the Beatles had
made famous.
They were so popular that they were booked to come back for 5 more
shows. They would play 7 shows a day, and write new material as they
went along. This would also explain why their early songs had different
lyrics than the final album versions.
As Black Sabbath made news, a group of Satanists asked them to play at
their "night of Satan" at Stonehenge. They refused. The head witch of
England, Alec Sanders who was a regular fan of Sabbaths, informed them
that these Satanists had placed a hex on the band members. Ozzy asked
his father to make aluminum crosses, which he did, and then had them
blessed. They wore these crosses 24 hours a day for protection. The
cross remains a well known Black Sabbath symbol even to this day. You
see, Black Sabbath as Satanic and dark as the name sounded, had nothing
to do with the devil when they chose their name.
An independent producer named Tony Hall paid for the band to record some
demo songs at the Regent Sound studio on Tottenham Court Rd. These were
produced by Roger Bayed, whose name appears on many of their albums. One
demo cut, a single called "Evil Woman", was released on the Fontana
record label in Jan. 1970. This was a cover song from a Minnesota band
named Crow, which did quite well unbeknownst to the band.
Another demo was called "The Rebel" and is played as a 10 second sample
in "The Black Sabbath Story - I" video. The song, about a reclusive
voyeur, is one of the rarest Sabbath songs in that it did not make it to
the final album. (For those who are trying to track down The Rebel and A
Song for Jim, the only known person who has these is said to
be Pete Sarfas who used to run the old Black Sabbath Fan Club.)
In January of 2005, Black Sabbath fans were shocked to learn that a rare
Black Sabbath song had been discovered. Sabbathlive.com broke the news
that Joe D'Agostino, a music collector and Black Sabbath fan purchased
an acetate (record) containing a song called ³When I Came Down². The
song is believed to have been recorded between March and October 1969.
The B-side of the acetate contained an alternative version of The
Wizard. Joe transferred the acetate to CD and cleaned up the sound.
Despite rumours that he would one day release this song to the fans,
itıs highly unlikely it will ever see the light of day. The song
features all original members of Black Sabbath in the Jim Simpson era.
Sabbathıs first completed album was released on Friday, Feb. 13th, 1970.
It took them only eight hours to record and cost a mere 800 British
pounds (approx. $1200 US). The album was recorded in four tracks on an 8
track machine. The band was not that popular at this time, they simply
wanted to do what they liked best... sing about the darker, more
depressing things that surrounded them. It was not likely they ever
intended to make the big time, in fact Ozzy has said he was just happy
to show his mother that his voice was recorded on a piece of vinyl. It
was not as easy as it sounds though, it took them 14 tries before Jim
Simpson found a record company (Vertigo) that would carry the album.
The record company chose to put an upside down cross on the
gatefold of the album and thus people readily associated the band with
Satanism. The band knew nothing about this and did not want the upside
down cross. They backed down from the record company's "wiser and
higher" marketing methods. Inside the inverted cross was a poem.
The poem seemed to correspond with the album's cover showing a woman
standing in front of the 17th century Mapledurham Water Mill. The poem
is called "Still Falls the Rain". Due to requests by fans, it is shown
below:
*** STILL FALLS THE RAIN ***
"Still falls the rain,
the veils of darkness shroud the blackened trees,
which, contorted by some unseen violence,
shed their tired leaves, and bend their boughs
toward a gray earth of severed bird wings.
Among the grasses, poppies bleed before a gesticulating death,
and young rabbits, born dead in traps,
stand motionless, as though guarding the silence
that surrounds and threatens to engulf
all those that would listen.
Mute birds, tired of repeating yesterdays terrors,
huddle together in the recesses of dark corners,
heads turned from the dead, black swan
that floats upturned in a small pool in the hollow.
There emerges from this pool a faint, sensual mist,
that traces its way upwards to caress the feet
of the headless martyr's statue
whose only achievement was to die too soon,
and who couldn't wait to loose.
The cataract of darkness forms fully,
the long black night begins, yet still
by the lake a young girl waits.
Unseeing she believes herself unseen, she smiles faintly
at the distant tolling bell, and the still falling rain."
The first album contained the following songs:
1) Black Sabbath (a dark doom sounding song)
2) The Wizard (a song about a wizard who walks through towns cheering
people up through the use of magic)
3) Wasp/Behind The Wall of Sleep
4) Bassically/N.I.B. (a song about the devil falling in love with a
mortal woman and changing to a good person)
5) Wicked World (society, and our struggle to survive)
(Euro versions had 'Evil Woman' instead, another great single)
6) Sleeping Village/Warning (a very blues influenced song that is an
easy listener, about found/lost love)
This was definitely NOT a satanic album! Today there are still people
who hear the words "Black Sabbath" and think hard rock devil music. This
is sheer ignorance. Remember the band was originally a blues band, and
there is a definite blues sound in their debut album.
Ozzy brought the album home to proudly show his parents. The Osbourne's
were the type of people who would sit around the phonogram with a beer
and merrily sing alone to the records. This was not to be though. When
Mr. Osbourne heard the album he asked John, "Are you sure you were just
drinking alcohol?, this isn't music, this is weird." The first song
began with a church bell tolling and the sound of rain falling in the
background, and was eerie to say the least. Ozzy too had not heard the
final product until now. It would reach #8 in the UK charts and #23 in
the United States.
The four unknowns were now finally making a name for themselves with the
release of an album. It is of interest to note that their album followed
the release of Led Zeppelin's first album. Both bands knew one another
personally since they both played in the same club and the music scene
was a close knit group. It came in the form of a surprise to the Sabs
when someone put on a brand new album from Led Zeppelin.
Bill Ward was close to Zeppelin's drummer, John Bonham. He talks about
the relationship between the two bands in the book, "The Story of Black
Sabbath".
It is of interest to point out that in February of 1970, the same month
their debut album came out, they broke the attendance record at
Simpson's club which had remained untouched for over a year by Jethro
Tull. Tony had made the right choice in returning to Sabbath it would
seem. With an album comes touring, and with touring comes America.
America would have a great impact on them as well. Ozzy has said that
people would go around saying, "if you go to San Francisco be sure to
wear a flower in your hair". This mystified him because he did not know
what or where San Francisco was. When the band eventually did tour
America, it took them by storm. They had never seen anything like it.
They had their share of groupies and took in the marvelous sights of
America. They played one of their first shows at the Fillmore East. Some
old 8mm footage of their first trip overseas can be
seen on the commercial video, "The Black Sabbath Story - Volume 1". It
must be said, that on this particular videotape, Bill Ward the drummer
relates an interesting story: While playing in New York, the audience
was still at the stage where they would simply sit there and listen to
the music. The band wanted a stronger reaction from the audience since
they were putting 150% effort into their songs. Ozzy would often yell at
the audience to get up and go crazy (as many bootlegs can attest to). At
one particular show they were growing fed up with the audience just
sitting there and Bill picked up his drum set and threw it at the
audience. Bill says that as a result, that night they did SEVEN encores.
Can you think of any band in today's scene which does seven encores? By
the time they reached Los Angeles, people had already heard about this
"Black Sabbath".
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1.6 Paranoia
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While working on their next album the band released a single called
"Paranoid". The single was very popular, maybe too popular: On October
23, 1970 the band attempts to play the Mayfair Ballroom in Newcastle.
The crowd is very drunk and all over the stage and equipment. The band,
unsuccessful in trying to get them off the stage, starts playing their
hit single Paranoid. 70 minutes later the show is done and the band is
very upset. Someone put their foot through one of their big PA speakers,
Bill's drum sticks and cymbals were stolen and a bass drum mic
destroyed. The audience had gone crazy over their new single and Ozzy
says, "If it means us having to give up putting out singles then we
will. We want people to listen to us, not try to touch us. I was really
terrified, shocked out of my mind."
This would also be the gig that would give birth to their new
song,"Fairies Wear Boots". While walking down a street some time after
the show, the band was attacked by a group of skinheads. Tony's arm was
badly hurt and this forced them to cancel their next show. Due to the
fact the skinheads wore boots, they decided to make fun of the punks in
the song. Ozzy has claimed that the song had nothing to do with this
incident, however Ozzy also falsely claimed that there were no
recordings from the Jim Simpson era.
It was not uncommon for the band to be verbally abusive if the audience
was not responding properly. If they were talking, the band would just
crank up the music some more. Bands were so loud during this time the
Leeds City Council introduced a "96 decibel law". If any band's music
was to rise above 96 decibels the amplifiers would cut out. Sabbath did
not consider their night's work complete unless they hit at least three
cut outs a night.
PARANOID
--------
The album, 'Paranoid', was recorded in four days once again at
Regent Sound and then released in Jan. 1971. The cover shows a person
running out of a forest with a sword and shield in hand. This seemed to
listeners, a strange representation of being paranoid. The truth is that
the album was to originally be named "War Pigs" (mans constant desire to
have weapons of destruction and killing). The record company objected to
the album title and so it was named after one of the songs. The song
"War Pigs" came about when Sabbath was told tales of horror and war from
soldiers while playing an American air force base. The Paranoid album
reached FIRST place in the UK charts and 12th in American charts. It was
during the span between the Paranoid and Master of Reality albums that
Jim Simpson was fired as the band's manager. Patrick Meehan and Wilf
Pine would replace him. The reason for Jimıs firing is discussed in a
later chapter.
MASTER OF REALITY
-----------------
In 1971 "Master of Reality" was released, charting 5th place in UK
and 8th place in USA song charts. Ozzy also married his first wife,
Thelma Riley and became a stepfather to her son, Elliot. This album
would take an interesting turn with the release of "After Forever" which
was clearly a religious, believe in God, song. The church called this
blasphemy. People disliked the band, perhaps for their After Forever
song or perhaps for what they represented. In any event, 1971 saw some
strange events: At a show in Memphis, their dressing rooms had crosses
painted in blood on the walls.
During the show a Satanist jumped on stage with a sacrificial knife. The
local witches coven later gathered outside the band's hotel and Geezer
tried to scare them away with a fake hex. It was also the year that
threats were made that the band would be shot sometime during their US
tour. At one show the lights suddenly failed into their 3rd song and
Ozzy stood frozen solid with fear. The band also included a song titled
"Sweet Leaf" which openly talked about the band's usage of marijuana.
The song begins with a coughing sound (as if someone had just inhaled
the drug). In actual fact, Tony had just finished smoking drugs in a
water pipe and the sounds were included in the final version.
VOLUME 4
--------
The following year "Volume 4" was released. As with the inverted
cross case and the "War pigs" album title, the record company would
again take authority over the bands wishes. Volume 4 (hence the fourth
Sabbath album) was to have originally been called "Snowblind", another
drug reference. The record company thought this was too controversial
and so they had to change it. The band was becoming involved in hard
core drugs by this time (including cocaine). During the recording of
Volume 4, the band sat around in a Jacuzzi snorting coke all day and
would get up every so often to record a new song. We can see why
Snowblind was an appropriate album title. Not being allowed to use it as
an album title, they came up with this amusing line on the cover sleeve
of the record: "Thanks to the COKE-Cola Company". It was also during
this year that Ozzy and Thelma had their first mutual child, Jessica.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
1.7 An act of SABOTAGE?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"For the first part of their career they were managed by two of the
biggest crooks in the business. They made nothing, I mean nothing."
...Sharon on Sabbath's early management
The year is now 1974. The band is living a good life of drugs, sex,
cars, etc. If they wanted a car or a house they would ask for it and
receive it almost the next day. Ozzy even owned a Jaguar which he
smashed while backing out of his driveway, the same day he was to sell
it. What the band never saw though, was money. They became very
successful especially in the UK charts. Their material possessions were
provided by their new management of Patrick Meehan and Wilf Pine. What
happened was this: During the same year that Paranoid was soaring up the
charts, Pat and Wilf left their management company (which was Don
Arden's, more on him later).
The duo offered the band a chauffeured limo, champagne dinner at the
Speakeasy, and filled the Sab's heads with ideas that Jim was
mismanaging them and they could do a hell of a lot better with them
instead. The Sabs agreed and on Sept.4, 1970 Jim Simpson found out he
was history. The man who had turned the four nobodies into a juggernaut
was dismissed. The Sabs were also not happy that with Jim they were
being paid a lot less than what they should have been getting. The
reason was that Jim insisted they perform at the shows they had already
been booked for, even six months prior. These older bookings were for a
lot less money than the usual fee, now around 2000 pounds per show.
Simpson launched lawsuits against them for of breach of contract. Some
concerts later, Ozzy was handed a subpoena on stage for Simpson's
lawsuits. The resulting court case would last years.
California saw the Cal Jam concert take place in Ontario on April 6th.
This was a televised concert to millions of viewers as well as over
450,000 audience members. It featured bands such as Electric Light
Orchestra. In the middle of the night, their management threatened the
band with a lawsuit if they did not play the Cal Jam concert. The band
had not practiced for months and was not ready for a show, especially
one with over 450,000 people in attendance. It has been said that the
band did not even know they were to play the show. This would be one of
the final straws for the band and they soon began the process of getting
rid of their second management. Ozzy talks a bit about this in the
documentary, "The Decline of Western Civilization II" where the band
questions how much money they are really making if their managers could
afford houses and cars.
[[ The California Jam is available on audio as well as hard to find
video. I was sent a VHS of the entire show but it's poor quality. I
forget the name of the person who sent it to me long ago but he told me
his room mate had the entire copy. While others have made claims to
having the entire set, it's always lip talk. ]]
Once again the band gets rid of their management and decides to form
their own management. This allowed them to have more control and say
into what decisions were made for the band. It would be a learning
experience as well since they had never dabbled in the management
aspects before. They decided a rest was in order since they were
exhausted. Their next US tour would be in three short installments
rather than one big tour to further save them exhaustion and nervous
breakdowns. Oh yes, remember all the flashy cars and houses they were
given? They were never really theirs, and when they dumped
the management duo they lost everything. They still had the Warner Bros.
label in America though, and stayed with WB during the management
change.
SABOTAGE
--------
In September of 1975, the band released their "Sabotage" album.
The last song on the album, "The Writ", would reveal their feelings
towards their previous management and all the problems they'd
encountered:
The Writ
========
The way I feel is the way I am
I wish I'd walked before I started to run to you, just to you
What kind of people do you think we are?
Another joker who's a rock and roll star for you, just for you
The faithful image of another man
The endless ocean of emotion I swam for you, yeah for you
The shot troopers laying down on the floor
I wish they'd put an end to my running war with you, yeah with you
Are you metal, are you man?
You've changed in life since you began, yeah began
Ladies digging gold from you
Will they still dig now you're through, yeah you're through
You bought and sold me with your lying words
The voices in the deck that you never heard came through, yeah came
through
Your folly finally got to spend with a gun
A poisoned father who has poisoned his son, that's you, yeah that's you
I beg you please don't let it get any worse
The anger I once had has turned to a curse on you, Yeah curse you
All of the promises that never came true
You're gonna get what is coming to you, that's true, ah, that's true
Are you Satan, are you man?
You've changed the life since it began, it began
Vultures sucking gold from you
Will they still suck now you're through
The search is on, so you just better run
And find yourself another way
Probably dead, they don't feel a thing
To keep you living for another day
You are nonentity, you have no destiny
You are a victims of a thing unknown
A mantle picture of a stolen soul
A fornication of your golden throne
A smiling face, it means the world to me
So tired of sadness and of misery
My life it started some time ago
Where it will end, I don't know
I thought I was so good I thought I was fine
I feel my world is out of time
But everything is gonna work out fine
If it don't I think I'll lose my mind
I know, I know, I know, yeah yeah I know
Listen to me while I sing this song
You might just think the words are wrong
Too many people advising me [managers, lawyers]
But they don't know what my eyes see
But everything is gonna work out fine
If it don't I feel I'm lose my mind
The anger is very strong in both the lyrics and the tone of Ozzy's
voice. After hearing the song one cannot help but feel sympathy for what
the band had been enduring. Some album labels (Warner Bros. for example)
have a hidden tune following the song, you need to really turn up the
volume to hear it. It features the band playing piano and singing an old
'Nitty Gritty Dirt Band' song called "Blow on the Jug". A sound engineer
caught this during a recording session and it was put on the album.
Sadly, there are a lot of other Sab cover songs which we will never get
to hear. You can hear the 'Blow on the Jug' song by clicking right here!
Reporter: "Do you have a drinking problem?"
Ozzy: "Yes, I can't find a bar."
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1.8 Manager Number Two
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Needing a new manager, Don Arden was hired. Don's management was the
same company that their last management had parted from. Don managed
Black Sabbath while his daughter, Sharon (then 18) was his receptionist.
Ozzy and Sharon met when Ozzy walked into his office wearing a tap
faucet around his neck and sat on the floor - refusing to use a chair.
Sharon was terrified of Ozzy upon first sight. She even tried to get
another woman working in the office to bring him a cup of tea, rather
than bring it to him herself.
The two of them would get to know one another quite well over the years
as Don and the Sab four conducted business.
Money and fame were no longer problems for the four of them, instead the
only challenge was how to come up with another best selling album. A
very audible change in the bands musical direction began to show in
their 1974 album, "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath". Despite the title, the album
contains deep lyrics with many different musical arrangements. The songs
seemed more uplifting and vibrant than their previous dark, gloomy
sounding material and a more energetic sound. Electronic instruments
also changed the way they were able to record songs. This album,
probably their best album with Ozzy as vocalist, placed 4th and 11th
respectively in UK and American charts.
TECHNICAL ECSTASY
-----------------
"Technical Ecstasy" was released in 1976. This album was
considerably less heavy then previous albums, and perhaps was due to the
band just being fed up with it all. They had succeeded in making a lot
of money, owned as many cars as we own socks, and were getting burned
out from constant touring. T.E. would contain a song titled, "It's
Alright" featuring Bill the drummer on vocals, a very gentle song. The
album cover also set the stage for something entirely new from the band.
No more dark images, this artistic cover showed two robots having sex
(or so it has been said). Sadly, Technical Ecstasy did not sell very
well.
The late 1970's also saw some deep trouble for the band. On January
20,1978 Ozzy's father passed away. Here is a small portion of an
interview with Ozzy regarding his father:
"In England, they don't tell you, y'know. What they did to my father
was, he hadn't eaten a fucking thing because of his -- whatever the
fucking tube -- he had a lump here like a fucking black ball, in his
sagophagus or whatever the fuck it is; he couldn't eat any food. Plus
the fact that he had cancer of the fucking intestines, the bowels, so he
couldn't shit. He never ate a thing for thirteen weeks.
They operated on him about a fucking week before he died. They took the
whole tube out and put a plastic one in. I don't know what it's like in
the states, but in England...they put him in a fucking closet with the
fucking mops and buckets, because he was on the death ward and it was
too distressing for the rest of the patients so they put him in a cot,
sort of a crib thing, a giant crib. They strapped him...like a boxer,
fucking bandages on his hands, with a glucose drip going into his arm.
He was stoned out of his head. You know, the most amazing thing he said
to me. I told my father one day, "I take drugs. I said to him, "Before
you go, will you take drugs?"
He says, "I promise you I'll take drugs." He was on Morphine. Totally
out of his mind on Morphine, because the pain must have been horrendous.
They had the operation on a Tuesday, and he died on Thursday...No one
could understand what he was talking about, because he was so out of it.
He says to me -- he only understands drugs as "speed" -- he says,
[whispers, a drawn-out, rattling imitation] "ssspeeeeed." And he died in
my arms.
I haven't got over it yet. The twentieth of January, I'll go freaking
like a werewolf. I'll cry and I'll laugh all day long, because it's the
day my daughter was born and the day my father died. Like a fucking
lunatic.
When they go, they're out of their misery. But what freaked me out more
than anything else was the funeral. I was singing fucking "Paranoid" in
the church...Seconal, drunk... it blew me away. All the family came that
I'd never seen for fucking years, and they were making comments. In
England, it's a weird scene at a fucking death. My father hated his
brother Harold my whole family's fucking nuts."
This took a toll on Ozzy and he decided to quit Black Sabbath. Ozzy's
father, Jack, who thought his son would either end up in prison or end
up being someone very special, died knowing his son had made something
out of himself. While on his leave of absence, Ozzy asked Glenn Hughes
(another vocalist who would eventually spend some time in Sabbath)
about the two of them forming a band. Oz was fed up with Sabbath by this
time, though he kept his feelings about this to himself. Glenn did not
join Ozzy in his desire. Meanwhile the band had to continue work on its
upcoming album, "Never Say Die".
NEVER SAY DIE
-------------
The band took in Dave Walker (who used to be with Fleetwood Mac) to
write new material for their album. Ozzy decided he wanted to rejoin the
band, but he refused to sing any of the songs written with Dave Walker.
So Dave left and the band had to rewrite all of their songs. Tony booked
a studio in Toronto, Ontario because it was where the Rolling Stones had
recorded one of their albums.
The band traveled up there in the middle of winter to record the album.
Ozzy has since said it was a stupid thing to do and that it was freezing
up there. Tony was just trying to keep the band together in a time of
turmoil.
Ozzy had this to say on the album:
"The fucking studio's a pile of shit, the fucking -- we had two songs
half- written before we'd gotten into the studio. The reason we'd gone
to Canada was because of the tax-exile thing, because the taxes are so
high in England. In the end, it cost us nearly 500 fucking thousand
dollars to make that album, and it was the biggest pile of horseshit
that I've ever made in my life. I'm embarrassed with that album."
There is one song titled "Junior's Eyes" which is available on the
"Archangel Rides Again" bootleg, featuring Sabbath with Dave Walker on
vocals. Junior's Eyes was kept for the final album with the same music
but Ozzy rewrote the lyrics in a way as to say goodbye to his father.
Junior's Eyes
=============
Junior's eyes looked up to the skies in tears
He prayed that his maker, the giver and taker, would `pear
Junior sighed, as his hands reached out to the sky
Junior cried, the day that his best friend died
(chorus)
You're coming home again tomorrow
I'm sorry it won't be for long
With all the pain I've watched you live within
I'll try my hardest not to cry
But it is time to say goodbye
Junior's eyes, they couldn't disguise the pain
His father was leaving, and Junior is grieving again
Innocent eyes watched the man who had gave everything
Junior's sorrow, who knew what tomorrow would bring?
(chorus)
Junior's eyes looked into the skies once more
Now he knew well, this life was hell for sure
He desperately tried, his fingertips stretched to the stars, yeah
Reaching for reason, along with the time and the stars
(chorus)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
1.9 When and how did Ozzy leave Black Sabbath?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
By now, all four members of the band were staying in their rooms all day
and doing hard drugs and booze. They had cars, success, and perhaps
little motivation to release another album. Ozzy himself has said he
only wanted to release an album to make money and get fat off of beer.
Ozzy would subsequently not show up for weeks at a time for practice.
They were to begin work on their next album, "Heaven and Hell". Tony,
having met Ronnie James Dio (ex-Rainbow) by this time, then asked Bill
to get rid of Ozzy.
Tony was fed up with Ozzy and was interested in having Dio as a
vocalist. After the 1978 NSD tour, Ozzy was told by Bill, that they no
longer wanted him in the band. Bill feels bad about doing this because
him and Oz were best of friends and yet Bill wanted Ozzy out of the band
as well. People still ask how Ozzy left, the truth is that both him and
Tony Iommi say he was fired. Ozzy also adds that he was relieved at
this. In actual fact Ozzy was asked many times on the last day to leave
before being fired. For some time now Ozzy wanted to go into a new
musical direction and perhaps was unable to do so with the politics of
the band being the way they were.
Tony, being the transportation, would never be spoken against by the
other members of the band. 1978 saw the end of the original Black
Sabbath. Their last tour would be the "Never Say Die" tour.
Appropriately named.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
2.0 Randy Rhoads
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
After being fired from Sabbath, Ozzy spent three months staying in the
Le Parc Hotel in Los Angeles. He would order out for pizza and booze and
have his dealer drop off cocaine for him. He basically thought his life
was over. It was around this time that his friend Sharon Arden came to
collect a debt from Ozzy. Sharon saw Ozzy in a state of despair and
suggested to him to form another band. Ozzy went about this with the
help of Dana Strum. The auditioned many guitarists, one of whom was 23
year old Randall William Rhoads.
Randy was born to William Arthur and Delores Rhoads on December 6th,
1956 at St. Johnıs Hospital in Santa Monica, CA. He had an older brother
Doug and a sister named Kathy.
Their father was a music teacher while their mother ran a music school
named Musonia. Delores graduated from UCLA with a bachelors degree in
music and taught in the Los Angeles School system before starting the
school.
When Randy was about the age of 6 he began attending his motherıs music
school. At this time he received his first guitar, an acoustic Gibson
that had belonged to his maternal grandfather.
At the age of 12, Randy began taking lessons from Scott Shelly, a guitar
teacher at Musonia. Eventually Shelly would approach Delores and explain
that she could not teach Randy anymore, he knew everything that she did.
At the approximate age of 14, Randy then joined his first band named
Violet Fox. The name Violet represented his motherıs middle name. Randy
played rhythm guitar while his brother Doug playing drums, The band
lasted about half a year.
In May of 1975 Kevin Bubrow of Quiet Riot met with Randy and the two
began working together. Randy remained in Quiet Riot for less than a
year. After leaving the group he approached Karl Sandoval to create a
custom guitar for him. The end result after several meetings was the
black and white polka dot ³V² guitar. It cost Randy $738 to make and he
took possession of it on Sept. 22, 1979.
In the latter part of the 1979, at the suggestion of a bass player from
a band that used to open for Quiet Riot (Dana Strum), Randy went to
audition for a band being put together by Ozzy.
Randy met with Ozzy for an audition and was told, ³youıve got the job².
Ozzy then decided to tour, with his first solo concert in Glasgow,
Scotland on September 12, 1980. What you probably don't know is
that Ozzy had two shows before his debut under the band name of
"Law". The opening day of his first solo concert he and Sharon
paced the streets nervously. Since people in Scotland usually
showed up at the concert without prepaying for tickets, they had
no way of knowing how many people would show up. As it turned out
it was a big success.
Ozzy played all of his Blizzard of Ozz album and some Sabbath songs.
Eventually he broke down and cried because he realized that he could
make it on his own without the other three Sabbath members with whom he
had paved the road to success. You must realize that when Ozzy was in
Sabbath he was really not a contributing member of the band. Geezer
wrote most of the song lyrics and Ozzy would come by and sing the words,
but he had little to do with the actual contributions to the songs[*].
Now Ozzy and Randy were the main writers and had equal say as to what
went into the songs.
[*] Ozzy did write 'Am I Going Insane' (his feelings about society's
views towards him and his anger towards society) and 'Who Are You?'
"Who do you think you were in previous incarnations?"
"I think I was a bat" ... Ozzy some years before the "incident"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
2.1 What the hell is this about biting a bat?
(Diary of a Madman)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
The following year, "Diary of a Madman" was released. An interesting
note, Ozzy's son, Elliot is shown on the album cover. Though production
of the album was rushed towards the end so that the band could get out
and tour, Ozzy has said he liked this album better of the two. The album
came out the same time as Sabbath's Mob Rules album. Diary soared to the
top 15 on US charts while Mob Rules remained at #29. Ozzy's first two
albums would sell over 6 million copies. As they toured, Randy would
often hold a guitar clinic for kids who wanted to learn to play guitar.
A kid named Joe Holmes took lessons from Randy, and would later have an
impact on Ozzy's life as well.
During the tour, Ozzy was admitted to St. Johns mental hospital near
London after suffering a mental breakdown. He would laugh and cry as
band members visited him.
The Diary tour was nicknamed Night of the Living Dead tour due to
various misfortunes: The entire band was expelled from a San Diego over
Ozzy's reputation, the prop truck broke down, and in Minneapolis a crane
fell and crushed $8000 worth of synthesizers. On the upside, the stage
setting for Diary of a Madman was a huge castle complete with fog. The
drummer was situated on a raised platform, and there was an opening in
the center of the stage where a dwarf would come out to give Ozzy water
and towels. The dwarf was actually Little John Allen who played R2D2 in
Star Wars. It has been brought to my attention that Kenny Baker actually
played R2D2 so I don't know which name is correct. John Allen suffered
mock abuse by having pig entrails tossed at him, he was stuffed into a
hole and he was even hanged for prolonged periods from a noose (as shown
on some videos). This was accomplished with a harness so as not to
really choke him, but how did he manage to stay up for so long??
During the Diary tour, Ozzy would throw raw meat at his audience. It was
even part of his contract that 25 pounds of calves livers and pigs
intestines be thrown. A parent once phoned the promoter of the show
asking how to get blood out of the clothes. As the tour continued,
people would bring meat to the show to throw back at him. As time
passed, the audience brought dead frogs, cats, snakes, etc. to throw
onto the stage. Once, someone threw a toy doll onto the stage and Ozzy
freaked out thinking that someone had thrown a real infant up on stage.
On Jan. 20, 1982 at a Des Moines, Iowa concert some winner threw a real
bat up on stage. The bat lay still because of the spotlights on the
stage, and so Ozzy picked it up, THINKING IT WAS A TOY RUBBER BAT. He
bit into the bat, taking off its head. Immediately the audience and
Sharon freaked out. Ozzy was rushed to emergency to have rabies shots.
It is reported that at the time he was treating the whole thing as a
joke, apparently barking like a dog when wheeled into the hospital. He
sent the crew back to find the bat to find out if it was in fact real or
not, the bat could not be found. The shots would continue for about a
week, with needles in each buttock, arms and leg. Ozzy would also faint
or collapse at the concerts which followed. Ozzy's advice on the
situation is, "if you want to be a complete dick, try it".
Subsequently the bat would become a symbol for Ozzy on his upcoming
albums, and even a tattoo. The animal humane society would become
involved and show up to boycott Ozzy concerts. From this point on, he
was marked a madman and his reputation began to precede him. One such
nasty rumor, and sure sign of people's ability to go overboard with
gossip and rumors is this little gem: Before one concert even started,
Ozzy supposedly threw three small dogs into the audience. He refused to
play the show until all the dogs came back to him dead. The story is not
true. It was the honest mistake with a bat which would cement itself in
people's minds, even to this day.
[Ed: I can recall when Ozzy came to my home town on the Diary tour, the
SPCA and police were there threatening to take action if any animals
were harmed on stage. Ozzy has never returned.]
"If they were buzzing the bus, like people say, it probably meant
that Randy was struggling with the pilot to stop him from crashing it"
-Kevin Dubrow of Quiet Riot
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
2.2 When and how did Randy Rhoads die?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
In 1981, Ozzy divorced his first wife, Thelma. They were separated soon
after the day he came home (drunk) to find a bailiff at the door, and
all of his belongings outside. He was told that if he stepped inside the
house he would be arrested. Ozzy was not exactly what you would call a
father figure. He would leave home for days, weeks, at a time and stay
at friends places until they kicked him out. Rather than go through the
divorce proceedings, Ozzy told her to just keep everything. By now Ozzy
and Sharon had gotten to the point where they decided to get married.
Sharon had been hoping this would also get Ozzy a better deal since her
father was the one managing the recording and managerial contracts.
On March 19th, 1982 Ozzy and his band were on their way to Orlando, FL
from Knoxville, TN. The show was to feature Foreigner and UFO. Ozzy and
Randy had been talking about their recent success. Randy mentioned
wanting to leave to pursue a degree in classical guitar at UCLA. Ozzy
has said that if Randy were still alive, it is doubtful that Randy would
still be playing with him.]
During the trip, Andrew stopped the bus at the Flying Baron Estates near
Leesburg, Florida. This location was a private community and served as
home to Andrew. It also served as the tour busıs home base. Jerry
Calhoun who also lived at the estate leased the tour buses out to those
who required them.
Aycock (36) invited some of the crew for a ride in a 1955 Beechcraft
Bonanza F-35 airplane (9-10 am). Present that day were Ozzy, Sharon
Arden, Tommy Aldridge, Rudy Sarzo, Don Airey, Andrew and his wife Wanda,
Rachel Youngblood, Randy and Jake Duncan the tour manager.
The bus driver took Don Airey and Jake Duncan for a spin. Unbeknownst to
anyone, Aycock had been involved in a previous accident in which a young
boy was killed. His pilot's license was not valid due because his
medical certificate had expired.
When the plane landed, the driver went for another ride, this time with
Randy and Ozzy's seamstress, Rachael Youngblood, 58. The pilot of the
plane was presumably under the influence of cocaine (it was later found
in drug tests).
Aycock had picked up his ex-wife at one of the concerts and was to drop
her off in Florida. She was standing outside the bus and it is assumed
Andrew dove the plane into the bus in an attempt to kill her. Aycock
circled the bus three times, and on the fourth pass, the plane clipped
the tour bus, spun through a tree, pinwheeled over upside down and
careened into a nearby house where it exploded. Ozzy ran into the house
and pulled out Jesse Herndon (70), a deaf man who was unaware of the
fire.
Rachel and Randy were both killed in the crash. The fire destroyed the
home and adjacent garage.
Ozzy's new solo career had come to a screeching halt.
He would continue the tour in April with a quick shoe in of Bernie
Torme. Bernie used to play guitar for Gillan (Ian Gillan, who would join
Sabbath). Bernie would not stay with Ozzy long however. Bernie left
Ozzy's band after three weeks. The reason is not known for sure. Some
people say he was not used to playing big gigs. What is known is that
Bernie had a UK tour lined up for his 'Electric Gypsies' album. His
departure from Ozzy was bound to happen.
Brad Gillis left 'Night Ranger' to replace Torme for the remainder of
the tour. Brad Gillis also appeared on the 'Speak of the Devil' LP.
After the tour Ozzy would hire Jakey Lou Williams (Jake E. Lee) with
whom he recorded 1984's 'Bark At The Moon' album. Gillis would later
rejoin Night Ranger.
Brad may have wanted to stay on with Ozzy but Oz didn't really think the
two of them were compatible.
On Feb. 19, 1982, while visiting San Antonio, Texas, Ozzy was again
drunk after drinking a bottle of Courvoisier. Sharon decided to lock his
clothes in the hotel room so that Ozzy would not go outside and cause
trouble. To solve this problem, Ozzy dressed up in one of Sharon's
evening gowns. While taking some photos of himself in drag, he had to
urinate and did so on the historical Alamo building.
The Alamo is the 1836 site of the legendary battle between the Texans
and the Mexican army. Ozzy was arrested and charged with defiling a
national monument and banned from playing in San Antonio any further.
This would be another blow to his image that would haunt him to this
day. The ban was eventually lifted.
I received a piece of email from one of the officers who arrested Ozzy
at the Alamo. Contrary to the dress we was supposed to be wearing,
he says Ozzy was not in one. This is just one of the many contradictions
in this FAQ. Until they can be proven, they will remain.
Here is the e-mail I received (Thanks Sam):
"I am one of the officers who arrested Ozzy at the Alamo and to set the
record straight he was not wearing a womans clothes. He had on athletic
shoes with no socks, a T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants with no
underwear.
He also had a pack of cigarettes rolled up in one sleeve. He was wasted
and he never spoke. Billy actually arrested him and I was driving the
"wagon" that day. The wagon is a van outfitted for prisoner transport. I
was called to transport him from the Alamo to jail. The jail was then
directly across from the S.A.P.D. and it now is the Wackenhut federal
parole violator jail. I've kicked myself several times since then for
not having kept copies of the reports.
I know what he was wearing because I searched him for weapons and had
very close contact with him. Half way to the jail, which was only about
a mile away the dispatchers were already calling wanting to know who had
him in custody. By the time I dropped him off there was a long black
stretch limo waiting for him.
You might note for your records he was actually given a big break. He
was arrested and booked for public intoxication a class "C" misdemeanor
which carries a max $200.00 fine. The law that more appropriately
applied was "Desecration of a venerated Object" which covers among other
things "Shrines." The Alamo is considered a shrine.
You can post my info on your web page if you like. I think it would be
cool to hear from fans to answer their questions.
Check back later on the report. Send me the exact date again as I really
do not remember and I'll try to get it for you. "
Ozzy married his long time friend Sharon, on a Honolulu-Hawaii beach on
July 4, 1982. Tommy Aldridge was the best man.
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2.3 What is this about a dove?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
While the bat incident which still haunts Oz's reputation to this day
can be called an accident, the incident with the dove can be called
stupidity.
Here is the story: After leaving Black Sabbath, Ozzy was rejected by
many record labels. Tony Martell, CBS records executive, signed Ozzy to
a contract. Ozzy and wife Sharon were being introduced to the head
executives of CBS records in Los Angeles (Guitar Magazine claims it was
New York).
CBS was not too interested in Ozzy because they had just signed Adam
Ant. Ozzy was just another album to them, and they were not interested
in the person behind the music. Sharon decided it would be a good
publicity stunt for Ozzy to walk into the office and throw two doves
up into the air.
The stunt worked, and made CBS pay attention to Ozzy. It also made
the nation pay attention to Ozzy as well: After throwing one dove
up in the air, Ozzy bit the head off of the other one. It is not
known whether Sharon intended for Ozzy to actually bite the dove's
head off or not. Ozzy has already admitted he (not surprisingly)
had drunk a bottle of booze beforehand. Make no mistake about it,
Sharon Osbourne is a shrewd marketer and I wouldn't put any dirty
trick past her. What follows is an interview with an eyewitness
(from Epic) who saw the event:
Q: What happened?
A: It was a normal Thursday morning marketing meeting down in the
conference room. It was just prior to the release of Ozzy's first solo
album. His management and Jet Records, which is the associated label
that puts out his albums, had arranged for him to pay a little surprise
visit to us, to say "Hi, my name is Ozzy Osbourne, and let's make this
record a hit".
Q: Is it unusual for the artist to come to a marketing meeting?
A: No, they seldom do. We've had people from time to time just come in.
Their manager arranges for them to drop by and say, "Surprise!" just to
push the album.
Q: Then what happened?
A: He walked in with Sharon, who later became his wife, and [withheld]
from Jet Records. They introduced Ozzy all around, and there was a
photographer with them. They sat him down on the arm of a chair, and he
pulled a dove out of his pocket. I looked at it and thought, "Gee how
cute!"
Q: It was a live dove?
A: I'm ninety-nine and nine-tenths sure it was alive, but now I can't
sayfor sure. I remember I was leaning forward and thinking, "How cute,"
and suddenly he bites its head off. There was blood on the floor. I
think he ate the head; he started spitting some feathers out. I was in
shock. It's hard to remember too much after that, to tell you the truth.
It was horrible.
Q: What was the reaction of the people in the room?
A: There was a stunned silence, and they got him out of there, fast. It
was just very quiet-not a good reaction, I would say. People were going,
"Yucch!". Some looked as though they thought it was a fake bird, that it
was all just a publicity stunt. And others said "No, it's a real bird
and what a horrible thing to do." Personally, I thought it was an awful
thing to do even if it was a fake bird. Sharon called up afterward and
sort of apologized.
Q: Do you think it was her idea all along?
A: Oh, I know it was. I said to her, "He's not mad, just desperate for
publicity."
Q: Did it work? Did he get the publicity?
A: I don't think it worked in getting Epic Records to take notice, but I
think it did work as far as getting the kids to take notice. When the
story leaked out, with photos and all, it got around everywhere. I'm
sure Sharon was calling columns all over the country. That sort of
became the Ozzy legend, that and all the other things he did afterwards.
Q: Sharon said that Epic wasn't taking any notice of Ozzy before this
happened.
A: I feel that people were already aware of Ozzy, prior to the meeting.
My impression was certainly that he was a major artist we were going to
be working with. I doubt if it changed our impression one way or the
other, although I could be wrong. Obviously, he went on to great
success, and maybe that was part of the reason, but who am I to say?
Q: So it was all definitely planned in advance?
A: Definitely. It was not a spontaneous act. He just didn't walk in and
happen to find a dove hanging out in the CBS reception area and say,
"Gee, I'll take this in with me in case I get hungry and they don't have
coffee and doughnuts." It was right in his jacket pocket. Come to think
of it, he had two of them. That was it: he had two of them, one in each
pocket. He let the other one go afterwards. Everyone made him do it. He
took the other one out of his pocket and everyone screamed, "No, don't
do it again!"
Q: Did the second one fly away? That would indicate the first one was
alive, wouldn't it?
A: Not necessarily. He might have had one live one and one fake one.
It's just all so hazy; I was so shocked.
(Ed: There are reports of three doves, however I believe there were only
two.)
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2.4 Wife as manager/Speak of the Devil
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"I am something of a madman. I can do nothing in moderation. If it's
booze, I drink the place dry. If it's drugs, I take everything and then
scrape the carpet for little crumbs. I took LSD everyday for years - I
was spending about $1000 a week on drugs... I OD'd about a dozen times."
...Ozzy on his addictions
Once married, the better deal they had hoped for fell through.
Sharon did not want her father controlling Ozzy's future any more.
It was decided that the two of them would buy out Ozzy's contract
from her father. Before they could buy out Ozzy's management and
recording contracts, Ozzy still had to deliver an album under his
old contract. Since he wanted out badly, the result was the
purposely low-budget live album "Speak of the Devil". This album
was a live concert recorded Sept. 26 and 27th at The Ritz in New
York. After the album was done, Ozzy could then leave his contract
with Sharon's father.
Don would not give it up so easily though, even for his own daughter.
The newly married couple, not having much money, had to buy Ozzy's
contract for over $1.5 million dollars from her father. Sharon has not
spoken with her father since. Speak of the devil was released in
November of 1982.
The runes on the border of the 'Speak of the Devil' album and inside
cover actually translate into meaningful phrases. The translation is
found in Ozzy's autobiography book:
"Howdy! Dial-A-Demon productions in conjunction with graveyard graphics
proudly presents the madman of rock dumping into El Satanos toiletto. "
"A tribute to Randy Rhoads, the axeman. That kid was my lifeline, you
know? He was such a dynamic player and I'd rather not talk about it
anymore because it cuts me up every day of my life.
Randy Rhoads rest in peace and love."
One of the conditions for the transfer of Ozzy's contract from Don to
Sharon was that she get him to enroll in the Betty Ford center for his
drinking problems. She did this by telling him she was "going to teach
him to drink like a gentleman". Ozzy took this to mean that he would
learn how to drink properly, not at all what the Betty Ford center was
for. When he showed up, he asked where he could find the bar. It didn't
take long to find out that at Betty Ford there is no bar! Ozzy would
also begin work on his next album, Bark at the Moon.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
2.5 Suicide Solution
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"I swear on my kid's life I never said 'get the f***ing gun'"
...Ozzy on his Suicide Solution song
"They know what they are putting out. There are people who are out
there trying to make money, and they have no hesitation to sell your
kids down the drain. You see a perfectly normal kid there who doesn't
show any signs of depression at all. Then six hours later, he's dead.
Nobody can explain it. The only thing we know is that he was listening
to this music."
...Father of suicide victim who listened to Ozzy
A song on Ozzy's first solo album, "Blizzard of Ozz" would cause a lot
of trouble. The song "Suicide Solution" from the start, would have a
very misleading title and this was understandable. Ozzy wrote the song
after the singer for AC/DC (Bon Scott) died after drinking heavily one
winter's night and passing out in his car, dying of hypothermia as a
result. Ozzy's intentions were to talk about alcohol as a DEADLY LIQUID
('solution' meaning mixture) but the word 'solution' was looked upon as
"an answer" instead. If you are not familiar with Ozzy's lyrics and true
intentions, I strongly suggest before you pass judgement, to read the
meaning behind the song.
Suicide Solution:
================
Wine is fine
But whiskey's quicker
Suicide is slow with liquor
Take a bottle drain your sorrows
Then it cuts away tomorrows
Evil thoughts and evil doings
Cold, alone you hang in ruins
Thought that you'd escape the reaper
You can't escape the master keeper
'Cause you feel life's unreal and you're living a lie
Such a shame who's to blame and you're wondering why
Then you ask from your cask is there life after birth
What you saw can mean hell on this earth
Now you live inside a bottle
The reaper's traveling at full throttle
It's catching you but you don't see
The reaper is you and the reaper is me
Breaking laws, knocking doors
But there's no one at home
Made your bed, rest your head
But you lie there and moan
Where to hide,
suicide is the only way out
Don't you know what it's really about
The song is clearly about the dangers of alcohol, but the song title
could be misinterpreted just as well. Try as I might, I just can't see
anything which tells a person to commit suicide. The only misleading
words are in the song title. In October 1984, a nineteen-year-old
teenager named John M. shot himself in the head, while listening to Ozzy
Osbourne's "Suicide Solution". When the coroner entered the room, he
found the headphones still on John's head.
In 1986, Ozzy had just gotten off a plane at LAX airport when people
began asking him about the "lawsuits". Ozzy knew nothing about any
lawsuit but the details quickly emerged. Three lawsuits had been
launched against Ozzy, claiming that his lyrics had caused youths to
commit suicide. The family of John hired attorney Thomas Anderson in a
lawsuit against Ozzy. Mr. Anderson claimed on the "Don't Blame Me" Ozzy
video, that the song contained tones known as 'hemisync' and would cause
a person to be unable to resist what was being said in the song. On Jan.
13, 1986 the parents of John, sued Ozzy.
The lawsuit was thrown out on Dec. 19, 1986 by a California Superior
Court judge. On July 18, 1988 an appeals court uphold the decision to
dismiss the lawsuit.
The Institute for Bio-Acoustics Research, Inc. (IBAR) was hired to
evaluate the song. They found subliminal lyrics that weren't included in
the lyrics sheet. These subliminal lyrics were sung at one and one-half
times the normal rate of speech and are not recognized by a first time
listener. The IBAR institute claimed the subliminal lyrics, "are audible
enough that their meaning and true intent becomes clear after being
listened to over and over again." The subliminal lyrics in question were
"Why try, why try? Get the gun and try it! Shoot, Shoot, Shoot",
followed by a hideous laughter.
Further analysis by IBAR revealed the hemisync tones, which result from
apatented process that uses sound waves to influence an individual's
mental state. The tones have been found to increase the rate at which
the human brain assimilates and processes information. IBAR claimed
these tones made John vulnerable to the suggestive lyrics which Ozzy
sang.
Ozzy's lawyer claimed that this was nonsense and relied upon the First
Amendment of the Constitution to argue that Ozzy could write about
anything he wanted. Three people had now taken their lives, and in each
case it was Ozzy's 'Suicide Solution' song which was the focus as the
cause of the deaths. Mr. Anderson claimed that the words, "shoot shoot,
get the gun, get the gun" were audible in the song. There is an effect
which can be heard on the song, that could be interpreted as that. The
sounds were just Ozzy dicking around with the soundboard. There is the
very real possibility which we must consider, that the record company
wanted to promote publicity and placed these tones in purposely, but
this is not for me to prove or disprove.
Throughout the world, this problem would occur only in America. People
were forced to now take a look at the family life instead of the actual
music.
Rather than blaming the music, families should have realized it was up
to the parents to be strong role models and have good communication with
their children. In all cases, Ozzy was found not at fault and has sworn
that this was never the true meaning behind the song. Heavy metal seems
to be a scape-goat in which to blame teenagers problems such as drug
abuse on. Yet teenagers who may listen to punk, jazz, or blues music may
also suffer from substance abuse or commit suicide. As a parent, you
should be keeping not only a close eye on the type of music your child
is listening to, but get involved in their lives. Talk to them, ask them
how are they doing, try to forge some kind of a relationship. When kids
turn to heavy metal, sometimes though not always, it is a form of
rebelling against a society or education
system they dislike.
What follows is an article written by a group calling themselves "Truth
About Rock":
'' One teenager who unfortunately succeeded in committing suicide was 14
year old Eric A. of St. Louis Park, Minnesota. His favorite groups were
Van Halen, Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, AC/DC, Quiet Riot, and Motley
Crue. Eric's mother said, "He watched it (MTV) day and night. He...
watched intil(sic) six o'clock in the morning." Eric and his friends
were so obsessed with the rock scene that, the very night before he
died, they held a seance and attempted to contack(sic) the spirits of
dead rock stars. At 2:30 the next afternoon, with his eyes filled with
tears, he said to his father, "Dad, I just can't cope with the
pressure." He then went into his room, took his .22 rifle off the wall
rack, and killed himself. ''
[Right here we have some problems. If a kid is spending all his time in
front of the television, it might be a wise idea for the parents to
intervene. If you just let him soak up videos all day, there may be a
problem. Hosting a seance is also not a normal social activity for a
teenager. Why did the father not talk to his son?]
'' Apparently, he had followed the deranged advice of one of his
favorite rock singers, Ozzy Osbourne, who preaches in "Suicide Solution"
"Suicide is the only way out/...Why don't you kill yourself 'cause you
can't escape the Master Reaper..." {3} ''
[This is not true. Ozzy never says "Why don't you kill yourself". This
is a prime example of a religious group portraying Ozzy as a menace to
society. If you read the lyrics of his song you would see otherwise.]
'' Though Ozzy preaches such deadly lyrics, he defends himself saying,
"Parents have called me and said, 'When my son died of a drug over-dose,
your record was on the turntable.' I can't help that. These people are
freaking out anyway, and they need a vehicle for the freakouts." {4} ''
I will leave the closing words to the remainder of the groups article:
'' Pathetically, Rock Stars themselves are being caught in the
devastating grasp of suicide. Peter Townshend, formerly of The Who,
acknowledged "Rock is going to kill me somehow. Mentally or physically
or some thing, it's going to get me in the end." {5} I myself spent 6
months contemplating suicide every day. The influence of Drugs and Rock
'n' Roll had almost destroyed my life. Until, with a knife in my hand,
after trying to cut my wrists, I cried out "God help me!" From that
moment on He began to change my life, and a short while later I became a
'born again' Christian. Whether you like it or not, you are in a battle
for your life. The Devil wants to destroy you and he is using Rock music
as a primary agent. But God has not given you life, only to have it
choked out by the demented obsessions of Rock musicians. There is only
one solution to your problems. Begin to live for God and not for
yourself. Because Jesus loves you, He came to Earth to give His life in
your place, so that you wouldn't have to die for your own
sins. If you give your life back to Him, He will give you the peace
you're looking for. ''
For more information on Rock n'Roll, write to: Truth About Rock,
Box 9222, North St. Paul, MN. 55109
Note: Since there is a constant turnover of new Rock groups some of
those mentioned above may not currently be "hot". However, be assured
that other groups have taken their place and continue to present a
similar message.
FOOTNOTES: {1} National Center For Health Statistics
{2} Aurora Mackey, "The Frightening Facts About Teen
Suicide"< Teen, 10/83
{3} Truth About Rock Report, June/July '85, p. 6
{4} "Heavy Metal Mania", Anne Fadiman, Life magazine,
12/84, p.112
{5} Time magazine Dec. 17, 1979, pg. 94
* UPDATE *
One of Ozzyıs original band members claims that the song is NOT about
Bon Scott. In an interview, Bob Daisley claims, ³Heıs (Ozzy) a fuck. He
didnıt write it. I know what I wrote it about.² Daisley says he came up
with the lyrics and Ozzy came up with the first line. Daisley says he
wrote the song as a warning to Ozzy about his drinking.
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2.6 Bark at the Moon
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ozzy's next album would be "Bark at the Moon". The title track is a song
about a creature (werewolf) who has come back to seek revenge on those
who scorned and buried him. The video portrays Ozzy being confined to an
asylum because he was a mad scientist. In the asylum he sees this
werewolf running around chasing him. This song, like his earlier songs
would supposedly affect his listeners in negative ways, read on:
"Rock Sparks Stabbing", Canadian Press Association:
Halifax, Canada, 9/26/84
"...according to the Canadian Press Wire Service, the effect of heavy
metal rock music so influenced a young Canadian named James Jollimore,
that '...on New Year's Eve -1983, he went out and stabbed someone. A
friend of the defendant testified that Jollimore, 20, who is charged
with the first-degree murder of a 44 year old woman and her two sons,
felt like stabbing people when he heard music such as Ozzy Osbourne's
'Bark at the Moon'. 'Jimmy said that every time he listened to the song
he felt strange inside,' the friend told the court. 'He said when he
heard it on New Year's Eve he went out and stabbed someone.'"
[Once again the blame would be shifted from the individual to the
musician.]
Ozzy's band now consisted of Jake E. Lee on guitar, Tommy Aldridge, Don
Airey on keyboard and Bob Daisley on bass. One of the videos they filmed
for the album was the lovely ballad, "So Tired". This ballad made use of
a full orchestra. An interesting note: Ozzy also plays the parts of all
the main characters in the video. A good use of makeup art is evident.
One scene shows Ozzy in front of a mirror clenching his fists, and the
mirror shatters. While filming the video, the charge which would shatter
the mirror was too strong and the mirror exploded sending glass into
Ozzy's face.
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2.7 The Ultimate Disaster
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
After the release of the 1984 Bark at the Moon album and subsequent
tour, Ozzy began work on the long awaited Ultimate Sin album. The
Ultimate Sin would come out in 1986, ending the long wait by his fans.
It would also be one of the poorest amongst the opinions of Ozzy and his
fans as well. The album's sound was cheesy and according to Ozzy, most
of songs ended up sounding alike (which they do).
On March 19, 1987, due to overwhelming demand by his fans, Ozzy also
released the Randy Rhoad's Tribute album. Randy's mother, Dolores had
dozens of letters from fans wanting to know if there were any more Randy
concerts out there. She then contacted Ozzy who searched through his
house and came up with some old archive material. The material was sent
to Max Norman who had produced Ozzy's first three albums, to see if the
material was suitable. The result was the Randy Rhoad's Tribute album.
Ozzy also played only one show that year, at the HMP Wormwood Scrubs
prison in the UK.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
2.8 No Rest for the Wicked
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
The following year, in 1988, Ozzy released his 'No Rest for the Wicked'
album. This featured Zakk Wylde (who had his own band 'Pride and Glory')
on guitar, Randy Castillo on drums and Bob Daisley on bass guitar. The
album title again was a bit eerie and the cover showed an Osbourne
sitting in a chair with two girls (looking possessed) and one screaming
at him. Zakk, who had heard Ozzy on Howard Stern mention that he was
looking for a new guitar player, didn't think he had a chance. It was
not until later when a rock photographer mentioned he would be happy to
pass along a tape of Zakk's music, did he then get the audition and the
subsequent part.
On August 12 and 13th of 1989, Ozzy played the Moscow Music Peace
Festival. This show featured acts like Bon Jovi, Scorpions and Motley
Crue. The other bands were basically small club bands but of course Ozzy
was a world-wide name and the crowd just went crazy when it was his turn
to play.
In March of 1990, Geezer would join Ozzy in releasing a live album
titled "Just Say Ozzy". This would contain some of the No Rest for the
Wicked and Black Sabbath material combined. Nothing to write home about.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
2.9 No More Beers
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"A lot of my drinking friends died in their 40's-heart attacks, one
guy's liver exploded. There but for the grace of God go I. Their
must be a guiding star over me" [Ozzy 1996]
The year 1991 would mark the beginning of big changes in Ozzy's life.
Ozzy gave sobriety another try, and came out victorious. It was a
combination of domestic situations, hangovers, and many personal reasons
which made him want to try again. He had wanted to quit drinking every
day but was unable to because he'd be feeling too bad from the day
before. He had been to many treatment centers (including multiple stays
at Betty Ford) before. This time he just woke up one day and decided
that enough was enough. Since successfully quitting, he has not had a
drink to this day! Now that he wasn't drinking, Ozzy took his health one
step further. He bought a Lifecycle (which he uses at least 90 minutes a
day), starting dieting (he now avoids eating red meat) and working out.
The result was a better looking Ozzy, both in physical aspects and his
on stage performance. He would also begin to see life in a different
light, enjoying life's moments that he had previously ignored because of
being constantly drunk.
There would be another change, this time in his musical direction. Ozzy
has said he used to write songs based on what he thought his fans would
like to hear. The album titles were dark. He had never written or
recorded an album sober before. During this alcohol free period he
recorded his next album, "No More Tears", which would be a change from
his previous dark album titles.
No More Tears was originally going to be titled "Say Hello To
Heaven" which would be an accurate portrayal of the cover. The cover
showed a tame looking Ozzy with wings, in a cloudy serene background.
The music itself was a pleasant mix of soft ballads like "Mama I'm
Coming Home" (one even your mother would enjoy), to hard rocking songs
like "Hellraiser". It is of interest to note that Lemmy of Motorhead
helped Ozzy write the lyrics to some of the songs (or in the case of
Mama, he wrote all the lyrics). The song "Road to Nowhere" would
describe his life in general, while "Mr. Tinkertrain" would talk about
child molestation issues. Being written in the first person, critics now
claimed Ozzy was promoting child molestation.
Ozzy would also win a Grammy award for the song, "I Don't Want to Change
the World". This would also be a first in that it was the first album
they made demos of, thus deciding on which songs to keep and which ones
to make changes to. Samples of the untouched, original songs are
available on bootlegs as well.
Ozzy surprised everyone by calling the tour, "No More Tours". In
interviews he said that he was tired of touring and he wanted to spend
more time with his family. He was also suffering bouts of illnesses,
canceling shows, and other injuries. The pressures of touring got to him
and he embarked on what was to be his "final tour". The band now
consisted of Zakk on guitar, Randy Castillo on drums and Mike Inez on
bass. During these final tours, some shows were taped and used in an
upcoming commercial video and audio compilation, "Live and Loud" which
was a double album. The CD package also included two stick-on tattoos.
There was much speculation about whether or not this would be the final
tour, or perhaps it was a ploy to get more money.
On November 15 of 1992, Ozzy played at Costa Mesa, California. This was
one of the two nightly shows that would be the last in his tour. Sharon
and Ozzy decided it would be cool to invite the other members of Black
Sabbath for a reunion since this would be the end of it all. All of the
members of Black Sabbath agreed, but Ronnie Dio did not. After playing
his songs, the members of Black Sabbath came out and joined Ozzy in
playing four songs: Black Sabbath, Fairies Wear Boots, Iron Man and of
course, Paranoid.
The video release of this final show only contains the Black Sabbath
song though. How did the audience react at seeing the original Sabbath
members back together since 1978? They went totally crazy of course. At
the end of the show a fireworks sparkler display went off which
proclaimed, "I'll Be Back". The purpose of having a final show and then
saying you'll be back is beyond me. Being his final tour, sales were
high and other artists turned out to see the madman before he retired,
including Vince Neil, Rod Stewart and Nicholas Cage.
When it was all over, so was Ozzy's lifetime of performing. Or so he
wanted us to think.
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2.10 Ozzmosis
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
In 1993, Ozzy was officially retired. His fans had the 'Live and Loud'
video and double CD to remind them of his final days. Ozzy went home and
did what he longed to do, be a father. He spent time playing with his
children and wife. He also bought various toys to pass time:
motorcycles, guns, and night vision goggles (to see animals running at
night). It would not be too long before he longed for his old lifestyle
and after a few weeks of being retired, Ozzy wanted to get another band
and start touring all over again.
His fans soon began hearing rumors of an upcoming Ozzy album, what would
it be called? The latest gossip was "X-Ray" as a working title. There
were also disgruntled fans who were angry (and rightly so) that they had
been taken in by another lie. [While I am a huge fan of Ozzy's, I am not
going to only portray the good sides of him, this is after all a
biography and it is part of the story]. Rumors also persisted that Steve
Vai would be playing on the new album.
It was not until almost two years later that the rumors became facts.
Yes, Ozzy was coming back with a new album. Yes, there would be a tour
to support it. The album would be called "Ozzmosis".
Ozzmosis was released on September 1995.
Ozzmosis is defined as "the diffusion of fluids through a membrane" :)
Geezer Butler, his old Sabbath friend would also be on the album and
tour. The band recorded the album in Paris, and was produced by Michael
Beinhorn. Since Zakk was busy with his own project, Pride and Glory, it
was arranged that Steve Vai would be contributing to the album. The
songs would be split so that both Zakk and Vai would appear on the
album. Because of the record company once again interfering
with plans, only Zakk's material made it to the final product. However
Steve Vai DID play the guitar on My Little Man. "Perry Mason", was
released as a single earlier on and received radio play.
All that remained after the album's debut was to begin touring...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
2.11 Why did Zakk leave Ozzy?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ozzy would name his Ozzmosis tour, "Retirement Sucks" in an obvious
statement about his feelings towards his short lived retirement. It was
now time to begin touring. Zakk was talking about playing with Guns and
Roses so Ozzy decided to audition new guitarists, thinking Zakk would
not be around for the tour. Zakk's manager, Doug Goldstein, called
Sharon and told her that Zakk would be available. He later phoned to say
that Zakk was still negotiating for the gig with Guns and Roses. Ozzy
did not know what Zakk was planning to do because he was negotiating
with both groups, and so asked Zakk to let him know what his plans were.
When Zakk did not return the phone call as promised, Ozzy decided enough
was enough and found a new player. Ozzy and Zakk are still on good terms
however.
Remember Joe Holmes, the kid who took guitar lessons from Randy? The 31
year old guitar player who hailed from New Jersey, would soon play a
part in Ozzy's life. Joe had previously played with David Lee Roth for
his 1988 tour and was currently working on his own band, "Tariff", when
Dean Castronovo (Oz's drummer) phoned Joe to let him know they were
seeking a guitar player. Joe went down to Audible in Los Angeles and
played three Ozzy classics. He did not mention that he had once took
lessons from Randy because he thought this might jeopardize his chances.
He succeeded though and got the part. Unfortunately Joe is not heard on
the Ozzmosis album but he will be on the next one. So Joe Holmes as
Ozzy's new guitar player and Geezer Butler on bass began the Retirement
Sucks tour. Halfway through the tour, Geezer left due to being homesick
for his family and Mike Inez took his place.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
2.11b Ozzfest
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Later on, in yet another shrewd marketing attempt, Ozzy and Sharon came
up with the 'Ozz-Fest'. The festival which would start September 14,
1996 would be of a different theme. At this event one could get a tattoo
done, body piercing or have your fortune read by a psychic. Ozz-fest
featured the following hard rock groups: Danzig, Sepultura, Prong,
Slayer, Biohazard, Fear Factory, Neurosis, King Norris, Earth Crisis,
Powerman 5000, Coal Chamber, and Cellophane.
Ozzfest prices are insane. $3 for a bottle of water, $4 for a hot dog.
Sharon is taking it all to the bank.
Towards November 1996, Ozzy played his last show of the tour in Hawaii.
His plans now were to go back to the studio to release a 'Greatest Hits'
package (early 1997) which will have his older songs and three new ones.
One of them would be a song called "Back on Earth" which was co-written
with Steve Vai.
Timeline continued in [2.14]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
2.12 Of Priests and Devils
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Years ago a particular news snippet caught my attention. It was a news
clip about a religious group who were burning records. It showed
children and adults throwing record albums into a bonfire. A priest told
the interviewer, "One of the albums we're going to be burning tonight is
Ozzy Osbourne's Speak of the Devil". The album cover shows Ozzy sitting
in a chair, or throne, with his mouth open and drooling what is supposed
to be blood (but looks more like strawberry jam). At Ozzy Osbourne
concerts, religious believers have been known to hand out pamphlets to
concert-goers.
Religious leaders have condemned Ozzy for being a Satanist and devil
worshipper. Ozzy's shows are boycotted and he is banned from playing
certain cities. Is any of the hype true, and as a parent should you be
concerned if your child is listening to Ozzy Osbourne? To start, Ozzy
has had a record of macabre album titles: Diary of a Madman, Speak of
the Devil, No Rest for the Wicked and The Ultimate Sin. However the old
saying, "you can't judge a book by its cover" certainly comes into play
here. As a priest, an album called 'Speak of the Devil' and showing a
man spewing blood would certainly be cause for alarm. But if you take a
closer look at the album and listen to the songs, it becomes another
story. Speak of the Devil is simply a live album boasting some of the
earlier Black Sabbath material. There is absolutely no reference AT ALL
to Satan. The closest Ozzy comes on that album or most any other of his
albums to evil, are songs such as 'Snowblind' and 'Sweet Leaf' which
talk about drug usage. You can pull out all of Ozzy's albums, glance at
the cover pictures and album titles and dismiss him as a devil
worshipper in a heavy metal band. However we live in a world where
people are free to make their own minds up about what they believe. I
fail to see anywhere in Ozzy's career any truth to the Satanic rumors. I
am a fan of Ozzy's and it is true I might be somewhat biased towards
him, but I can reassure you I have never seen anything, WHATSOEVER, that
leads me to believe Ozzy has any relationship with the devil. Fans of
his may laugh at this but there are obviously people out there who
seriously believe otherwise.
So why then has this man been accused so often of being associated with
evil? To explain this would be beyond my abilities. I can however tell
you that his album covers may play a part. The fact that people have
claimed to have heard backwards messages in his music may also play a
part. The suicide deaths of teenagers listening to Ozzy's music also go
hand in hand with the allegations of backwards messages. The fact he was
once lead singer for a band called Black Sabbath also may play a part. I
really can't tell you why people claim this. True, he is a singer in a
band which is considered heavy metal. This does not make him an evil
person. In all fairness, he has lived a life of drug and alcohol abuse
and done some very stupid things which people will always remember him
for. Overlooking the stupid stunts he has done, I don't find any
evidence of his being an evil person.
If you are a parent, should you be concerned if Jimmy brings home an
Ozzy Osbourne album? Well, to answer that you need to look at a few
outside factors. Is the kid level headed and are the lines of
communication open with your child? If the child has serious problems,
perhaps listening to his "Suicide Solution" would be a mistake. It is
very easy to misconstrue the lyrics and it just might play a part in
your son's decision. If your child is planning suicide, there are
obviously more serious problems than that of an Ozzy album. I don't wish
to spread panic, there is no need to really go and censor all of his
albums. The fact is that if given the right circumstances, any medium
could lead someone to believe suicide is ok. If you trust your child's
judgement and believe him to be level headed, I don't see any real
problems. Mind you I am NOT an expert, nor do I pretend to be. I am
simply someone who grew up listening to Ozzy's music. Maybe you should
sit down with the lyrics to the song and explain that it was the
death of the singer for AC/DC which prompted the song, and the lyrics
pertain to alcohol solution not answer-to-your-problem-solution. I
figure it like this: If Jimmy is thinking of committing suicide, I think
listening to an Ozzy album would be the same as watching a TV program or
reading a paper on the same subject. If the child sees other teens
talking about wanting to commit, how they tried to, or how life is not
worth living, perhaps that media attention on the topic would affect his
decision just as much.
Up till now I have been talking mainly of suicide, this is because music
could play a crucial weight in a child's decision. However a song about
suicide is irrelevant to the topic of this chapter. I merely wanted to
address the question or whether it is okay to listen to Ozzy. SURE! I
never sacrificed any cats, nor did I try to kill myself. I did not go
out on a full moon and try to eat a dog either, maybe if I was
sleepwalking but not that I can remember. :)
So why then does the religious faith attack this man? I sincerely do not
know. I really don't. Perhaps it has to do with the last chapter. Maybe
when our children turn to drugs and alcohol and kills animals, it must
be heavy metal's fault. There has been a long waged war against metal. I
think statistically you will find that a lot of troubled teenagers and
drug abusers listen to heavy metal but I would not blame that music
category for it. As Ozzy once said, "I'm sure people smoke pot at a
Stevie Wonder concert". Let us now talk about some of the religious
people who have attacked Osbourne for being in league with the devil.
Cardinal O'Connor
--------------------
This man accused Ozzy of being the devil and told people that exorcisms
were real and that Oz's music was spreading the devil's word. 'A Current
Affair' also did a telephone survey in which the majority of callers
said that they felt heavy metal music was killing their kids.
Jimmy Swaggart
---------------------
Another television evangelist. The man makes his bread and butter by
selling God. The morals of this are not mine to determine. Jimmy also
put down Ozzy. Jim was later found coming out of a hotel room with a
prostitute. He was later shown on television crying to God and asking
for forgiveness. I don't wish to put him down for his repenting, but the
fact he put down someone else and committed his own sins is hypocrisy.
The fact is he is a human being with human urges and he can't deny that.
Ozzy made a song and video called "Miracle Man" in which he talks about
Jimmy and his critical views.
Oral Roberts
------------------
Another evangelist who has put down Ozzy. This is the same man who
claimed if he did not get 7 million dollars by a certain time, God would
be calling him back home. To me, this seems a very obvious
and pathetic attempt at milking the public. Ozzy makes his money through
hard work, not pretending he will soon die.
None of these people offered to help Ozzy in his time of depression and
substance abuse. Though Ozzy did send Oral Roberts a single dollar for
"his psychiatric bill".
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
2.13 Will there ever be a reunion?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
It depends on what kind of reunion you want to know about. The
possibility of Ozzy and the three Sabs reuniting as a permanent
group is nill. It just won't happen. A partial reunion for the sake of
fans (or should I say $F$A$N$S$) is probable.
What you may not know is that during the time Ozzy was playing his last
show in Costa Mesa with his old Sabbath buddies, the foursome had
already been talking for nearly a year about a reunion. It was
originally going to be a two month tour and an album (a Sabbath-head's
dream come true). As time progressed though, Ozzy grew uncomfortable
about doing the reunion. Problems began arising... the four original
members now had their own managers, lawyers, and record companies. Each
person's manager wanted to be the one in charge of the project which
would result in a fortune. The Sabs just wanted to do the show. Ozzy has
since gone on to say that he might have done a reunion if they had
scrapped the name Black Sabbath at the time when the original members
left. As it stands, Black Sabbath has had members leave, come back and
then leave again. There have been numerous changes in the members of the
band involving outside players. Ozzy felt that the name Black Sabbath no
longer represented what it once did. This chapter deals
with the idea of Black Sabbath reunited for good. In fact, Black Sabbath
and Ozzy HAVE reunited for concerts, but both remain two separate bands.
Since the Costa Mesa show, Ozzy has agreed to reunite with Sabbath for
a small tour. This coincided with a live album which was released
October 31, 1998. This will not be a permanent reunion, however the
band is touring North America in 1999.
As of 2005, Black Sabbath did get together to write some material. Bill
Ward has the tapes of these sessions. Ozzy hasnıt ruled out the
possibility of a reunion but so far Ozzfest remains the only chance to
see the four original members on the same stage.
Tony Iommi had this to say on the subject:
The band has come up with about six songs, none of which have been
formally recorded. "The tracks were good; actually, I thought, very
good," he said. "But we didn't get as far as actually recording them; we
demoed them.
Black Sabbath has reunited:
In 1985, the original members of Black Sabbath
(Iommi/Butler/Osbourne/Ward) reunited for the Live Aid benefit concert.
They played three songs.
In 1992, the 1980-1982 version of Black Sabbath
(Iommi/Butler/Dio/Appice) reunited and toured for the album Dehumanizer.
In 1992, the original members of Black Sabbath played three songs after
one of Ozzy Osbourne's "retirement" concerts in Costa Mesa, California.
In 1995, the 1989-1991 version of the band
(Iommi/Powell/Martin/Murray/Nicholls) reunited for the album and tour
for Forbidden.
In 1997-98, the original members of Black Sabbath reunited, toured and
released Reunion.
In 1999, 2001, 2004 and 2005 the original Black Sabbath reunited and
toured on Osbourne's Ozzfest.
Ozzyıs management denies any new album will be released. Tony seems to
think there will be. Ozzy has said there might be. Apparently there is,
isnıt or might be depending on whom you ask.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
2.14 After Ozzmosis (Ozzfest)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"For all the money we have, the way we live, the cars we drive, the
first-class travel we take...I would gladly give it all up just to be
simple old Ozzy again." Ozzy
Ozz Records
===========
Ozzy and Sharon started their own record label, Ozz Records in 1996.
The first release under the label was "The Ozz Fest - Live".
The company began as an idea that they could be more personal and fun
than the large corporate labels.
They began building a studio in London.
The record label was eventually abandoned because Ozzfest was a full
time effort.
1995-1996
========
After the release of Ozzmosis in 1995, Ozzy was ready to return to the
music scene after his hiatus. Sharon, his wife and manager had tried
unsuccessfully to have Ozzy become an addition to Lollapolooza. She was
turned down, because Lollapolooza organizers felt Ozzy was old and not
quite the fresh face they were seeking. So in a moment of anger she
decided she'd simply start her own. It would be called Ozzfest.
After ironing out the details, a trial run of The Ozzfest debuted in
1996 with the following bands: Ozzy Osbourne (headliner), Danzig,
Slayer, Sepultura, Prong, Biohazard and Fear Factory. They did two gigs
in October 1996 which were a large success."The Ozzfest Live" was
recorded October 26th during this trial run.
One of the appealing aspects of Ozzfest is that in addition to the main
stage, there was also a smaller stage for lesser known bands. Sharon
allowed up and coming talent to make a name for themselves including
such bands as Coal Chamber, Powerman 5000 and Celophane.
1997
=====
1997 saw the full blown Ozzfest festival begin May 24th. The 1996 trial
run having showed a definite interest. It featured Black Sabbath
(headliner), Marilyn Manson, Pantera, Type O Negative, Fear Factory,
Machine Head and Powerman 5000 on the main stage. The second stage
featured Downset, Neurosis, Slo Burn, Coal Chamber, Drain STH and Vision
of Disorder. Bill Ward complained to the media that we wasn't asked to
appear on behalf of Black Sabbath.
Sharon's response:
"Bill was not asked to play on this bill due to inter-personal business
conflicts between himself, me and Ozzy. It is a private issue that we
have kept private out of respect to Bill. If Bill doesn't understand
that we are only trying to protect him, we will announce the reason why
he wasn't asked to do this tour."
The festival was a carnival of sorts where a person could also get
tattoos or piercings done. The largest complaint about the Ozzfest are
the prices. Vendors gouge customers because no outside food is allowed.
Bottled water for $2 or $15 for fish and chips and a drink.
Ozzy and Manson filed suit against New Jersey Sports and Exhibition
Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey. They refused to put Ozzfest
tickets on sale unless Marilyn Manson was taken off the bill. In May,
the Meadowlands decided to allow tickets to sell and was considered
appealing a judge's decision.
Fans are able to purchase bottled water "Blessed" by Ozzy himself for
the mere price of $2.75 each.
Ozzy's voice seemed to give out at the Ozzfest gig in the New Jersey
Meadowlands, so he cancelled his show for the Polaris Amphitheater in
Columbus, Ohio on June 17th. Understanding and compassionate fans
uprooted trees, overturned a car, lit fires and tore down fencing. 23
fans were arrested. Ozzy would make up for the cancellation on July 1st.
The Ozzfest grossed around $600,000 per show. (Ed: Probably from all of
the food sales). With the Ozzfest tour over for 1997, Ozzy and Sharon
released "The Ozzman Cometh" which featured some of his greatest hits
and the release of some "basement tapes" Ozzy had found while cleaning
house. They included rare versions of "War Pigs," "Black Sabbath,"
"Fairies Wear Boots," and "Behind the Wall of Sleep".
Ozzfest beat out Lollapolooza for gross profits, ironic since
Lollapolooza refused to have Ozzy as part of their tour.
Having seen Black Sabbath and Ozzy playing on tour, fans were wondering
about the possibility of a studio album. The last album recorded with
all four original members of Black Sabbath was in 1978. On December 4th
and 5th the original members of Black Sabbath reunited to play at the
NEC in their hometown of Birmingham, England. The shows were recorded
for possible release in the future. The band announced they would be
returning to the studio to record new material!
1998
=====
As 1998 began, Ozzfest 1998 was announced. The bands would include
Tool, Megadeth, Limp Bizkit, Soulfly, Coal Chamber, Sevendust, Two, the
Melvins, Incubus, Snot, Ultraspank, Kilgore, System of a Down, and
Monster Machine.
The original Sabbath members were rehearsing in Wales for the upcoming
tour when Bill Ward suffered a mild heart attack. Bill would not be on
the European tour but might be able to play for the American tour. Vinny
Appice takes his place.
The shows recorded at the NEC are to be released as a live album along
with the new studio songs, "Psycho Man" and "Selling My Soul." (Ed: I
found these to be a little disappointing). The album is simply entitled
"Reunion". Reunion was released on September 20th, 1998. I received a
copy autpgraphed by all four members. The tour would back up the Reunion
album release and finish in May 1999.
On December 31, 1998 New Years Eve, Black Sabbath began their American
tour in Arizona.
Ozzy had this to say:
"There was the four of us who started off way back in '68. We had an
idea which shook the world I suppose. Without any one of us, it's not
Black Sabbath. The drummers we used were adequate drummers, but there's
only one Bill Ward you know, there's only one Tony Iommi, there's only
one Geezer Butler, and there's only one me. The chemistry is just
incredible. When we did the live album at the N.E.C., the chemistry was
just like we never separated. It was a pretty amazing, magic show."
Around this time, Ozzy quit smoking which was not an easy task.
1999
====
With Ozzy still on the road on the Sabbath tour, Sharon Osbourne
Management and SFX Entertainment. announced that Ozzfest would be
renewed for 5 more years. When Ozzy is finished touring, he agrees to
record "Shock the Monkey" with Coal Chamber. This would be put off for a
while due to Ozzy falling ill. It would eventually be released on
"Chamber Music".
Reunions and re-releasing the same old music over and over, there was
still one nagging question. When would Ozzy release his next album?
After all it had been 4 years. Ozzy announces when the 1999 Ozzfest is
finished, he will head back into the studio to work on a new album for
the year 2000.
Ozzy and Black Sabbath marked the end of their first tour with the
original members at the same venue where they started their reunion in
December 1997 (Birmingham). December 21 and 22 are the dates. The show
was listed as the ³last ever² reunion. Do you ever get the feeling
youıre being lied to just to suck your wallet dry?
Ozzfest 1999 grossed 19 million (that's $19,000,000) in 1999. More sales
of bottled water possibly? :)
2000
====
Ozzfest 2000 kicked off on July 2nd including acts such as Pantera,
Incubus, Godsmack, Methods of Mayhem, P.O.D., Static-X, Queens of the
Stone Age and Ozzy. It began on July 2 in Palm Beach, Florida and
concluded on Sept. 2 in San Bernardino, Calif.
Management touted this as Ozzy's final Ozzfest (sort of reminds you of
the No More Tours). Ozzy would go on to say, "Never say never. I keep
saying to my wife, 'It's just getting bigger and bigger and bigger and I
want to do other things.' I'm the kind of the guy where, when I'm out
there, I want to be home, and when I'm home, I want to be out there. I'm
never happy wherever I am, so all I know is I don't know."
Black Sabbath won a Grammy Award for Metal Performance on their
³Reunion² album. Bill Ward received the award however the presentation
was not aired.
Coal Chamber fired Sharon as their manager in 2000. Ozzy tries to quit
smoking. He is also tested to determine if he has Parkinsonıs disease.
Rumors indicate that the new Ozzy album will be titled ³INFERNO². Ozzy
will begin work on it in September after the Ozzfest tour wraps up.
2001
====
On April 10th, Ozzy's mother passed away from diabetes and kidney
problems. He was able to see her about a week before she passed away but
didn't attend the funeral.
Ozzy also ventured out into the PC game market. Ozzy lent his voice and
Likeness for "Black Skies", in which players assume the role of the Ozzy
himself.
A date of October 16 is announced for Ozzy's new studio album, 2000
having seen no album as previously thought. By April he has written nine
songs and there are plans to complete nine more before Ozzy heads back
on the road for Ozzfest.
On August 25th, "Gets Me Through" is the first single for Ozzy's album
and was released to radio stations. The album's title will be "Down to
Earth". The cover shows an actual x-ray of Ozzy. "They X-rayed me for
like three hours, the guy kept saying, 'It's going to be fine, Ozzy.' I
thought I was going to come out of there glowing. It was very
frightening.", Ozzy said.
The album is released in October as DOWN TO EARTH. It was produced by
Tim Palmer, with guest appearances by drummer Mike Bordin, bassist
Robert Trujillo and guitarist Zakk Wylde. The album goes gold (500,000
sales) shortly afterwards.
A short tour was announced under the name of "Black Christmas" but was
changed to "Merry Mayhem" after the terrorist attacks of September 11th.
The two month tour beginning Halloween, featured Rob Zombie, Mudvayne,
Soil and OneSideZero.
Proceeds from "Ozz Bless America" merchandise sold throughout the Merry
Mayhem tour was donated to the families of firefighters and police
affected by the World Trade Center. Merry Mayhem wrapped up New Years
Eve.
On November 9th, Ozzy suffered a stress fracture and had to reschedule
10 dates on his Merry Mayhem tour, when he slipped stepping out of the
shower before his Tucson, Arizona show. Ozzy continued to tour for a
week before seeing a doctor when the pain continued to increase.
Rob Zombie used the time off to focus on directing two new videos, his
own "Never Gonna Stop" and Ozzy's "Dreamer".
All four original Sabbath members begin working on a possible studio
album during early 2001. Five songs have been written so far including
one titled SCARY DREAMS. In October, Ozzy says that there it isnıt
likely that they will release an album after all.
Towards the end of 2001, it is revealed that Black Skies, the video
game, will not be released because the company has gone bankrupt.
Ozzy has a benefit concert at the Meadowlands in New Jersey on December
23rd. The money goes to the World Trade Center victims.
An album with various artists from Ozzfest is released in August 2001
titled ³The Second Millenium². It includes Black Sabbathıs The Wizard,
Marilyn Manson, Slipknot and Black Label Society.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
[2.15] The Osbournes
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"The Osbournes" portrays Ozzy as a "blithering idiot. (Ted Nugent)
2002
====
Note: On March 27th, Ozzy's former drummer Randy Castillo died at age 51
from cancer.
Ozzy's wife, ever the shrewd marketer, took her husband's fame to new
heights. With MTV at her side, she set about to create a reality based
television show called The Osbournes. This would be an unscripted real
life look at what life in the Osbourne household was like. While MTV
asked it be real, and the family maintained it was 100% unscripted, the
family also admitted later that parts of it were made just for
television. Everywhere they went, a camera followed. Viewers saw Ozzy
taking out the garbage, fights with neighbours, dogs defecating on the
rugs time and time again and plenty of fighting.
When the show premiered on March 5th, critics were giving it mixed
reviews. Some felt it was nothing more than an explecitive laced attempt
to cash in on Ozzy's name. Others felt it was a sad view of family
values and morals. Sharon, of course, would not apoligize for putting
such a show on the air however one must wonder just what sort of values
are expressed telling your siblings and parents to "f*** off" or calling
your wife a "C**t". While the Osbournes are a "family", there doesn't
seem to be much respect for one another.
Take for example Ozzy pleading with his wife not to bring home any cats.
Sharon agreed with Ozzy but then went out and purchased cats regardless.
Then viewers saw Ozzy angry at his wife for booking him back to back
nights for concerts and Ozzy was furious because it was draining for
him. (Ed: It's my personal belief that Sharon doesn't respect Ozzy's
wishes on anything, but exploits him to the fullest.)
Yet fans and parents alike were able to relate to Ozzy and his family.
We saw Ozzy go to lengths to caution his children to practice safe sex.
"Please don't get drunk or do drugs tonight, and if you have sex, use
condoms" says Ozzy to his daughter.
Viewers were able to relate to their child coming home with their first
Tattoo (and looking at Ozzy, what can you say). There was Ozzy's total
confusion over being unable to operate the satellite dish remote, when
his son Jack was more than capable of doing so.
The show has made Ozzy Osbourne a household name and earned him many
fans. Those who didn't know who Ozzy was before the show surely know
now. The ratings were an average of 6 million viewers a week. It's been
an enormous success for MTV.
Music fans adored the show. Parents probably found they could relate to
Ozzy and parenthood and there were surely the curious. There must be
many people out there who expected to tune in to find a raving madmad
killing animals. Instead they found a stuttering man who undoes his
pants to warm himself by a bonfire.
The Osbournes is not exactly a family show. It's continually filled with
the bleeping where someone has used the "f-word" (59 bleeps in the first
half hour). Some stations air it uncensored, but if you do have the
censored version it gets hard to follow the conversation at times for
there are so many bleeps. There are also some diehard fans
who feel the show has made Ozzy look like a bumbling idiot. There does
seem to be two Ozzy Osbournes: The crazy madman on stage, and the
puttering stuttering father/husband cleaning up after his wife's dogs.
Regardless of your like or contempt for the show, what the show has done
is made household names out of each of the Osbournes. Aimee, the
smartest of the children opted not to be included in the show. For Jack
and Kelly, Sharon and Ozzy, they've become people we can identify with.
The children receive recognition on the street and have appeared on
television talk shows. Sharon has done a wonderful job of making her
family household names.
The attention can sometimes be too much. Sharon has flip flopped on her
feelings for the show. She has stated she wishes she had never done the
show but then decided to go ahead with another season. Tourists are
flocking to the house in droves. The family has little privacy. They've
also considered taking the show overseas to their English home for some
privacy.
The first season earned them $200,000. The second season has been
reported to have been renewed at $20 million.
Bill Cosby had this to say on the show:
"First of all, all of you (media) need to stop with this Ozzy Osbourne.
This is a sad, sad family. It is a sad case. The children are sad and
the parents are sad. And this is not entertainment," he told Access
Hollywood. He said the show was the sort of comedy that reminds people
of the sort of activity they do not want in their own lives. Even so,
millions of viewers tune in to watch them weekly. They were featured in
an ad for Pepsi Twist in front of an estimated 100 million viewers for
the January 26th Superbowl.
Ozzy was also invited to the White House for dinner with The President.
Naturally internet users are flooding the Ozzy newsgroup after having
watched The Osbournes. Where fans used be able to discuss touring,
rarities and Ozzy, now they're contending with critics and young people
posting to the Internet newsgroups.
Once the television show was firmly in place and everybody knew who the
Osbourne family was, they released "The Osbourne Family Album". The
Osbourne Family Album is a compilation of favourite songs from each
member of the family. The listing is as follows:
Pat Boone - "Crazy Train"
Ozzy Osbourne - "Dreamer"
The Kinks - "You Really Got Me"
System of a Down - "Snowblind"
John Lennon - "Imagine"
The Cars - "Drive"
Starsailor - "Good Souls"
Dillusion - "Mirror Image"
Eric Clapton - "Wonderful Tonight"
Ozzy Osbourne - "Mama, I'm Coming Home"
Ozzy Osbourne - "Crazy Train"
Chevelle - "Family System".
It also featured Kelly Osbournes debut with her version of Madonna's
"Papa Don't Preach". She recorded the song with Incubus members Mike
Einziger (guitar) and Jose Pasillas (drums).
Kelly originally asked her sister Aimee if she'd record it, but Aimee
declined. The song was meant to be a theme song for the television
series.
The Osbourneıs Episode Guide
=============================
101: There Goes the Neighbourhood
102: Bark at the Moon
103: Like Father, Like Daughter
104: Hate Thy Neighbor
105: Tour of Duty
106: Break a Leg
107: On the Road Again
108: A Very Ozzy Christmas
109: No Vagrancy
110: Dinner With Ozzy
201: What Goes Up
202: ...Must Come Down
203: The Ozz Man and the Sea
204: The Beauty And The Bert
205: Smells Like Teen Spirits
206: Meow Means No!
207: Cleanliness is Next To Ozzyness
208: It's a Hard Knock Life
209: Viva Ozz-Vegas
211: What a Boy Wants!
212: Flea's a Crowd
213: Run Ozzy Run
214: Fists of Fury
215: Moma I'm Stayin' Home
216: Tennis Racket
217: A Little Ditty 'Bout Jack and Brienann
218: Angler Management
219: Bye Bye Babies
220: Ozz Well That Ends Well
301: The Show Must Go Oz
302: Car Jacked
303: Rebel Without an Oz
304: Return of the Ring
305: The Accidental Tourist
306: The English Patient
307: The Scent of a Woman
308: Pain in the Neck
309: Ozzy Knows Best
310: Valentine Daze
311: Sleepless in Beverly...
312: Have Ozz Will Travel
313: Hawaii Five Ozz
314: Kelly Interrrupted
315: 28 Days Later
316: Charity Case
317: Number One Fan
318: Lozt in Translation
319: The Show Must Go Off!
320: A Farewell to Ozz
Re-releases
===========
Another collection of rehashed music. ³Expanded Editions² of Blizzard of
Ozz, Diary of a Madman, Tribute and No More Tears are released in March.
They include additional photos and rare tracks.
Louis
=====
Ozzyıs son from his first marriage, Louis make his American debut in
March.
Cancer
======
On July 3rd, 2002 Sharon underwent surgery for recently discovered
cancer. This almost caused Ozzy to begin drinking again. Expect to see
much of this covered during the second season of The Osbournes. By July,
the cancer had spread. Ozzy broke down in tears when asked about Sharon
when interviewed by Barbara Walters.
Sharon began three weeks of chemotherapy beginning July 29th.
"This is definitely the last year, We can't do it anymore.", Sharon told
Barbara. Even if this is the last year, the money is far from slowing
down. They've signed a $3 million publishing
deal with Pocket Books. They also have merchandising with the Signature
Network of San Francisco. Expect to see Osbourne sleepwear, watches,
clothing, dartboards, backpacks, condoms and a voice-activated plush
bear.
The Osbournes and the company say they've signed up 55 licensees
for more than 300 products and are hoping for retail sales of up to US
$200 million in 2002.
The reality TV show was named the yearıs outstanding reality program at
the Creative arts Emmys.
Ozzfest
=======
Ozzfest continued in 2002. It began July 6th and included acts such as
System of a Down, P.O.D., Rob Zombie, Lost Prophets, Pulse Ultra,
Neurotica and Black Label Society.
2003
====
Ozzfest continued into 2003 from June 23rd to August.
Sharon Osbourne hosted her own talk show in the fall and received $3-5
million.
On July24th, Ozzyıs tour manager Bobby Thomson was found dead in his bed
at the Townsend Hotel in Detroit. Mr. Thomson had been suffering from
throat cancer. Ozzy said in a statement."He has been a part of our
family for 23 years and loved very much. He will be greatly missed by
all of us. Our sincerest sympathies go out to the Thomson family."
On December 8th, 2003 Ozzy was riding his ATV on his Buckinghamshire,
England estate. The camera crews were with him filming for The
Osbournes. Ozzy failed to notice a hole in the lawn and flipped the ATV.
It landed on top of him. Ozzy stopped breathing for 90 seconds. The
security guard revived Ozzy who wound up with eight broken ribs, a
broken vertebra in his neck and a broken collarbone. In addition, he had
blood in his lungs and a damaged blood vessel in his left arm. Ozzy was
rushed to a nearby hospital for emergency surgery, fitted with a hard
collar in an effort to prevent permanent paralysis and then placed on a
ventilator.
Timeline continued in [2.24]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
[2.16] Kelly Osbourne
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"And I'm not trying to be a supermodel, so I wish people would
just leave it alone" Kelly Osbourne on people's perception of her
having to follow the singer stereotype.
Kelly Osbourne, born October 27, 1984, seems to have an appeal for the
youth of today. Perhaps it's because she doesn't wear skimpy clothes and
hasn't had her breasts enlarged. Whatever the reason is, she remains
true to herself and dresses on her own terms.
The fans love her for being herself. Not bad for a young woman who is
Said to have dropped out of school in grade 10.
Upon asking her sister Aimee to sing Papa Don't Preach, Aimee declined
and suggested Kelly do it instead. It was more of a lark, but Kelly took
up the challenge. The execs at Epic Music were so impressed that they
included her version of the Madonna song on 'The Osbourne Family Album'
and she was offered her own album.
Her website has this to say about her...
"This was about attitude, not sex appeal; reality, not fantasy. So, two
months on-and-off in New York turned out Shut Up!, an eleven song
collection that bespeaks as much about Kelly Osbourne as any trend-
setting outfit she may wear or any off-handed comment that might spring
from her mouth. Songs such as "Disconnected", a churning, grinding
rocker, and the endlessly catchy and melodic teenage rage of "Dig Me
Out" fulfill the promise of Kelly as an unvarnished voice for the
"everyteen" of the new rock scene. Inundated by calculated media
caricatures of what the M Gen should be Kelly comes across as a real
deal, take-no-sh*t anti-star.
Kelly planned to move out of her parents house and into her own home,
some five blocks away in April 2003. Whether this is true or not, she
continues to occupy space in the Osbourneıs home on their reality TV
show.
Relationship wise, she was seeing Bert McCracken, a 20 year old singer
from a punk band named The Used. Bert dumped Kelly by telephone on
Valentines Day 2003. Kelly took this hard, especially the abrupt manner
in which it was done. She's made a vow never to date men again, but in
due time will learn to love again as do we all.
Christina Aguilera and Kelly have been known to be very vocal about
their dislike for one another. Rumors persist about near fights breaking
out at clubs between the two. It has been said Kelly has a Christina
voodoo doll.
Kelly has been featured in magazines like Cosmo Girl, Teen People, Elle
Girl, Seventeen, and Interview.
Kelly released an album titled Shut Up in 2002 (later renamed to
Changes). Kelly has also released a second CD (2005) titled Sleeping in
the Nothing.
The tracks are:
1. One Word
2. Uh Oh
3. Redlight
4. Secret Lover
5. I Can't Wait
6. Edge Of Your Atmosphere
7. Suburbia
8. Don't Touch Me While I'M Sleeping
9. Save Me
10. Entropy
Kelly entered into drug rehab in 2004.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
[2.17] Jack Osbourne
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"I just find it really immature, I'd like to see them say it to my face,
I'd crush their skull in." Jack on rumors he is gay. (Heat magazine)
The son of Ozzy and Sharon scouts out new talent for Epic Records. He
also has influence on what bands appear on Ozzfest. He can be found
on CD covers being thanked for helping rising bands.
Jack's favourite band is Tool, which is reflected in the t-shirts he
often wears. Rumors continue to circulate that Jack is gay. Jack has
said that he once had sex with three women at the same time which would
prove otherwise if he's to be believed. He's been seen with Rod
Stewart's daughter Kimberly and model Catalina Guirado. It's been
reported that Jack has been helping her launch a pop career in LA and
the pair have been seen on dates.
Jack has a bit of a weight problem as does his sister Kelly. This
seems to be a much debated topic on the internet.
He appeared on Dawson's Creek as a cameo appearance as well as That 70's
Show in 1998.
As with his sister Kelly, Jack entered into rehab for his alcohol and
Oxycontin abuse. He has said this is attributed to the pressure of
living in the public eye and not reaching the level of popularity as his
sister.
In early 2005, Jack had £200,000 worth of jewelry stolen from him. The
items were stolen from his luggage during a flight from Los Angeles to
London.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
[2.18] Aimee Osbourne
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Aimee remains a mystery, no music release no appearances on The
Osbournes.
Aimee had claimed she was going to start her own jewelry company.
"I'm starting a jewelry company, It's going to be really pretty stuff
with lots of gems." The line is expected to launch sometime next
September.
Currently, she is writing for the pop culture magazine, Nylon. Aimee has
also appeared in various fashion shows.
Aimee Osbourne has her own home. She was dating Taylor Hanson of Hanson
at one point in time.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
[2.19] Louis Osbourne
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
One of the lesser known Osbourneıs is Louis. Louis doesnıt have his own
television show nor does he drive luxury cars. Louis is Ozzyıs son from
his first marriage to Thelma. (Ed: The resemblance is striking)
He works as a techno DJ and was traveled around the world to such places
as Chicago, LA, Germany and The Prague. He plays Birmingham venues as
well.
In 2003 Louis released his first compilation album in the USA which was
called ³Motion Audio Vol. 1² (Blue Chip Records, New York)
He has his own website at www.louisosbourne.com
Louis was married Louise Lennon in Ireland on January 1st, 2004.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[2.20] Who is Robert Marcato?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Editor: This section has been included into the biography because I want
people to know who Robert's mother was and to read how strong she was.
Fans of The Osbourne's may have noticed a new member to the family,
Robert Marcato. Robert, 18, is the son of Reagan Erin Marcato, a single
mother. Reagan Marcato moved to Southern California from Mays Landing,
N.J., around Christmas 1987 Looking to start a new life. She made her
career in food service and was manager of a popular 1950s-style diner on
Sunset Boulevard.
Marcato's life revolved around her son, and she successfully battled Los
Angeles school administrators to fund a special-education program for
Robert, who is dyslexic. Robert met Osbourne children Aimee and Kelly in
school and became close friends with them.
Unfortunately Reagan passed away with colon cancer on July 30th, 2002 at
the age of 36.
However The Osbourne's had become quite close to Robert and his mother.
Ozzy told Reagan before she died that her son would never have to worry
about money or tuition. The Osbourne family 'adopted' him in a sense of
the word and Sharon refers to him as 'Baby Osbourne'. They have paid for
his college education. Robert wants to attend drama school.
It's quite tragic to lose your family at the age of 18, and to such a
cruel disease. This move by The Osbourne's was a huge act of kindness.
"When I look at somebody like Regan, who didn't have the resources I
had, what have I got to complain about?" Sharon said. "She was the most
amazing woman and was such a brilliant and strong woman. She left home
when she was 18, put her baby in the car and drove from one end of the
country to another."
When Regan got sick, Sharon took matters into her own hands.
"She had no medical care at home and she was beyond saving - they won't
let you stay in the hospital and die, so you go to a hospice or go
home," Sharon said. "I had private nurses for her 24 hours a day for the
last nine days of her life. Every day, the doctors would say, 'Maybe two
more hours.' But she lived for nine days - she defied everybody."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
2.21 The Family
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ozzy (John Osbourne)
=====
Father
Born: Dec. 3, 1948 (Birmingham, England)
Stats: 5' 10" and weighs 160 lbs
Occupation: singer
Ozzy Osbourne Appreciaton Society
P.O. Box 15397
Beverly Hills, CA 90209
Sharon
======
Wife/Manager/Mother
Born: October 10, 1952 (London, England, UK)
Stats: unknown
Sharon Osbourne Management - address unknown
Kelly
======
Daughter
Stats: 5 foot 2 inches, 124 lbs, left handed.
DOB: Oct. 27, 1984
Phobia: spiders
Occupation: singer
Education: GateWay School In Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, England.
WestMark School In Encino, California, USA
Fan Club:
Kelly Osbourne
PO box 5249
Beverly Hills, CA 90209
Jack
====
Osbourne's Son
Born: Nov. 8, 1985 London, England
Stats: unavailable
(No fan club)
Aimee Rachel
=====
Osbourne's Daughter
Born: Sept. 2, 1983
Stats: unavailable
(No fan club)
Louis
=====
Ozzy Osbourneıs son from first marriage
Lillian
=======
John Osbourne's mother/Children's grandmother
Stats: N/A
Assembled electrical circuits In The Lucas Car Plant.
Lillian Died In 2001 from diabetes.
Jack Osbourne
=============
John Osbourne's father/Children's grandmother
Stats: N/A
Occupation: Tool-maker, Worked nights.
Died In 1977 From Cancer.
Don Arden
==========
Grandfather/Sharon's father
Read section [1.8]
Hope Arden
==========
Grandmother/Sharon's mother
Occupation: Dancer
Died In 1998.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
2.22 Money money money
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"I must be in the Guinness Book Of Records for having the most fucking
compilation albums from only eight records. There's The Ozzman Cometh,
The Ozzman Goeth, The Ozzman Dieth and The Ozzman Cometh Backwards."
Ozzy on the compilation albums that never seem to end
Ozzy is no longer that rags to riches success story that kept people
fascinated in their teens. He is no longer just a musician. Ozzy is now
a household name, a television show, and books. Ozzy is over 2500 items
for sale on E-Bay. His family have become household names, his wife
exploiting every conceivable way of using her and her family for profit.
Take a look at Britney Spears and Pepsi. We see Britney drinking Pepsi
Therefore simply because we like her music (I don't) or think she's
beautiful (I don't), we should run out and buy Pepsi. Look at an ad for
car audio equipment and you may often find a large breasted model in the
ad. She doesn't know the difference between a capacitor and a crossover
but you still want that cd-player because the big breasted woman in the
ad is looking at the young man in the car who has that cd-player and
she's smiling. In reality most women would probably laugh and think
you're a jerk.
This is the way marketing works. When something (or someone) is hot, we
tend to use it to our advantage to produce revenue. This isn't to say
it's immoral or wrong to do, it is simply how marketing works. we are
the consumer, we buy products. Marketing tries to make us aware of
products, and that is best done through the hottest music and movie
stars.
Sharon has made a success out of her husband, and certainly he owes her
much credit for that success. It seems at times that that success is
taking him away from the music and trying to turn him into a marketing
cash cow. Others are just as quick to cash in on the Osbourne name.
Here are some examples of the insanity:
Example One
============
Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne have been sued for $15 million by a clothing
manufacturer who claims the couple stole his T-shirt slogan:
"F--k My Family I'm Moving In With The Osbournes."
The suit, filed Tuesday (May 28) by T-Shirt Hell, Inc. in New York
District Court, alleges trademark infringement by the couple and other
associated business entities when they authorized the production and
sale of its own shirt with the catchphrase: "*&@# my family! I'm moving
in with...The Osbourne Family."
Court documents claim that representatives at Ozzy's label, Epic
Records, knew of the earlier shirt before making its own, producing as
evidence a series of email communications from March 2002 between an
employee at the label and T-Shirt Hell discussing the purchase of 40 of
the shirts. The Osbournes' version was authorized for manufacturing and
sale in May, the suit alleges.
Epic Records and parent company Sony Music are also named in the suit,
among others.
Example Two
===========
Fox News Channel has brushed aside a threat of legal action by Ozzy
Osbourne's lawyer for airing an interview with the rocker. Part of
Osbourne's lengthy chat with Greta Van Susteren aired on the Fox
network's "Pulse" newsmagazine and the rest was scheduled for Van
Susteren's Fox News Channel show the next day.
Osbourne's lawyer, Orin Snyder, said Osbourne sat down with Fox only
because he was told the interview was for a special it was planning on
the anniversary of Elvis Presley's death.
"It is particularly disturbing that Fox would employ such improper
journalistic techniques to take advantage of Mr. Osbourne and his family
in an effort to sensationalize Sharon Osbourne's recent illness," Snyder
wrote in a letter to Fox News Channel executives."
Fox News Channel rejected the claim as without merit. The network said
it never planned a Presley special. Fox's lawyers pointed out that
Osbourne, no stranger to reporters, spoke with Van Susteren on camera
for an hour about a wide range of topics,including his wife's illness.
The interview was even taped by MTV for the second season of its
reality show "The Osbournes."
So it would seem that it's become acceptable for the Osbournes to run
from talk show to talk show and discuss Sharon's health. It's become
acceptable for the Osbournes to have Sharon's chemotheraphy broadcast on
MTV. Everything is fair game so long as the Osbourne's reap money for
it.
Perhaps the real reason they didn't want the show to be aired was
because Sharon had already promised an exclusive interview to ABC's
Walters (for money of course).
And Ozzy broke the deal by talking to Van Susteren about Sharon's
battle with cancer.
Example Three
=============
Ozzy's music company has time and time again released his music under
Different titles, with different artwork and with different music
selections. If you own Ozzy's entire collection of music, is there
really any point in buying another CD of the same songs you already own
just to have that CD with different artwork?
If you own all of Ozzy's albums, do you really also need The Ozzman
Cometh, Ten Commandments, Bible of Ozz, Best of Ozz and The Essential
Ozzy Osbourne? Apparently so, not to mention the half a dozen live
albums as well. It's marketing baby, and that's what his record company
is paid to do.
Note: Ozzyıs marketing team FINALLY broke the habit of re-releasing when
they released the Prince of Darkness package. This 4 CD package included
many rarities previously unreleased. Ozzy collectors would still remain
disappointed as these rarities have been available over the internet for
years. To compensate for this, they did include some ³covers² of other
artists songs.
Example Four
============
A Los Angeles-based producer, Gary Binkow, sued Sharon and Ozzy claiming
they stole his idea for "The Osbournes." Binkow says he met repeatedly
with the couple and executives from Miramax TV in 1999-2000 to discuss
"a real-life docu-sitcom" about the aging rocker and his family.
Binkow reportedly filed a lawsuit on Thursday, July 25th, 2002 in Los
Angeles Superior Court, alleging that in 1998, he conceived and
developed the concept for a real-life docu-sitcom starring Ozzy Osbourne
and his family.
Example Five
============
Ozzy Osbourne is urging fans to boycott a planned iN DEMAND
Pay-Per-View airing of one of his concerts, set for
Friday Nov. 10, 2000.
In a statement released by the tour's publicity firm on Friday
(Nov. 10), Osbourne, Godsmack, Pantera, Static-X, Kittie, Methods
of Mayhem, Soulfly, Disturbed, and Slaves on Dope have all
united against the special, which allegedly wasn't approved and was
originally intended to be a Webcast only.
"All bands are pleading with their fans not to order this inferior
product, which will only result in profits for DirecTV and iN
DEMAND," said the statement. "There is no agreement for the
bands to receive any compensation for their performances."
The show, priced at $20, has not been seen or heard by any of
the bands on the tour, who are calling the broadcast
"illegitimate" and "unauthorized." The original deal, according to
the artists and promoter SFX Entertainment, was for a two-time
only, free Webcast and never intended for a television airing
Ozzy files a $20 million suit over this. The company, MCY responds by
claiming that Osbourne Management gave them authorization and approval
for the material that would be aired.
A judge refuses to grant a temporary restraining order over the airing
of the program.
Example Six
============
The Signatures Network, a licensing company based in San Francisco has
signed an agreement with the Osbournes worth an estimated $200 million.
It consists of 55 licensees and is expected to rise to 70. The family
would receive approximately 10% of the total, or $20 million.
Example Seven
=============
A lawsuit is filed against the Osbournes regarding their television show
by Threshold Television. Threshold asks that they be named the owners of
the MTV series. They ask for unspecified damages.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
[2.23] Kerslake and Daisley
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
³Blizzard of Ozz sounds like a failed experiment. Diary of a Madman, on
the other hand, is a complete catastrophe. Kerslake and Daisley were the
secret weapons on that album, and their absence is glaringly
distracting.² (A review of Blizzard of Ozz Remaster)
Before continuing on to the years 2004 and 2005, Iım going to backtrack
to the early years. The reason for this is that lawsuits would be filed
against Ozzy during 2002-2005.
Hereıs what happened according to Bob Daisley, who was a member of
Ozzyıs band for the first two studio albums.
During the recording of Blizzard of Ozz, the band was under the
impression the name of the band would be ³Blizzard of Ozz² and would
³feature² Ozzy Osbourne. When the album was released (JET records) it
was not so. The band was called ³Ozzy Osbourne² instead of Blizzard of
Ozz. The members wanted it to sound like a ³band² and not an individual.
The record company had screwed over the band. (Ed: Sounds fair enough)
Kerslake and Lee would end up suing Don Arden and JET records for
royalties. They received a payout in 1986. Don Arden went bankrupt not
long afterwards. This left the two men curious where the royalties were
going after the bankruptcy.
It would be many years later that they would find out Sharon had bought
Ozzyıs recording contract from her father. Unbeknownst to the two men,
Sharon and Ozzy were the ones receiving royalties for the Blizzard
album. Daisley alleges that Sharon and Ozzy never mentioned this to him
and even offered to help in the lawsuit against Don Arden.
After Sharon bought the rights and began to manage Ozzyıs career, she
was making it clear that she wanted to call the band ³Ozzy Osbourne².
Two or three days after the album was recorded, Sharon phoned Bob
Daisley and informed him that he and Lee Kerslake were out of the band.
Kerslake and Daisley launched a $20 million lawsuit against Ozzy and
Sharon Osbourne in 2002 for failure to properly compensate and credit
the duo for their songwriting contributions.
In retaliation, Ozzyıs label release ³remastered² versions of Diary of a
Madman and Blizzard of Ozz. These versions had bassist Robert Trujillo
and drummer Mike Bordin on the remasters. Lee and Kerslake were removed
from the remasteres. Osbourne fans ridiculed Ozzy for doing this. Sharon
has said that, ³Bob and Lee have been ³harassing² and ³unjust² to their
family² and this was why they were removed. Yet the two men are still
credited on other Ozzy albums.
Judge Christina A. Snyder dismissed the case in August 2002 saying that
the statute of limitations had long since expired.
In February 2005 an Ozzy fan named Anthony Wester launched a class
action lawsuit against Sony/Epic for failing to mention the original
members had been replaced on the remasters.
Ozzyıs second album Diary of a Madman credited two other people, Rudy
Sarzo and Tommy Aldridge for playing on that album when they didn't play
a note on it. Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake played on it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
[2.24] Continuing
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
2004
=====
As 2003 faded into the past and 2004 was ushered in, Ozzy was
recuperating from his injuries due to the ATV accident. Sharon tells the
media she would have committed suicide if her husband had died.
Ozzy gave the doctors at Wexham Park Hospital in Slough, Berkshire a
cheque for 50,000 pounds as a thank you for saving his life.
Ozzy cancels his European tour. A compassionate Sharon reassured the
public that Ozzy would still attend Ozzfest. Some of the bands are
outraged they are required to pay $100,000 as a ³marketing fee² to be
part of Ozzfest. Black Sabbath would reunite for the first time since
2001 for this yearıs Ozz festival. Ozzy remains concerned about his
vocal chords, given the accident heıs still recovering from.
Sharon says she asked to be relieved of her talk show contract. This,
despite inside reports it was due for cancellation. Sharon wanted out so
that she could attend to her husbandıs recovery. She would later say, ³I
really don't want to do a second season anyway, but they didn't give me
that chance.²
Robbery
=======
On November 22, 2004 thieves broke into The Osbourneıs home in England.
The two men made off with almost 2 million pounds worth of jewelry after
using a ladder to climb in through a first floor window. During the
break in, Ozzy heard them and went downstairs to investigate. He was
able to get one of the men in a headlock before the man jumped out the
window. He is believed to have suffered injuries in the 30 foot jump.
Among the items taken were two Frank Muller watches, one of which was
only one of ten ever produced. The Osbournes hold a press conference at
the Bellhouse Hotel and display pictures of the stolen jewelry. A reward
of 100,000 pounds is offered. Ozzyıs sister, Gillian Hemming, would
later say that Ozzy ³deserved² to be robbed.
Footage from closed circuit cameras would later reveal that the two
robbers spent two hours going through the house.
Simon Cowell, who works with Sharon on the UK show X Factor claimed the
robbery was simply a publicity stunt. (Ed: One does have to wonder)
Ozzyıs manager, Patrick Meehan has his home in Edenburg, England broken
into in December 2004. Stolen were numerous gold and silver Black
Sabbath discs and a guitar.
Philanthropy
============
Ozzy and Sharon donated 100,000 pounds to the Tsunami earthquake fund.
2005
====
As 2005 rolled around, there was talk of Black Label Society, Rob Zombie
and Iron Maiden playing this 10th Anniversary of Ozzfest.
Ozzyıs record company finally grasped the concept that Ozzy fans were
tired of buying re-releases of his existing music. The end result was a
4 CD set called the Prince of Darkness. The package featured material
from Ozzyıs albums as well as live songs. It also featured rare material
already available on the internet. Finally, there were cover songs of
Ozzy doing other artistıs songs. This made the package worthwhile. A 59
page colour booklet was also available.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
3.0 Ozzy Album Discography
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
This discography comes from OZZY@AIRMAIL.NET
Blizzard of Ozz
album, 1980, Jet (England)
Blizzard of Ozz
album, 1981, Jet (US)
The English pressing has a different back cover. From the information
I have, it is difficult to tell if it actually took until 1981 to have
the album released in the US. Also, it is not clear exactly what role
CBS Records plays in the releasing and distribution. Randy Rhoads
(ex-Quiet Riot) on guitar. Reissued with 22-bit remastering.
Crazy Train
7" single, 1980, Jet
Additional track is You Looking at Me Looking at You. May be
promo-only.
Crazy Train
7" single, 1980, Jet
Jukebox version of the above single.
Mr. Crowley
7" single, 1980, Jet
Additional track is You Said It All (LIVE). Bonus 7" that came in the
Japanese pressing of either Bark at the Moon or Speak of the Devil.
Mr. Crowley Live EP
12" picture disc, 1980, Jet
This disc contains the above two songs along with a live version of
Suicide Solution. Additionally, this is available on black vinyl as a
Canadian pressing; this pressing's cover has a color picture of Ozzy
wearing his red "jump suit" with his arms extended. There is a third
pressing, from the U.K., where the cover is a silver and black picture
of Ozzy wearing his fringed shirt.
Crazy Train
7" single, 1981, Jet / CBS Associated
U.S. 7". Additional track is Steal Away (The Night).
Crazy Train
7" single, 1981, CBS Associated
KZEW 98FM / Sound Warehouse single. Probably promo, but not sure. Also
has Troubleshooter by Judas Priest, It's All Right, It's OK by Hawks,
and R.O.C.K. by Garland Jeffreys.
Diary of a Madman [Image]
album, 1981, Jet
Reissued with 22-bit remastering. This is also available in 12"
promo-only picture disc.
Over the Mountain
12" single, 1981, Jet
Additional track is I Don't Know.
Over the Mountain
7"single, 1981, Jet
Additional track is I Don't Know. Also available as a promo with full
artwork.
Flying High Again / I Don't Know (Live)
7" single, 1981, Jet / CBS Associated
Probably a U.S. only release. Additional track is I Don't Know (Live).
Flying High Again [Image]
12" single, 1981, Jet / CBS Associated
Probably a U.S. only promo release. Additional track is Diary Of A
Madman (18 Minute Montage).
Tonight
7" single, 1981, Jet / CBS Associated
White label promo for this track.
Talk of the Devil
double album, 1982, Jet (England and possibly all non US)
See below for details on this piece.
Speak of the Devil
double album, 1982, Jet (US)
This is a live album. Randy Rhoads died in a plane crash on the Diary
of a Madman tour (March 1982). Brad Gillis took an extended leave from
Night Ranger to fill in. The album is all Black Sabbath material. It
was supposed to be a live album from the Diary tour, but after Randy's
death, Ozzy felt he would be exploiting Randy's name by releasing the
album. This was to fulfill his contact for a live album. I believe the
album was eventually released as Tribute (see below). In order to have
the entire album fit on one CD, CBS left off Sweet Leaf on the US CD
(possibly world wide). In 1991, Castle Communications re-released the
CD under its European (and possibly Japanese) name (Talk of the Devil)
and added Sweet Leaf. Reissued with 22-bit remastering. The US
remaster has restored Sweet Leaf.
Symptom of the Universe
12" single, 1982, Jet
Additional tracks are Iron Man / Children of the Grave, both from Talk
of the Devil. Not available in the US.
Symptom of the Universe
7" picture single, 1982, Jet
This may also be available in black vinyl. Additional track is N.I.B.
Not available in the US.
Symptom of the Universe
7" single, 1982, Jet
Promo single for this song. Additional track is N.I.B. Not available
in the US.
Paranoid
7" single, 1982, Jet
U.S. single for this song. Additional track is Never Say Die. Both
tracks taken from Speak Of The Devil.
Bark at the Moon
album, 1983, Epic (Europe and possibly world wide)
see below
Bark at the Moon
album, 1983, CBS Associated (US)
This album has two different versions and album covers. The US
pressing has the logo and title in red and yellow. It also has the
song Slow Down, instead of Spiders. The European pressing has the logo
and title in blue and yellow. The song Spiders appears here, but not
Slow Down. Additionally, the song Centre of Eternity on the US
pressing is listed as Forever on the European pressing. Finally, the
songs are in different orders on each pressing. Jake E. Lee (ex-Rough
Cutt, Sexist, almost Dio, and Ratt(?)). Reissued with 22-bit
remastering. American reissue has Spiders in addition to Slow Down.
Bark at the Moon
12" single, 1983, Epic
Additional tracks are One Up the B Side and Slow Down. Not available
in the US.
Bark at the Moon
7" single, 1983, Epic
Additional track is One Up the B Side. Not available in the US.
Bark at the Moon
7" single, 1983, CBS Associated
Additional track is Spiders.
Bark at the Moon
7" single, 1983, CBS Associated
White label promo for this song .
So Tired
7" single, 1983, CBS Associated
Additional track, "B" side, is the same as One Up the B Side.
So Tired
12" single, 1984, Epic
Single with So Tired, Waiting for Darkness, Bark at the Moon, Suicide
Solution, Paranoid. The last 3 recorded live at Salt Palace, Salt Lake
City, Utah, March 18, 1984. Comes with an Ozzy Osbourne logo patch.
Not available in the US.
So Tired
7" single, 1984, Epic / CBS
Additional track is Bark at the Moon recorded live at Salt Palace,
Salt Lake City, Utah, March 18, 1984. Not available in the US.
So Tired
7" single, 1984, Epic
Additional track is Forever (Live).
Not available in the US.
So Tired
Double 7" single, 1984, Epic / CBS
Gatefold 7" package with 2 7" singles. The first single has So Tired
and Bark At The Moon (live); the other single has Waiting For Darkness
and Paranoid (live).
Prince of Darkness
12" EP, 1984, CBS Japan
Japanese only release including You Looking At Me - Remix, and One Up
the "B" Side. Probably vinyl and cassette only.
The Other Side Of Ozzy
12" EP, 1985, CBS Japan
Japanese only release containing 10 rare B-sides from 1980 to 1984,
including You Looking At Me - Remix, and One Up the "B" Side. Probably
vinyl only.
The Ultimate Sin
album, 1986, Epic (Europe and possibly world wide).
The Ultimate Sin
album, 1986, CBS Associated (US)
Reissued with 22-bit remastering.
Shot in the Dark
7" single, 1986, Epic
Additional track is Rock 'n' Roll Rebel. Packaged in a poster bag.
Dutch version also available, but with no poster bag and different
artwork. Not available in the US.
Shot in the Dark
7" single, 1986, CBS Associated
Additional track is You Said It All (Live - from Mr. Crowley picture
disc).
Shot In The Dark
12" single, 1986, Epic / CBS
Single with Shot In The Dark, Killer of Giants, and Rock And Roll
Rebel.
Shot in the Dark
7" single, 1986, CBS Associated
White label promo. Additional track is You Said It All (Live - from
Mr. Crowley picture disc).
Shot in the Dark
7" single, 1986/87, CBS Associated / Sony
Additional track is Crazy Train. Reissued by Collectable Records.
Shot in the Dark
7" single, 1986, CBS Associated
White label promo.
Shot in the Dark
12" single, 1986, CBS Associated
Promo only.
The Ultimate Sin
7" single, 1986, Epic
Special Donnington Souvenir Single. Additional track is Lightning
Strikes.
Lightning Strikes
12" single, 1986, Epic
Promo only single with the track Lightning Strikes on both sides.
The Ultimate Ozzy
video cassette, 1986, CBS / FOX video
Live and video footage of one or more shows from The Ultimate Sin
tour.
The Ultimate Live Ozzy
12" picture disc, 1986, CBS Associated
Live cuts from The Ultimate Ozzy video shoot. Included are The
Ultimate Sin, Never Know Why, and Thank God for the Bomb. Possibly US
only.
The Ultimate Live Ozzy
12" maxi-single, 1986, CBS Associated
Japanese-only black vinyl pressing. Tracks are the same as the picture
disc.
Tribute
double album, 1987, Epic (Europe and possibly world wide).
Tribute
double album, 1987, CBS Associated (US)
This is the only album where Ozzy doesn't get solo billing. The album
is listed as Ozzy Osbourne / Randy Rhoads. This is probably the album
that was supposed to be released after Diary of a Madman. Reissued
with 22-bit remastering.
Tribute
double album, 1987, CBS Associated(Japan)
Japanese version of this release includes a poster.
Tribute Sampler
CD, 1987, Epic or CBS Associated
Selected cuts from Tribute. Promo only.
Crazy Train
7" single, 1987, Epic
Side 1 from Tribute; side 2 from Blizzard of Ozz. Not available in the
US.
Crazy Train
7" single, 1987, Epic
White label promo, Crazy Train from the Tribute album on both sides.
Crazy Train
12" single, 1987, Epic
Side 1 from Tribute; side 2 from Blizzard of Ozz. Not available in the
US.
Close My Eyes Forever
one song, 1987, EMI / Lisabella / Virgin
Duet with Lita Ford for her album entitled Lita and on The Best Of
Lita Ford.
Close My Eyes Forever
7" single, 1987, EMI / Lisabella / Virgin
Duet with Lita Ford. Tracks are Close My Eyes Forever and Under The
Gun; Ozzy does not appear on the B-side.
Back to Ozz
EP, 1988, Epic
Europe and Japan only. Tracks are The Ultimate Sin, Bark at the Moon,
Mr. Crowley, and Diary of a Madman. Includes color poster with photos
and family tree. Available in 12" vinyl and CD. The Mr. Crowley is the
live version from the picture disc.
No Rest for the Wicked
album, 1988, CBS Associated in U.S. (Epic in Europe)
CD and cassette have an additional track. The track is unlisted and is
called Hero. Zakk Wylde on guitar. Reissued with 22-bit remastering.
Bible of Ozz
special package CD, 1988, CBS Associated / Sony
Japanese special release of No Rest for the Wicked. It contains the
Japanese version of No Rest for the Wicked (which includes a second
additional track called The Liar), an Ozzy Osbourne logo metal belt
buckle, an Ozzy Osbourne logo patch, a Zakk Wylde name patch, and a
Japanese book. The whole thing is packaged to resemble a bible. It has
a thin cardboard slip cover with pictures from the album cover.
Miracle Man
12" single, 1988, Epic
Single with Miracle Man, The Liar, and Crazy Babies. Possibly UK only.
Not available in the US.
Miracle Man
12" shaped picture single, 1988, Epic
Single shaped like Ozzy's head with a crown of thorns. Additional
track is Crazy Babies.
Miracle Man
7" single, 1988, Epic
Additional track is Crazy Babies. Not available in the US.
Miracle Man
7" single, 1988, CBS
White-lable promo for this song.
Miracle Man
CD single, 1988, Epic (?)
Promo only, picture CD single. Additional track is The Liar. Possibly
non-U.S. I have never seen one of these.
Miracle Man
12" single, 1988, Epic
Promo single.
Crazy Babies (Crazy Mix)
12" single, 1988, CBS Associated
Promo only single. I can't tell the difference from the original
version, but I've only listened to it once.
Crazy Babies (Live)
CD single, 1988, CBS Associated
Promo-only single. The additional track, You Said it All, track is the
same as the one taken from the Mr. Crowley Live EP.
Crazy Babies
7" single, 1988, Epic / CBS
One-sided Spanish promo.
Crazy Babies
7" single, 1988, CBS
White-lable promo for this song.
Hero
12" single, 1989, CBS
Promo-only single. Additional tracks are You Said It All, Devil's
Daughter, Fire In The Sky.
Breaking All The Rules
CD single, ????, ????
Promo-only, picture CD single. Possibly import. Additional track is
Miracle Man - Live, different version from Just Say Ozzy. I've never
seen one of these.
Wicked Videos
video cassette, 1988 or 1989 (?), (?)
Video clips from No Rest for the Wicked.
Best of Ozz
CD, 1989, CBS / Sony
Japanese only compilation with songs from Blizzard of Ozz through The
Ultimate Sin.
Led Clones
7" single, 1988/1989, Virgin / Capitol
Additional track is Speak For Yourself. Ozzy sings lead on Led Clones
and backup on Speak For Yourself. Both songs are from Gary Moore's
album After the War.
Speak For Yourself
one song, 1988/1989, Virgin / Capitol
Sings backup/harmony for this song from Gary Moore's album After the
War. Also available as the B-side to the Led Clones 7" single.
Purple Haze
one song, 1989, Mercury / PolyGram
This song appears on the Stairway to Heaven / Highway To Hell album by
the Make A Difference Foundation. This all of the songs on this record
were originally written by bands that have been touched by drug or
alcohol problems. The band members are Zakk Wylde, Randy Castillo, and
Geezer Butler.
Ten Commandments
album, 1990, Priority Records / CBS
"Limited Collector's Edition" CD and cassette only (no vinyl). This
was only released for a limited time and has been out of print for
quite a while.
Just Say Ozzy
ep, 1990, CBS Associated in U.S. (Epic in Europe)
Live ep from No Rest tour. Reissued with 22-bit remastering.
Live Pigs
CD single, 1988(?), CBS Associated
Promo-only two track with War Pigs (Live) from Just Say Ozzy and
Breaking All The Rules.
Bombers (Can Open Bomb Bays)
one song, 1990, Chameleon Records
Sings this song on Bill Ward's solo record Ward One: _Along the Way_.
This CD is out of print.
Jack's Land
one song, 1990, Chameleon Records
Sings this song on Bill Ward's solo record Ward One: _Along the Way_.
This CD is out of print.
The Urpney Song
7" single, 1990, Adventure Records
Sings this song with Frank Bruno and Billy Connolly (this is the guy
that played the teacher on Head of the class after Howard Hessman
left). Also listed are Mike Batt and The London Philharmonic
Orchestra. Additional track is The Whirlyped Launch; Ozzy does not
sing on this additional track. The song is from The Dreamstone,
animated TV series for Central TV. This song is also available on the
album entitled The Dreamstone. Not available in the U.S.
No More Tears
album, 1991, Epic / Sony
Japanese version has 2 additional tracks: Party with the Animails and
Don't Blame me. No US vinyl. Reissued with 22-bit remastering.
No More Tears
7" single, 1991, Epic / Sony
Additional track is S.I.N. Not available in the US.
No More Tears
CD single, 1991, Epic / Sony
Special UK package. CD single in an embossed CD wallet with room for
each solo studio record. Each sleeve has a different picture.
Additional tracks are S.I.N. and Party With the Animals.
No More Tears
CD single, 1991, Epic / Sony
promo only, 1 track.
No More Tears
12" picture disc, 1991, Epic / Sony
Additional tracks are S.I.N. and Party with the Animals. Not available
in the US.
No More Tears
CD single, 1991, Epic / Sony
"Maxi single" with No More Tears, S.I.N., Don't Blame Me, and Party
With The Animals. I believe Party... was from the movie Buffy the
Vampire Slayer.
Mr. Tinkertrain
CD single, 1991, Epic / Sony
promo only, 1 track.
Mama, I'm Coming Home
12" single, 1991, Epic / Sony
European single with Mama I'm Coming Home (Special version adapted
from the No More Tears Album), Don't Blame Me (previously unreleased),
I Don't Know, and Crazy Train. Not available in the US.
Mama, I'm Coming Home
12" single, 1991, Epic / Sony
European single with Mama I'm Coming Home (Special version adapted
from the No More Tears Album), Goodbye To Romance, and Time After
Time. Not available in the US.
Mama, I'm Coming Home
7" single, 1991, Epic / Sony
Additional track is Don't Blame Me. This is a jukebox single and
(after much looking) can be found with the jukebox title inserts.
Mama, I'm Coming Home
CD single, 1991, Epic / Sony
"Maxi single" with Mama, I'm Coming Home, Don't Blame Me, and Party
With the Animals.
Mama, I'm Coming Home
CD single, 1991, Epic / Sony
promo only, long and short version.
I Don't Want to Change the World
12" single, 1991, Epic / Sony
Promo only single with I Don't Want to Change the World, Mama, I'm
Coming Home, and No More Tears. Probably not avaliable in the US.
Don't Blame Me
video cassette, 1991, SMV Enterprises
Mostly interview footage of Ozzy and friends talking about his career.
Some rare footage, including some Randy Rhoades bits.
Therapy
one song, 1991, Epic / Sony
Sings chorus to this Infectious Grooves song. The song appears on The
Plague That Makes Your Booty Move...It's The Infectious Grooves and is
available as a promo-only one track CD single.
Hey Stoopid
one song, 1991, Epic / Sony
Sings backup on this Alice Cooper song. The song appears on the Hey
Stoopid album.
Road To Nowhere
CD single, 1992, Epic / Sony
Promo only, additional track is Party With the Animals.
Time After Time
CD single, 1992, Epic / Sony
promo only, 1 track.
The No More Tears Demo Sessions
CD, 1992, Epic / Sony
Numbered, limited edition, promo-only CD of demo songs for No More
Tears. Tracks are I Don't Want to Change the World, Mama, I'm Coming
Home, Desire, Time After Time, Won't Be Coming Home (S.I.N.) Mrs. J.,
An Interview with Ozzy 5/13/92 Mrs. J. is an acoustic piece by Zakk
Wyld. All songs are basically the same as the released versions, just
mixed differently with some different harmonies and solos. The
exception to this is Won't Be Coming Home. This song eventually became
S.I.N., but in this form the lyrics make it a really different song
(in my opinion). The back of the CD has a painting by Ozzy. The liner
notes say "Any broadcast of this recording is prohibited".
Shake Your Head
12" single, 1992, Phonogram
Was (Not Was) song where Ozzy duets with Kim Basinger. May also be
available on a full length Was (Not Was) release.
I Ain't No Nice Guy
one song, 1992, Epic / Sony
Ozzy sings with Lemmy on this song from Motorhead's March or Die
album. Also, the song Hellraiser (co written with Lemmy) appears here,
but as done by Motorhead. Ozzy's version appears on No More Tears.
Live & Loud
double album, 1993, Epic / Sony
Live album from the No More Tours Tour. CD is "limited edition". It
comes in digi-pack with speaker grill front, booklet, and 2 temporary
tattoos. This is a 2 CD set. It is somewhat limited since it is now
out of print at least in the US. Vinyl not available in the US.
Reissued with 22-bit remastering, but in double jewel case. The
original is out of print. No tattoos in the remastered version.
Live & Loud Sampler
CD, 1993, Epic / Sony
13 song sampler from Live & Loud. The 13th song is Shot in the Dark
and is unlisted on the CD. Promo only.
Live & Loud
video cassette, 1993, Epic Music Video / Sony
Limited edition packaging of speaker grill similar to the CD. I
believe the limited packaging version is out of print, but not the
video itself since I've seen the video by itself.
Changes
CD single, 1993, Epic / Sony
Contains Changes, No More Tears, Desire, Changes (with Audience).
Changes + 2: Live and Loud Sampler
CD single, 1993, Epic / Sony
Promo only version of the above.
Changes
12" picture disc, 1993, Epic / Sony
Tracks are the same as CD single. Not available in the US.
Changes
7" single, 1993, Epic / Sony
Tracks are Changes and No More Tears. Since it is on Epic, it is
probably European only, but I can't tell. Also, the one I have has no
picture sleeve, but I don't know if it is supposed to have one.
Iron Man
one song, 1994, Columbia / Sony
This song has Ozzy singing with Therapy? as the backing band. It
appears on the Black Sabbath tribute Nativity In Black. This CD is
available in a second, promo-only, 2 CD format. It is called The Bible
According to Black Sabbath, Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament
(first CD) is the same songs in the same order as the tribute, but as
performed by Black Sabbath. The New Testament (second CD) is the
actual tribute. I believe copies of this are pretty rare. There is no
US vinyl of this, but there may have been a European pressing.
Born to be Wild
one song, 1994, Jim Henson Records / BMG
Ozzy does a "duet" with Miss Piggy on the record called Kermit
Unpigged. Other artists on this disc include Vince Gill, Jimmy
Buffett, and Don Henley.
Ozzmosis
album, 1995, Epic / Sony
Japanese version has an additional track Whole World's Falling Down.
Vinyl not available in the US.
Perry Mason
CD single, 1995, Epic / Sony
Tracks are Perry Mason (edit), Perry Mason (album version), Living
with the Enemy, The Whole World's Falling Down. Not available in the
US.
Perry Mason
CD single, 1995, Epic / Sony
Same as above, but without the album version of Perry Mason. Part 1 of
a 2 part set. Not available in the US.
Perry Mason
CD single, 1995, Epic / Sony
Tracks are Perry Mason (album version), No More Tears, I Don't Want to
Change the World, Flying High Again. Not available in the US. Part 2
of a 2 part set.
Perry Mason
7" picture disc, 1995, Epic / Sony
Tracks are Perry Mason (edit), Living With the Enemy. Limited edition
numbered picture disc. Not available in the US.
Perry Mason
CD single, 1995, Epic / Sony
promo only, Perry Mason (edit), Perry Mason (album version).
4 From Ozzmosis
CD EP, 1995, Epic / Sony
UK promo. Tracks are Thunder Underground, Perry Mason, Tomorrow, and I
Just Want You.
Ozzatory Pt. 1 / Hard & Melodious Side
CD EP, 199?, Epic / Sony (?)
Japan-only promo. 13 tracks.
Ozzatory Pt. 2 / Ballad & Melodious Side
CD EP, 199?, Epic / Sony (?)
Japan-only promo. 8 tracks.
The Ballads of Ozz
CD EP, 1995, Epic / Sony
German promo. Tracks are See You on the Other Side, Ghost Behind My
Eyes, I Just Want You, and Old L.A. Tonight.
See You on the Other Side
CD single, 1996, Epic / Sony
Tracks are See You on the Other Side (edit), See You on the Other Side
(album version), Voodoo Dancer, Aimee. Not available in the US.
See You on the Other Side
CD single, 1996, Epic / Sony
Japanese release. Tracks are See You on the Other Side (short
version), Voodoo Dancer, Living With the Enemy, Perry Mason (edit).
Not available in the US.
See You on the Other Side
CD single, 1996, Epic / Sony
Promo only, See You on the Other Side (long version), See You on the
Other Side (short version).
I Just Want You
CD single, 1996, Epic / Sony
One of a two part set. Tracks are I Just Want You (Single Edit),
Aimee, and Mama, I'm Coming Home. Not available in the US.
I Just Want You
CD single, 1996, Epic / Sony
One of a two part set. Tracks are I Just Want You (Single Edit),
Voodoo Dancer (Rough Demo), and Iron Man with Therapy?. Iron Man is
the version from the Nativity in Black tribute album. Not available in
the US.
I Just Want You
12" single, 1996, Epic / Sony
Tracks are I Just Want You (Album Version), Aimee (Rough Demo), and
Voodoo Dancer (Rough Demo). All three tracks are on one side. The
Other side has an etched "Best Wishes Ozzy Osbourne" in Ozzy's own
"handwriting". There is also a little Ozzy sketch. Not available in
the US.
I Just Want You
CD single, 1996, Epic / Sony
Promo-only one-track single.
Walk On Water
one song, 1996, Famous Music Corporation / EMI Virgin Music Inc. /
Alamo Music Corp. / Testatyme Music
Song from the movie soundtrack for Beavis and Butt-Head Do America.
Produced by, of all people, Moby. Joe Holmes, ex Lizzy Borden, joins
on guitar.
Walk On Water
CD single, 1996, Famous Music Corporation / EMI Virgin Music Inc. /
Alamo Music Corp. / Testatyme Music
Promo-only one track single.
Greatest Hits
CD, 1996, DOG Entertainment, Licensed from Sony Music Entertainment.
Inc
Greatest hits package printed in Portugal. Tracks are Perry Mason, Mr.
Tinkertrain, Miracle Man, No More Tears, Bark at the Moon, Crazy
Babies, The Ultimate Sin, Never Know Why, I Just Want You, Believer,
Mr. Crowley, Thunder Underground, Over the Mountain, Forever.
Pictures Of Matchstick Men
one song, 1997, Warner Bros. Records Inc.
Performs this song with Type-O Negative for the soundtrack to Howard
Stern's movie, Private Parts.
Pictures Of Matchstick Men
CD single, 1997, Warner Bros. Records Inc.
Promo-only single. Tracks are the full length and the edit.
The OZZfest Live
album, 1997, Ozz Records
Live record with various artists that appeared in the first OZZfest
concerts. The tracks and bands are as follows: Loco - Coal Chamber,
Ride Thy Neighbor - Cellophane, Broken Foundation - Earth Crisis,
Organized - Powerman 5000, Locust Star - Neurosis, Replica - Fear
Factory, These Eyes - Biohazard, Attitude - Sepultura, Angel of Death
- Slayer, Perry Mason - Ozzy Osbourne.
The OZZfest Live
CD, 1997, Ozz Records
Promo-sampler from the OZZfest CD. Labeled "Sanitized For Your
Protection (All Clean Versions)". The tracks are Sepultura - Attitude,
Fear Factory - Replica, and Ozzy Osbourne - Perry Mason.
The OZZfest '97
Double CD, 1997, Best Buy Co., Inc.
Promo-only 2 CD compilation of bands. Some of which appeared at one of
the OZZfests, some of which did not. The only Ozzy track on this piece
is Revelation (Mother Earth). Comes with a coupon book for use at Best
Buy stores.
The Ozzman Cometh [Image]
Double CD, 1997, Sony
Best of Ozzy CD. Includes 4 unreleased Black Sabbath tracks: Black
Sabbath, War Pigs, Fairies Wear Boots, and Behind The Wall Of Sleep.
These songs were taken from "Ozzy's 1970 Basement Tapes". Black
Sabbath has an additional verse and War Pigs has different lyrics.
There is also an interview from 1988.
The Japanese version has two additional tracks: Walk On Water (from
Beavis and Butt-head Take America) and Pictures Of Matchstick Men
)from Howard Stern's Private Parts). It also has a sheet of stickers
depicting all of Ozzy's solo records, the cartoon Ozzy with the cross,
and a logo from the No Rest For The Wicked era.
On the U.S. version, there are multi-media tracks which neither the
European nor the Japanese version have. These tracks are the videos
for Crazy Babies, Crazy Train, Perry Mason, I Just Want You, and
Paranoid (live). There is also a screen "killer" (saver) and a
"whack-a-mole"-like video game where you "whack Ozzy's bones".
Back On Earth [Image]
CD single, 1997, Sony
Non-U.S. CD single. Extra tracks are Walk On Water and I Just Want
You.
Back On Earth
CD single, 1997, Sony
Promo-only CD single with Radio Edit and Album Version.
War Pigs
CD single, ???, ???
Promo-only CD single with two tracks.
Vertical Man
CD, 1998, ???
Ozzy performs this song on Ringo Starr's record.
Nowhere To Run
CD, 1998, Sony
This track appears on Chef Aid: The South Park Album.
Ozzy performs with DMX and 'Ol Dirty Bastard.
Music by Crystal Method with Fuzzbubble.
Buried Alive
CD, 1999, EMI
This track appears on Rick Wakeman's Return To The Centre Of The Earth.
Shock The Monkey
CD, 1999, ???
Ozzy performs with Coal Chamber on this track for the Peter Gabriel
tribute
and on the Coal Chamber record entitled Chamber Music.
This Means War
one song, 1999?, ???? ????
Ozzy has a guest appearence on this Busta Rhyme's track.
Down to Earth
CD, 2001
Mike Bordin: Drums Zakk Wylde: Guitar Vocals Robert Trujillo: Bass
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
3.1 RARE/B-SIDES/ETC.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
The following are B-sides, bonus tracks, demos, or unreleased versions
of Ozzy songs:
* "You Looking at Me, Looking at You"
[b-side to "Crazy Train" 7" single]
* "I Don't Know"
[live b-side to "Flying High Again" single]
* "One Up the B-Side"
[b-side to "Bark at the Moon" single]
* "Spiders"
[track on European BARK AT THE MOON replacing USA Slow Down]
* "Hero"
[unlabelled last track on NO REST FOR THE WICKED]
* "The Liar"
[from Japanese NO REST FOR THE WICKED]
* "I Don't Want to Change the World"
[from NO MORE TEARS demos CD]
* "Mama, I'm Coming Home"
[from NO MORE TEARS demos]
* "Desire"
[from NO MORE TEARS demos]
* "Time After Time"
[from NO MORE TEARS demos]
* "Won't Be Coming Home (S.I.N.)"
[from NO MORE TEARS demo w/alt. lyrics]
* "Mrs. J."
[from NO MORE TEARS demo]
* "Don't Blame Me"
[b-side to "Mama, I'm Coming Home"]
* "Party with the Animals"
[b-side to "Mama, I'm Coming Home"]
* "The Whole World is Falling Down"
[b-side to "Perry Mason"]
* "Living with the Enemy"
[b-side to "Perry Mason"]
* "Aimee"
[b-side to "See You on the Other Side]
* "Voodoo Dancer"
[b-side to "See You on the Other Side"]
* "Purple Haze"
[from the Make a Difference Foundation album STAIRWAY TO
HEAVEN/HIGHWAY TO HELL]
* "Iron Man"
[with Therapy?, from NATIVITY IN BLACK) 1994 Columbia/Sony]
* "Close My Eyes Forever"
[duet with Lita Ford, from LITA FORD]
* "Bombers (Can Open Bomb Bays)"
(with Bill Ward, from WARD ONE:
ALONG THE WAY) 1990, Chameleon Records
* "Jack's Land"
[with Bill Ward, from WARD ONE: ALONG THE WAY]
* "Shake Your Head (Let's Go to Bed)"
[with WasNotWas, from BORN TO LAUGH AT TORNADOS.
Kim Basinger supporting vocals]
1992 Phonogram
* "Led Clones"
[with Gary Moore, from AFTER THE WAR]
1989 Virgin/Capitol
* "Speak For Yourself"
[with Gary Moore, from AFTER THE WAR]
* "I Ain't No Nice Guy"
[duet with Lemmy, from Motorhead's MARCH OR DIE]
1992 Epic/Sony
* "Born to be Wild"
[duet with Ms. Piggy, from KERMIT UNPIGGED]
1994, Jim Henson Records
* "Therapy"
[with The Infectious Grooves, from PLAGUE THAT MAKES YOUR BOOTY MOVE]
1991 Epic/Sony
* "Hey Stoopid"
[back-up with Alice Cooper, from HEY STOOPID]
1991 Epic/Sony
* "Staying Alive"
[with Dweezil Zappa, unreleased]
* "The Urpney Song"
["The Dreamstone" 1990 British cartoon]
The list comes from information provided by: supreme(at)inforamp.net and
ozzy(at)airmail.net
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
3.2 Song Definitons
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
AIR DANCE : An old woman remembering her dancing days.
AVH Austin Villa Highway
BACK ON EARTH : Death, and the spirit returning to Earth after you die.
CRAZY BABIES : Babies who are the result of crack cocaine mothers.
CRAZY TRAIN : Society and can we all get along.
DEMON ALCOHOL : Basically the same as Suicide Solution. The dangers of
drinking.
GHOST BEHIND MY EYES : This is about Sharon visiting Ozzy in his dreams
while going through rehab.
GOODBYE TO ROMANCE : Despite the misleading lyrics this is not about
love. The lyrics are about Ozzy's days with Sabbath, now dead and gone,
and was his way of saying goodbye to them. "Yesterday has been and gone,
tomorrow will I find the sun or will it rain". You figure it out.
I DONıT KNOW : Written because fans kept thinking Black Sabbath were
prophets who could answer questions about the future.
KILLER OF GIANTS : A song about man and nuclear missiles and how, if we
keep up this mad rush to have the bigger weapon, we will obliterate
ourselves.
MIRACLE MAN : The hypocrisy of preacher Jimmy Swaggart who put Ozzy down
but then fell from glory himself when caught with a prostitute.
MY LITTLE MAN : A song Ozzy wrote for his son Jack, it sounds like it is
a last goodbye to his son.
OLD LA TONIGHT : Written around the time of the LA riots, the song is
about Los Angeles.
PERRY MASON : Perry Mason defending a man accused of killing someone.
The original idea had nothing to do with Perry Mason, it was just a
title Ozzy wrote down.
ROAD TO NOWHERE : A retrospective look at Ozzy's life.
SWEET LEAF : Marijuana.
SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE : A song about death. Written after Sam
Kinnison died in a traffic accident and Steve Marriott of Humble Pie
died as well.
I was also sent this e-mail from Norm O'Brien:
====================================
Oz: "I wrote that song for my wife. I absolutely adore my wife. The
love that I have for her and the love she has for me will never die. I
truly believe that if I pop off first or she goes then we'll meet up
on the other side. I believe in life after death, which is strange
because at one point I didn't believe in life after birth."
Chortles Ozzy Heartily.
Oz: "I believe in life after death because I'm getting closer to it
now and I'm at the half way point now at least! It's like a message
to Sharon because I love her"
Sharons view of the song is a little different...
Sharon: "Ozzy wrote that song when he was really ill earlier this year
and he was being wrongly diagnosed," She recalls. "He was told that he
had an illness that was really bad and we thought that that was it,
that he was going to die. That's where it came from."
====================================
THANK GOD FOR THE BOMB : See above.
S.A.T.O. : Previously thought to refer to Sailing Across The Ocean or
Sundays and Thursdayıs Only. It refers to Sharonıs full name, Sharon
Arden Thelma Osbourne.
SO TIRED : I absolutely love this song. A soft ballad and easy listener
about a woman who is cheating on her lover and it is time for them to
part.
SUICIDE SOLUTION : The dangers of alcohol.
BLOODBATH IN PARADISE : Charles Manson and his following, the Tate and
LaBianca murders.
YOU'RE NO DIFFERENT : People who put down Ozzy, take a look at yourself
before judging others.
BARK AT THE MOON : A creature scorned and buried alive. The creature
comes back to seek revenge on those who buried him.
MR. TINKERTRAIN : The problem of child molestation in our society.
MR. CROWLEY : Ozzy had heard about Mr. Crowley and wanted to know what
he was all about. The song is Ozzy asking Mr. Crowley who he is.
NO BONE MOVIES : A song about pornography.
FLYING HIGH AGAIN : A song about drugs.
FAIRIES WEAR BOOTS : Written about skinheads who wear boots. This
came after the Sabs were beaten up by skinheads. It has also been said
that Ozzy and Geezer were hallucinating and saw fairies. Depending on
whom you ask, youıll get different versions.
DREAMER : Hoping for a better world tomorrow.
THE JUNKIE : Life with a drug addiction.
GETS ME THROUGH : Apparently about the fans.
HARD ROAD : Life isnıt easy, you have to carry your own weight.
CONTRADICTION (Kelly) : For her sister Aimee, who chose not to appear on
"The Osbournes."
ON YOUR OWN (Kelly) : about a bad friend
SHUT UP (Kelly) : her school teachers
VOODOO DANCER The title of this song still amazes me. When Tattooed
Dancer came out, I invented this song title taking ³Voodoo² from another
song and ³Dancer² from Tattooed Dancer. I also came up with ³Aimee².
Both songs had not even been written yet. This was to make a tape trade
more appealing. Music collectors kept asking for Voodoo Dancer and
Aimee. In a year or two, both songs existed. Iıd like to ask Ozzy where
he came up with the titles.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
3.3 Did You Know?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ozzy's LA house has a urinal in the bathroom. The reason for this is
because Ozzy kept urinating on the toilet seat.
The owners of Country Cow Creamery have designed ice creams named Ozzy's
Carnivorous Carrot Cake and Death by Sharon to be sold throughout
America.
Ozzy has a $60,000 automated toilet in his home.
Ozzy tried to hang himself from a clothes-line during a wild childhood,
but was stopped by his father.
Ozzy's calls his son from his first marriage Bombins (his real name
is Louis).
Ozzy's sister Gillian has been comitted twice. Once after she went and
cut the heads off all the familys photos.
Ozzy once beat up one of his teachers with an iron bar. The teacher
would later be fired.
Ozzy stabbed his aunt's cat at the age of 11.
Ozzy would break in to his 63 year old neighbour's home when she
went to work. The woman's children had been killed in an air-raid
and her husband killed in the war. The more you read this biography
the more you realize how much of a turd Ozzy was as a youth.
At the age of 14, Ozzy tried to hang himself using clothesline. His
father caught him and beat him for it.
Ozzy tried to strangle one of his brothers and tried to light his sister
on fire by pouring gas on her dress.
The FBI once visited Ozzy because they heard he was planning to urinate
on the steps of the White House (untrue).
Ozzy and Sharon own a Range Rover and a Bentley.
Ozzy once shot 17 of his cats.
Ozzy once took a crap in the elevator of a plush hotel. The elevator
doors opened, and there he was with his pants down.
Ozzy's first royalty check was spent on 50 pounds to his mother, a
pair of shoes and some cologne (because he hated the way he smelled).
Ozzy donated $10,000 to the caretakers of the Alamo in 1992.
Tommy Aldridge was Ozzy's best man during his marriage to Sharon.
The Cal Jam 1974 show earned the band $250,000 but they only received
$1000 each. Their manager pocketed the rest.
Ozzfest expenses are about one million dollars per week!
Ozzfest currently takes 9 transports to move all the set.
Ozzy travels by bus instead of plane now, because too much time alone in
his hotel room left him time to smoke.
Ozzy had three older sisters and two younger brothers. He is only close
to his sister Jean.
Ozzy snorted ants through a straw after being dared to by Tommy Lee.
Ozzy used to set fire to barns in the cornfields when he was younger.
A fan made an Ozzy Osbourne Cabbage Patch Doll for Ozzy, complete
with tattoos.
Ozzy's least favorite video is "The Ultimate Sin".
The daughter from Ozzy's previous marriage is a surveyor, while the son
is a chef, now turned DJ.
When Ozzy began singing for the first time, at age 15, only 3 people
turned up (at the Birmingham firehouse)
When Ozzy is online, being interviewed, someone else actually types the
responses (I kind of figured that one out already).
Ozzy's 'Party with the Animals' was featured in Buffy the Vampire
Slayer.
The title 'Diary of a Madman' comes from Aleister Crowley's biography
The dwarf on the Diary of a Madman tour was the same actor who played
R2D2 in Star Wars (not confirmed)
Ozzy's contract stipulated that 25 pounds of raw meat would be thrown at
the audience for the Diary of a Madman tour
Gary Moore was originally considered for the Ozzy's guitarist on
Blizzard of Ozz.
In 1971, a nurse committed suicide while listening to the Paranoid
album.
Ozzy used to be so poor that he would walk to band rehearsal in his bare
feet.
A fan of Ozzys in Texas built a tomb for Ozzy and himself to rest in
when they both died. The fan expected to lay beside Ozzy in death,
forever.
When Ozzy left Sabbath, he had to steal music equipment from a warehouse
to start up a new band.
Ozzy has a sketch of his on display at the Hard Rock Cafe in Tokyo?
In 1982, Ozzy donated 25,000 dollars to the SPCA to help neutralize some
of the bad publicity involving animals.
The woman in Ozzyıs "Shot In The Dark" video used to be a cheerleader
for the L.A. Rams.
Some of Ozzy Osbourne's Favorites records are: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely
Hearts Club Band, The Beatles Revolver, The Beatles Rubber Soul, The
Beatles The White Album, The Beatles Led Zeppelin I, LZ Led Zeppelin II,
LZ Band on the Run, Paul McCartney and Wings Arc of a Diver, Steve
Winwood Hello, I Must Be Going, Phil Collins Kissing to Be Clever,
Culture Club Essence to Essence, Donovan
Ozzy was not born in a hospital but delivered by a midwife at home.
When Ozzy lived with his first wife Thelma, they took turns feeding the
chickens. One day it was Ozzy's turn but he was busy drinking with his
friends. Thelma kept asking Oz to go feed them, finally Ozzy went
outside with a shotgun and killed them.
Ozzy and Bill once urinated on Hitler's shrine in Berlin.
Ozzy is superstitious and will not wear the color green.
Being a big star, Ozzy does not attend social engagements. He prefers to
sit at home and listen to music while he draws sketches.
When Oz was only 14 years old he was in a band called the Black
Panthers.
The very first pub Sabbath played in as Black Sabbath was the Mermaid,
in a region of Birmingham called Sparkbrook. It closed down years ago,
as it is in an area now almost completely inhabited by ethnic groups who
have no care for it. [by Mike H]
Ozzy plays all of the characters in his 'So Tired' video. Don Airey also
makes an appearance.
What you hear at the end of Crazy Train is Ozzy asking someone in the
studio what he had for breakfast. The man responded, ³An egg.² You can
hear this response, distorted by an oscillator.
Ozzy is the godfather of Zakk's child and the child is named John
Michael, after Ozzy.
Ozzy sends flowers to Randy's grave each year.
Ozzy was drinking Tequila for the very first time. He ended up getting
so drunk that he fell asleep under a table in a hotel restaurant. The
cleaner woke him up by hitting him over the head with a broom, thinking
he was a homeless person.
While in the Betty Ford clinic for alcoholism, Ozzy stayed in a room
with a mortician who cried all the time and was constantly depressed.
Ozzy wanted to have a FOURTH child?
Ozzy once unknowingly urinated out a window onto a waiting audience
below him.
Towards the end of Ozzy's days with Sabbath, Ozzy had planned to call
his first solo alum, "Am I Going Insane?". Instead he wrote a song of
the same title for the Sabotage album.
The sound of crying at the end of "Am I Going Insane?" is actually
Ozzy's baby?
On Christmas Eve one year, Ozzy opened his bay window to look at the
snow covered countryside. As he sniffed at the icy air, there in front
of him was a stoat sitting up on its hind legs looking back at him.
If you've read the book by Steve Rosen you know that the author was with
Ozzy and the band when they trashed a hotel room. The events which lead
up to it were as follows: A girl who called herself Stormy Monday was in
their hotel room undulating to imaginary music. As she moved around the
floor, caressing herself, she would watch the band for their reactions.
Realizing she couldn't go through with it, she stopped just short of
removing her top. Angry, Ozzy ripped a thermostat off the wall. Then he
tore the pictures off the wall. He then tore the TV from the mounting
and it was given rides up and down the elevator. Then he broke the glass
containing the fire extinguisher and sprayed everyone.
The song Mr. Tinkertrain is named after a bar in Bearsville, New York.
Ozzy once planned to have a T-shirt made which read, "If your day is
totally screwed up, blame Ozzy Osbourne" because of all the blame being
put on him for supposed effects on people from his music.
Ozzy's favorite beer is Starbucks. He has a dog named Baldrick and owns
six dogs in all.
Ozzy owns an 18th century home in Buckinghamshire and one in Beverly
Hills.
Ozzy was drinking in a bar with a girl named Regan, who was insulting
Ozzy and who then threw an icecube at his head. Ozzy dumped a bowl of
popcorn over head. After this she proceeded to try and slash him with a
lit cigarette. Her arms were held down while various drinks were then
poured down her dress.
Ozzy routinely uses a fire hose to douse his audience with water. His
security staff has taken to wearing raincoats now.
Ozzy's grandfather had a tattoo of a snake which went from his head all
the way down to his toes.
Once at the Niagra Falls Hilton, out of boredom Ozzy lit some matches
under a fire sprinkler. Sirens and bells began to sound and people began
running around in sheer panic and soon firemen and policemen arrived.
When Oz was younger he said that for his tombstone he wanted a statue of
him in the Volume 4 cover position (outstretched arms, peace sign).
In a testament to his supposed animal cruelty... Ozzy was staying in a
Swiss hotel once when he found a stray dog outside. The dog was starving
so Ozzy put a string around his neck and walked him into the hotel's
restaurant. Immediately staff told him he couldn't bring a dog into the
place. Ozzy said that since he was staying in one of their most high
priced rooms, he felt that the dog should be fed. So they reluctantly
fed him. The waiter asked Ozzy what he'd like to have, then asked, "What
will the dog have?" "How would the dog like his steak done?" The dog
ended up with a meal in his stomach.
A Christian, determined to save Ozzy from damnation, once followed the
tour bus from a concert for over 300 miles.
Ozzy's song 'I Don't Want to Change the World' won him a Grammy award.
The Osbourne family was travelling on a plane. A woman complained about
his rowdy kids and said, "My dogs behave better than your kids". Sharon
replied, "That's because you're probably having sex with them". The kids
also filled her jacket pocket with peas and other vegetables.
Ozzy is so used to being called "Ozzy" that he no longer knows someone
is talking to him if they call him "John".
When Ozzy had his dragon tattoo made, he had no idea what he wanted. He
simply asked the tattooist to make something, which he did, right out of
his own imagination.
"All Moving Part's Stand Still" is about a cross dressing president who
turns out to be a woman in real life?
Fox Television has offered Ozzy his very own television show. The show
would be about a singer who is on the road and has to adapt to life at
home after being away from home for so long. Oz says he won't do it
though because he doesn't like the way his voice sounds.
Sharon Osbourne used to be manager of many other groups as well such as
Gary Moore, but dropped them so she could spend more time with Ozzy.
Tony Iommi also used to manage bands such as Judas Priest.
Ozzy's personal assistant's name is Tony Dennis. (Personally I think
heıs a wart on Ozzyıs ass who would follow Ozzy into a washroom if
allowed to)
Ozzy once visited a dying fan in the hospital. The fan was unable to
talk and wrote out what song Ozzy would dedicate to him on stage that
night (Crazy Train).
After he and Sharon have a fight, Ozzy will sometimes go to Tiffany's
and buy Sharon an expensive piece of jewelry to make up for it.
Ozzy had a grand mal seizure which has left him with physical side
effects. He also takes prozac because of a chemical imbalance.
Ozzy was officially banned from Salt Lake City, permanently by a group
of Mormons.
Bloodbath in Paradise is Jackıs favourite song of his fathers.
Ozzy once owned an XJ12 sportscar which was used only for special
occasions. Ozzy ended up sinking it after driving through a fence in his
yard.
Ozzy has worked with many different artists such as Dweezil Zappa, Kim
Basinger, Miss Piggy, Lita Ford, Sam Kinnison, Theraphy?, Bill Ward,
Alice Cooper, Gary Moore, Motorhead, Holly Knight, and Slash.
The Black Sabbath song NIB does not stand for anything. The name comes
from Bill Wardıs beard which looked like the nib of a pen.
Sharon once flew to Tokyo to join Ozzy on tour. After the show she went
ahead to their hotel room, only to be woken hours later by a young
Japanese girl climbing into their bed. A drunken Ozzy had forgotten his
wife had arrived. "It's funny now," she says, with a tight smile. "It
wasn't then."
Ozzy was once stabbed in the stomach with a screwdriver at a dance.
Jack has bought only one pair of jeans in the last eight years.
Ozzy's son Louis is a techno DJ with a webpage at
www(dot)louisosbourne(dot)com
Aimee Osbourne once paid $18,000 for charity passes to see Hanson.
In a show of support to his wife Sharon, Ozzy has promised to shave his
head while she undergoes chemotherapy
Kelly's first concert sold out in just 15 minutes. She also bids on
items on E-Bay.
Kelly bought a $75,000 watch.
Kelly was working in the same studio as Christina Aguilera. Kelly put
boogers on all of the door handles on Christina's car.
Ozzy is a grandfather to Isabelle Hobbs. She's the daughter of Jessica,
Ozzy's child from his first marriage.
The National Enquirer says Ozzy had Robin Williams come over to
entertain his wife while she was recovering from cancer.
There's an adult movie out called the The Ozzporns which is a parody of
The Osbournes.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
3.4 Tattoos
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ozzy has over fifteen tattoos over his body. Some of them are:
- Red hooded ghoul on left chest
- Blue dragon with red flames on right chest
- "Mom and Pop" tattoo on right arm
- Stick man figure on left wrist just below thumb
- Unknown tattoo (letters) on his left palm, starts with "A" [***]
- Letters O,Z,Z,Y on his knuckles of left hand [***]
- The word 'THANKS' is marked on his right palm
- Happy faces on both knees [***]
- Rose on right shoulder, he would later have the word 'Sharon' tattooed
under it
- Skull with knife through it on left arm
- Long pointed dagger with Ozzy banner on left arm
- Bat and woman's face on upper left shoulder
- Symbols and a number "3" on his arm. [***]
- Needle on his right thigh
- Ozzy has a new tattoo under the rose on his right arm which
looks like a demon's face.
[***] These tattoos were done while Ozzy was in jail. He used two
different methods during at least two different incarceration periods.
The first method (his knees and knuckles) was done using a piece of
graphite (as in pencil lead) and a needle. The other method was done
using a tin of grey polish, melting it and sticking it into the skin
with a needle.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
3.5 Milestones
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dec. 3, 1948 - Ozzy Osbourne is born in Aston, Birmingham, England
Dec. 6 ,1956 - Randy Rhoads is born.
1962 - Ozzy joins one of his first bands at age 14, Black Panthers.
1967 - Ozzy, Geezer, Tony and Bill form Earth.
1969 - Earth calls themselves Black Sabbath.
1969 - Black Sabbath returns to England from Germany. So far
they have not found someone to carry their record.
Jan. 1970 - Vertigo decides to sign Sabbath to their label.
Feb. 1970 - Sabbath breaks the audience record at Henry's.
Feb.13 ,1970 - Black Sabbath releases its debut self titled album. This
would set the stage for the term 'heavy metal'.
Oct.23 ,1970 - A near riot results when a drunken crowd awaits the band.
Sept.4 ,1970 - Simpson and Sabbath part ways.
April 6,1974 - Sabbath plays the huge California Jam. Soon after, they
fired their manager.
1975 - Free from their manager's greedy hands, the band releases
the Sabotage album.
1976 - We Sold Our Souls is released. Reached #48 in the US, #35 in UK.
1977 - Ozzy's father passes away. Oz quits Black Sabbath but comes
back in time for the Never Say Die album and tour.
1978 - Ozzy is fired from Sabbath, Ronnie James Dio replaces him.
1980 - Ozzy signs with Jet Records. He releases his first solo album,
Blizzard of Ozz which goes platinum plus in the U.S.
Sept.12,1980 - Ozzy plays his first concert in Glasgow, Scotland.
1981 - Ozzy divorces his first wife. He goes on to release his second
album, Diary of a Madman. This album also goes platinum.
Jan. 20,1982 - Ozzy bites the head off the bat.
Feb. 19,1982 Ozzy, wearing a dress, urinates on the Alamo and goes to
jail.
Mar. 19,1982 - Randy Rhoads dies in a plane accident in Leesburg,
Florida.
1982 - Bernie Torme replaces Randy but backs out and so did the
Speak of the Devil album.
1982 - Black Sabbath releases 'Live Evil', Ozzy releases 'Speak of the
Devil'.
July 4, 1982 - Ozzy marries his long time companion, Sharon Arden. He
passes out drunk that night.
Oct. 1, 1982 Ozzy visits the Alamo. This time rather than urinate on
it, he donates $10,000 from a concert to the Alamo.
Sept 2, 1983 - Aimee Rachel is born.
1983 - Ozzy signs to Epic Records. Bill Ward quits Black Sabbath.
Feb. 1984 - Glass from a broken mirror gets lodged in Ozzy's throat.
Oct. 27, 1984 - Kelly Lee Osbourne is born.
May 16, 1984 Ozzy is arrested in Memphis, TN for staggering drunk down
Beale Street.
October 26, 1984 19 year old John McCollum kills himself.
Nov. 1984 - Ozzy enters the Betty Ford clinic for drinking problems.
He also begins his Bark at the Moon project.
Nov. 8, 1985 - Jack Osbourne is born.
1985 - Ozzy plays the first Rock in Rio festival to over 200,000 people.
July 13,1985 - He also reunites with his ex-Sabbath members for the
Live Aid reunion in PA.
1986 - Ozzy wins a lawsuit that claimed "Suicide Solution" was
responsible for a teenage suicide in California.
May 2, 1986 - Ozzy co-hosts Friday Night Videos with Dr. Ruth
1987 - Due to popular demand by his fans, Ozzy puts out the Randy
Rhoads tribute album. He only plays one concert that year at
the Wormwood Scrubs prison.
1987 - Contrary to the above, Ozzy is reported to have played a 6 six
week tour of UK prisons. He also played "Jailhouse Rock"
1988 - Zakk Wylde joins Ozzy's lineup of guitar players.
1989 - Ozzy donates $15,000 to AIDS charities in Philadelphia.
Aug.12-13/89 - Ozzy plays the Moscow Music Festival which benefits drug
and alcohol programs.
Sept. 2,1989 - Ozzy is jailed after threatening Sharon.
Oct. 1990 - The parents of two Georgia teens file lawsuits against Ozzy
for the deaths of their children.
Dec. 16, 1990 - Ozzy appears on the TV show Parker Lewis Can't Lose
May 6, 1991 - Lawsuit filed in Georgia is dismissed on First Amendment
grounds.
1991 - No More Tears is released setting new grounds in Ozzy's
career. No more macabre album covers and titles.
Oct. 1, 1992 - Ozzy plays San Antonio, TX after being banned for 10
years. He donates $10,000 to the caretakers of the Alamo.
1992 - Ozzy announces this will be his last tour.
1992 - Ozzy wins a grammy award for "I Don't Want to Change the
World". Ozzy announces he is going to retire and embarks on
the "No More Tours" tour.
Mar. 28, 1992 - Fans cause $100,000 damage when Ozzy invites audience
members on stage at Laguna Hills, CA
Nov. 15,1992 - Ozzy plays his last show at Costa Mesa, CA
1993 - Live and Loud is released to accompany his last tour.
1993 -> 1995 - Ozzy takes three years off to relax and be a family man.
Finally he heads back into the studio and comes up with
Ozzmosis. A spectacle in his history of albums. He says
he is never going to retire again: The next time that he
retires will be when they lower him into the ground.
Oct.25, 1995 - Ozzmosis album is sold in stores.
Dec. 31, 1995 - Ozzy's Retirement Sucks tour begins.
Sept.14,1996 - Ozz-Fest begins
October 1996 - Ozzy announces he is starting his own record label,
"Ozz-Records" to promote smaller bands.
March 1997 - The Ozzfest Live album is released with bands
from the 1996 tour.
May 1997 - Ozzfest 1997 begins
June 15, 1997 - Ozzfest plays in East Rutherford, NJ despite
threats to pull the show if Marilyn Manson
took part. The show went on.
Nov. 11, 1997- Ozzman Cometh double CD is released featuring some
old Sabbath songs with alternative lyrics and a new
song called "Back on Earth".
Dec. 4/5,1997- Black Sabbath reunites in Birmingham, UK to do two live
shows. Ozzy is very happy about the second show.
July 3, 1998 - Ozzfest kicks off in New Jersey.
Oct.31, 1998 - Black Sabbath and Ozzy to release a live album from the
Dec. 5/97 UK show, along with two new studio tracks.
Jan. 1, 1999 - Black Sabbath's original four members launch a North
American tour.
May 27, 1999 Ozzy kicks off his fourth annual Ozzfest, featuring Black
Sabbath.
October 12, 1999 Sharon takes over Smashing Pumpkinıs management
March 2000 - New Mexico's Belen High School refuses to allow students to
play Ozzy's Goodbye to Romance.
May 2000 No More Tears is certified 4 time platinum.
Dec. 2000 - Randy Castillo is diagnosed with cancer.
April 10, 2001 - Ozzy's mother passes away from cancer.
Oct. 10, 2001 - Down to Earth is released.
Dec. 23, 2001 - Ozzy stages a Merry Mayhem charity concert for the World
Trade Center
victims at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. He also stopped by Ground Zero
to pay his respects to the victims and workers.
Dec. 2001 - Rob Zombie directs Ozzy's new video, Dreamer.
Jan. 4, 2002 - Black Sabbath are nominated for a Grammy Award for Best
Metal Performance ("The Wizard" from Ozzfest 2001: The Second Millenium)
by the National Acadamy of Recording Arts & Sciences.
Feb. 2002 - The Osbournes appear on the cover of TV Guide.
March 2002 - The Osbournes premiers on MTV which draws 4.1 million
viewers to its regular Tuesday time slot on March 26
March 5, 2002 - The Osbourne premieres.
March 26, 2002 - Former Ozzy drummer Randy Castillo passes away of
cancer.
April 2002 The Osbournes offer $500 for the return of their lost dog,
Pippi. They eventually raise the reward to $1000.
April 1, 2002 - An "Expanded Edition" album is reissued of existing Ozzy
songs.
April 12, 2002 - Ozzy receives his star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame in
front of the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum
April 19, 2002 Ozzy and his family appeared on the cover of
Entertainment Weekly
April 29, 2002 - Ozzy makes an unnanounced appearance on the Tonight
show.
May 2002 - Ozzy wins a Prism award for his song The Junkie, which raised
drug awareness.
May 2002 - Sharon Osbourne is voted one of People magazine's 50 Most
Beautiful People.
May 4, 2002 - Ozzy and Sharon are invited by one of their new fans, Fox
News Channel's Greta Van Susteren, to the White House Press
Correspondents Dinner.
May 15, 2002 - The Osbournes hold a press conference in New York to
announce the release of a "Family Album" with Kelly's debut song.
May 29, 2002 - VH1 picks Sharon Osbourne to help pay tribute to Queen
Elizabeth II.
June 6, 2002 - Kelly Osbourne will sing for the first time on stage
during the MTV Movie Awards. The song is "Papa Don't Preach"
June 3, 2002 - Ozzy sing's Paranoid at the Queen's Concert at Buckingham
Palace. Other acts performing included Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, and
Rod Stewart.
June 11, 2002 - The Osbourne Family Album is released.
July 2002 - Ozzy makes an appearance in Austin Powers - Goldmember.
July 2002 - The Osbournes are sued by a producer named Gary Binkow,
claiming they stole his idea for The Osbournes. The show is also
nominated for an Emmy.
July 3, 2002 - Sharon Osbourne is diagnosed with cancer and has one foot
of her colon removed.
July 29, 2002 Sharon begins chemotheraphy.
August 16, 2002 - The lawsuit brought against Ozzy by Bob Daisley and
Lee Kerslake was dismissed.
Sept. 2002 - Kelly's version of "Papa Don't Preach" enters the English
singles chart at number three.
Sept. 2002 - CTV (Canadian Television) broadcasts The Osbournes
uncensored. (They do this with The Sopranos also)
Oct. 3, 2002 - "Dreamer" reaches #5 on the German singles chart.
Oct. 29, 2002 - Symptom of the Universe : The Original Black Sabbath
1970-1978 released.
Nov. 6, 2002 - Barbara Walters interviews the Osbournes.
Nov. 26, 2002 - Season II of The Osbournes premiers and Ozzy's daughter
Kelly releases her debut album titled "Shut Up".
2003 - The Osbournes first season is released on DVD.
Jan. 2003 - Sharon disputes whether a talent agent should have won a
$15,000 necklace as a doorprize for their New Years Eve wedding vow
renewal party. She even hosts a newsconference (yawn) to shame the agent
into returning it.
Jan. 13, 2003 - Ozzy, Sharon, Kelly, and Jack host the 30th Annual
American Music Awards
Jan. 14, 2003 - Kelly leaves for a three week European tour.
March 3, 2003 - Ozzy and Sharon appear on Larry King Live.
March 17, 2003 - Ozzy holds a press conference to announce
Jason Newsted (Metallica bassist) has joined his band.
2005 Ozzy joins other stars in an remake of Eric Clapton's "Tears in
Heaven" to raise money for Asian tsunami victims.
2005 Ozzy announces this will be the last Ozzfest with him on tour.
This, due to a severe bout of hayfever.
Feb. 2005 Essential Ozzy Osbourne is certified gold.
March 2005 - 21-year-old Massachusetts singer/songwriter Lili Holbrook
records a cover of Ozzyıs "Mama, I'm Coming Home"
April 2005 Aimee discovers a lump in her breast, not known if its
cancerous.
July 2005 Ozzy visits Sgt. Joe Bowser, a wounded US soldier at
Washington's Walter Reed Hospital.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
3.6 Questions
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: Where can I find a Black Sabbath FAQ?
A: www.black-sabbath.com, the file is by Alexander Rack
Q: What religion is Ozzy? Is he satanic, athiest, Catholic?
A: While I do not know for certain, I do know Ozzy's children
attemd Catholic schools. Ozzy himself wears crosses, but
whether this is a religious or fashion symbol is unknown.
Q: What are the Ozzfest dates? Is Ozzy coming to my town?
A: Hey, I find my information the same way you do. Try the
links mentioned for Ozzfest. Don't ask me.
Q: I saw that a John Osbourne was in a late 60's band named "Magic
Lanterns". Some dealers sell this LP at high prices. Was Ozzy really in
the band?
A: NO, Ozzy has never been in Magic Lanterns, it was another John.
Q: Did Ozzy ever eat his own feces?
A: Not so far as I know, although he once stuck his finger in his
rear end :)
Q: Where do I find Ozzfest dates and info?
A: AARRGGHH! Try ozzynet(dot)com or ozzfest(dot)com
Q: Why do some albums have bonus tracks. I notice a lot of Japanese
albums have these.
A: Albums cost more to buy in Japan, and come out after the American
versions. Bonus tracks encourage the Japanese to buy their own country's
version instead.
Q: Did Ozzy really get punched in the nose for ripping bibles?
A: Ozzy was angry at the protestors that gathered Sabbath wherever they
went. Religious groups would follow the band and carry bibles and
crosses. In the hotel rooms where the band stayed, were, of course
bibles. Ozzy began ripping up bibles in a form of protesting back.
Tony Iommi punched Ozzy in the nose for doing this.
Q: Whatever happened to Ozz Records?
A: Red Ant Records (www.red-ant.com) went out of business.
Q: What is the name of the extra track on 'No Rest for the Wicked'?
A: Hero.
Q: Are there any old/rare (pre-Sabbath, pre-solo) Ozzy songs out
there?
A: Yes, but good luck trying to find them. The following songs are rare
material:
* "THE REBEL" - Black Sabbath demo (Regent Sound demo) which can be
sampled on the "Black Sabbath Story - Volume 1" VHS. What some people do
not know is that both this song and "Song for Jim" were actually
released back in 1969 as 7" singles. They ARE out there, but I imagine
most of them have since been disbanded to garbage dumps or destroyed.
* "SONG FOR JIM" - Instrumental, song made for their first manager Jim
Simpson.
* "SLOW BURN" - Ballad recorded with Holly Knight but not released
because the final version was not good enough.
* ³WHEN I CAME DOWN² Recorded in early 1969
Ozzy was asked about his first two impossible to find singles. He simply
does not remember ever recording them. Geezer was asked about 'The
Rebel' (while drinking in a local pub), but he was in such a bad mood
that an answer was not possible.
Q: What do the letters NIB, SATO, and SIN on his albums mean?
A: NIB - This is *not* Nativity In Black. Ronnie Dio has said this
himself. Geezer Butler has said it was named after Bill Ward's beard
which resembled a pen nib (tip).
SATO - Sailing Across the Ocean. Note that I just found out the original
record jacket says "Saturdays and Thursdays only", which are
visiting days for asylums. Another reader said this:
"Don't quote me on this, but it has always been my belief (and my
friends) that S.A.T.O. is Ozzy's wife's initials (Sharon Ann Theresa
Osbourne??? I may be wrong on the middle names... the song is supposedly
about his finally finding "the one" - "Tried the rest, found the
best..."
SIN - Shadows In the Night
Q: What is said at the end of Crazy Train?
A: Ozzy was putting his voice through an oscillator and asked someone in
the studio what he had had for breakfast. The person replied, "an egg".
Ozzy asked, "What?", and the person replied, "an eggggggg".
Q: Was Captain Kangaroo Ozzy's father?
A: No.
Q: Did Ozzy really sing the Bee-Gee's "Stayin' Alive"?
A: Yes he did. He did this for Dweezil Zappa's "Confessions" album, the
record company did not want to authorize the release however and so
Donny Osmond's version made it to the album. Oz can be heard on bootleg
versions though.
Q: Where can I find these rare and live Ozz/Sab boot tapes?
A: I am not going to get into this except to say almost every home page
(including mine) will help you in those matters.
Q: Did Rudy Sarzo and Tommy Aldridge play on Diary Of A Madman?
A: No. See chapter [2.23] regarding this.
Q: What is the name of the classical music played before each Ozzy
concert?
A: The piece is "O Fortuna" from the Carmina Burana opera by Carl Orff.
Q: What is said in the beginning of "Bloodbath in Paradise"?
A: "Your mother sells whelks in hull."
Q: Why do some Black Sabbath albums have Ozzy singing "Wicked World" and
yet others have "Evil Woman" instead? A: The Evil Woman single appears
on UK versions of their first album only because of copyright problems.
The song was initially sung by a band named Crow from Minnesota. The
American version has Wicked World in its place.
Q: Is Joan Osborne related to Ozzy?
A: No, besides they spell their last names differently.
Q: Has Sharon had cosmetic surgery?
A: Yes. Sharon has had liposuction, a tummy tuck and a brow lift. Total
cost $216,395.00 which probably came from you, the fans.
Q: Why does Ozzy shake so often?
A: Ozzy is on anti-psychotic and anti-depressants. This contributes to
his behaviour. He also suffered a grand-mal seizure a few years back.
Q: The opening movie on Ozzy's tour is hilarious. Is it available?
A: You are looking for a short videotape called "Ozzy Goes to
Hollywood".
[The next four questions are answered by a friend of the Osbourne's]
Q: What are Ozzy's siblings doing, ie. professional, white collar work,
factory, etc. Are they in England?
A: All I am allowed to say is that they still live in the home district
of WALSALL. It is a poor district in some senses, though poor these days
is nothing like what poor meant when Ozzy was a kid. It is a very
working-class, though very community spirited town.
Q: What are some of the names of the pubs you and Geezer and the other
Sabs frequent, do you play darts?, drink?, drink and puke?, drink and
puke and play darts?, play cards?, etc etc.
A: These days they stay in their home district of REDDITCH and only
Geezer and Geoff Nicholls can be seen in town at the likes of the Rock
Cafe and Costermongers.
Q: Is Birmingham still a factory oriented town where people work the
factories and go to the bars afterwards or has it improved financially?
What are it's main industries?
A: The whole of the midlands region is still the industrial heart of
England, though affluence is much more apparent these days. Triumph
motorcycles has had an enormous increase in fortunes these days and
there are many new world-beating industries here, so the poverty thing
has all but gone, though we still have poor districts.
Q: Is Sabbath still thought of as evil devil music or has the church and
Christians relented somewhat?
A: You have to remember, the way you chaps view things tends to always
be taken a step further than here. We have never seriously had a problem
with the devil thing Vs Sabbath. England is full to the brim with
legends, ghosts and mysteries as well as cults. It is seen more as the
theatrical thing that makes up our characters and culture. The first we
really knew about the problems it caused was when we heard about someone
blowing his face off, because he claims Ozzy told him to do it in a
song. I am not being rude at all ( I love America ) but that simply
wouldn't happen here and if it did, the person would be treated with the
contempt he/she deserved. Listen to any interview with Lemmy and he will
tell you the same thing.
Q: I saw Ozzy on his recent tour. Why doesn't he play a lot of his new
material?
A: His voice can't make the high notes as often. In the studio you can
do it over and over until you get it right. On stage you have just one
shot. Listen to Ozzy on David Letterman performing, "I Just Want You"
and see what I mean.
Q: What is this about Ozzy suing Tony Iommi?
A: Ozzy filed a suit against Tony because some years ago Tony borrowed
money ($50-75,000) from Ozzy to get out of jail. Tony was put in jail
for non-payment of child support. When he refused to pay the money back
to Ozzy, a suit was then filed.
Q: What is "plastic water", I've heard Ozzy say he drinks this and he
sings it on "I Just Want You" ?
A: Ozzy is referring to Diet Coke, which like most diet pop and beer,
tastes like water.
Q: Why didn't Aimee appear on The Osbournes?
A: Aimee wants to focus on her music career and not be caught up in the
melodrama of a television reality show. Probably the smartest of the
bunch who isn't trying to cash in on Ozzy's name.
Q: What are these dance mixes from Madonna all about?
A: They are not Madonna, someone just thought they knew who the woman
was. They originated from Ontario, Canada by a friend named Colin M.
Colin made these on his own and sent me a demo tape with about 8 songs.
Only two Crazy Train mixes and a couple demos of My Little Man that I
edited with Cool Edit were released when I saw how people were selling
them on so called rarity cd's and putting them on Napster, I was not
amused. Colin has trusted me with these and they remainder will not see
the light of day unless he chooses to. Colin made them under Gyr-8
music. The singer is named Robin and hails from the Toronto area. Her
voice can be heard on a few Chris Sheppard mixes.
Q: Will Kelly (Ozzy's daughter) ever do a duet with her father?
A: Already been done. CHANGES, the old Black-Sabbath song.
Q: Did the Osbournes ever find their missing dog?
A: Yes, Pippi was returned to them by a neighbour.
Q: Are Kelly or Jack gay?
A: Apparently not.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
3.7 Quotations
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"In a weird way, Ozzy is a great anti-drug promotion. Look at him and
how fried his brains are from taking drugs all those years and everyone
will say, 'I don't want to be like that.'" [Dan Quayle]
"When I was a kid, I'd get one gift. It was a smelly old sock with a few
nuts in it, couple of pennies, an apple and an orange, and that was it."
[Ozzy, invoking the spirit of Christmas past]
"Happiness to me is getting stoned" [Ozzy]
"I used to hate the sight of him, I couldn't stand him, and I used to
beat him up whenever I saw him." [Tony on childhood with Ozzy]
"I know I ain't going to fucking live to be an old man. I know that."
[Ozzy]
"I've come to the conclusion that people don't want to know the truth-
that I'm a happily married man with three kids that I absolutely adore,
and that what I do is entertain people. I am not f--king Dracula" 1989]
"I'm an absolute perfectionist. I'm never happy with a finished album.
There's always something I don't like." [1990]
"If I had to start it all over again, the only thing I would change is
I'd learn to read a contract better." [1992]
"To be honest, I am a little bit crazy. I accept that. I've always been
outrageous. I've never been the every day you. I've always
gone over the top with everything" [Ozzy 1985]
"Had he lived, I truly believe he'd have been one of the greatest guitar
players that ever walked the earth. He was when he was here." [Ozzy on
Randy]
"You get one and you can't stop. It becomes an addiction." [Ozzy on
tattoos]
"I'm not the greatest singer in the world, but I do give people
entertainment" [1986]
"My mother said to me, 'Get a proper job. Quit this f--king around.' She
still thinks it's a crazy f--king thing I'm doing" [1985]
"Every year I hear, metal is dying. It's been dying since f--king 1978!"
[Ozzy on the success of Ozzfest]
"Musically they are completely uncompromising, and would rather starve
than sell out to more commercial forms of music." [Vertigo Sab Promo]
"My mother was an amateur singer, my father was an amateur drunk" [1985]
"It took a lot of water to down just that fucking bat's head, let me
tell you. It's still stuck in my fucking throat, after all these years.
People all over the world say, 'You're the guy who kills creatures? You
still do it? You do it every night?' It happened fucking once, for
Christ's sake." (Ozzy, Rolling Stone Online, May 1997)
"It's good fun and it's had great rewards. It's been such an eye opener
for me. Everything that I have ever wanted to have has come from rock
and roll. I've had happiness, I've had sadness. I've had everything.
I've experienced life, death, birth, marriage, divorce, and it's been
a whole bunch of fun. I wouldn't have it any different. I'd do it all
again tomorrow." [1986]
² I'm not proud of everything I've done. I'm not proud of having a poor
education. I'm not proud of being dyslexic. I'm not proud of being an
alcoholic drug addict. I'm not proud of biting the head off a bat. I'm
not proud of having attention deficit disorder. But I'm a real guy. To
be Ozzy Osbourne, it could be worse. I could be Sting.²
"I fell in love with Randy as a player and a person the instant I saw
him. He had the best smile in the world. Randy was the best guy in the
world to work with. There is no comparison between him and Tony Iommi,
and I can only compare the two because they were the only guitar players
I had ever worked with. I was attracted to Randy's angelic attitude
towards the whole business. I didn't have to teach him anything; all
that he was lacking was guidance. He listened to every word I spoke to
him, and we had a great rapport together."
[Ozzy on Randy]
²I got rabies shots for biting the head off a bat but that's OK - the
bat had to get Ozzy shots.²
²When I was a practicing alcoholic, I was unbelievable. One side effect
was immense suspicion: I'd come off tour like Inspector Clouseau on
acid. 'Where'd this fucking cornflake come from? It wasn't here before.²
"...as you'll know, the word 'fuck' sort of is used quite a lot in my
house. Now, that's not to say, I think to say 'fuck this' or 'fuck you'
a lot more, so it should be entered into the English language, because
it has a lot more impact when you say, 'I fucking hate this thing.'"
(Ozzy Osbourne, MTV, 2002)
"I would hate my children to be the typical rock and roll brats. My
father always taught me that if you haven't got anything else, the
cheapest thing in the world is good manners." [1986]
"I have no regrets except that I wasn't up to keep Randy (Rhoads) from
getting on that plane." (Ozzy Osbourne, Guitar World Issue 37, 2000)
"A lot of other bands just have guys in the crowd. Ozzy has a mixed
audience. But groups like Quiet Riot or Def Leppard attract just the
girls, and I find the girls are very fickle. Next year, a prettier band
will come up, and your dead. The men are more faithful" [Sharon]
"Ozzy had no technical qualifications really. At least Tony or Geezer
could play their scales or a B flat chord. Ozzy wouldn't know what a
chord was if it fell out of the sky and hit him in on the head. He knew
nothing about music whatsoever. All he had was feel. But he had far more
going for him than the rest of the band. The band, in my opinion, was
purely Ozzy." [Jim Simpson commenting on Ozzy when he was with Sabbath]
³I can honestly say, all the bad things that ever happened to me were
directly, directly attributed to drugs and alcohol. I mean, I would
never urinate at the Alamo at nine o'clock in the morning dressed in a
woman's evening dress sober." (Ozzy, MTV News Online, 1992)
"I'm the guy kids love and parents hate. The guy mothers love to hate.
When you've achieved that, you've achieved a goal." [Ozzy]
"I'd rather do a club show to 1,000 people than a huge show to 10,000
people. It's just more fun when you can see who you're singing to."
[Kelly Osbourne]
"We've obviously got what the people want. It's aggressive music and I
think America likes aggression." [Ozzy in Sabbath]
"Well listen, how does a sparrow make an emergency landing? With a
sparrowchute." [Ozzy talking to reception desk in his hotel room]
"You hear your mother crying because she has no dough to feed you. Or my
father and her always fighting over something. And I used to sit on the
front steps all the time and think 'one of these days I'm going to buy a
Rolls Royce and drive them out of this shithole'. And I did it." [Ozzy
on life before fame]
"I never go on stage drunk or stoned or anything." [early days Ozzy]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
3.8 Fan Club Info
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
You may e-mail Ozzy's fan club at:WorldOfOzz@AOL.COM
Ozzy Osbourne
P.O. Box 5249
Beverly Hills, CA 90209
Updates are also available at www(dot)ozzy(dot)com.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
3.9 Ozzy and Black Sabbath books
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Let The Madness Begin 2005 (ISBN: 1933324139) 263 pages
How Black was our Sabbath (ISBN: 0283073683) 2004
The Essential Black Sabbath 2004 (ISBN: 0634062514) 80 pages
Black Sabbath Never Say Die 2004 (ISBN: 1901447162)
Black Sabbath Anthology (ISBN: 0825610842) 1986 guitar tablature
Ozzy has an autobiography called "Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman"
(1990) by Mick Wall. The ISBN number is 0946391467, Zomba is the
publisher. Ozzy was unhappy with this book however as he wanted a more
in depth look at things, not just the groupies and stories that took
place.
Black Sabbath by Chris Welch (1982)
Black Sabbath : Wheels of Confusion (1997) by Steve Rosen
(ISBN: 1860741495) 240 pages
Black Sabbath - The Ozzy Osbourne Years (Robert Conte) 2000
Diary of a MadMan 2002 (ISBN: 1560254726) 2002
Officially Osbourne 2002 (ISBN: 0743466195) 160 pages
Ozzy Talking 2002 (ISBN: 0711992908) 136 pages
Ozzy Unauthorized - Sue Crawford 2002 hardcover
Ozzy Knows Best - An unaithorized biography - Chris Nickson
The Osbournes - Unf***ingauthorized - Reed Tucker 2002 paperback
ISBN: 0553375989 48 pages
Ozzy Knows Best 2002 (ISBN: 0312311419) 272 pages
Ozzy "Talking" (Harry Shaw paperback 2002)
The Osbournes - (David Katz & Michael Robin 2002 paperback)
(ISBN: 0740731653)
The Osbournes: Bleeped (Kord Miller 2002 paperback)
There is also a biography out on Ozzy from Ballentine Biographies. The
ISBN is 0-345-33240-7 and the Library of Congress catalog number is
86-91095. The first edition was from May 1986.
Ozzy Osbourne by Garry Johnson (1985 paperback)
Monsters of Metal:Ozzy Osbourne by Ethlie Vare (1986 paperback)
Black Sabbath An Oral History (ISBN: 0060529458) 128 pages
Guitar School presents Ozzy Osbourne 1997 (ISBN: 0793543118)
Maximum Ozzy by Darren Brooks (ISBN: 1842401726)
Ozzy Osbourne The Randy Rhoads Years (tablature) 2002
(ISBN: 1575604388 and ISBN: 1575605546)
Ozzy Osbourne by Gary Sharpe-Young 2002 (ISBN: 1901447081) 352 pages
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
3.10 Ozzy's Movie Career
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"The f***ing Monkeyz?"
...Ozzy in Jerky Boys movie
"These evil people have just got to be stopped"
...Ozzy in Trick or Treat
1986
----
Like some musicians, Ozzy has been in a few movies and in keeping with
Oz-tradition they are humorous roles. In the 1986 horror movie "Trick or
Treat", Ozzy plays Reverend Aaron Gilstrom, a priest who wants the evil
being spread through music stopped :) The movie starred Marc Price who
played Skippy in the Family Ties television show. Also stars Gene
Simmons as a DJ. [Note: Watch the movie all the way to the end, past the
credits and you'll see Ozzy once again]
There is also mention of Ozzy being in the movie 'Riders of the Storm'
s an "urban animal". The movie starred Dennis Hopper.
19xx
----
Though not a movie, Ozzy appeared in The Decline of Western Civilization
- Part 2 which was a documentary about heavy metal directed by Penelope
Spheeris, a well known producer.
1994
----
In the 1994 Jerky Boys movie, Ozzy played a band manager who runs into
the Jerky Boys in a bar. The band he manages plays 'Symptom of the
Universe'.
1996
----
Ozzy plays a short part in Howard Stern's "Private Parts" movie,
released in 1997.
2000
----
Director Penelope Spheeris, producer of Decline of Western Civilization
Parts 1, 2, and 3, and Wayne's World) took out a full crew on last
year's tour to capture the Ozzfest. The people, the music, the
excitement, the chaos. The feature length documentary is enhanced by the
use of cutting-edge High Definition technology and a full Dolby Digital
Surround Sound audio treatment. A special film tour is being planned for
this year to take the film across the country, and, in addition to the
feature presentation.
2000
------
Ozzy appeared in Adam Sandler's "Little Nicky".
2001
------
Ozzy appeared in "Adam Sandler Goes to Hell" and on the "Moulin Rouge"
soundtrack (voice)
Rock Survivors documentary
2002
-----
Ozzy makes an appearance in "Austin Powers - Goldmember".
2005
----
Documentary titled ³Inside Black Sabbath²
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
3.11 Where are they now?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
AIMEE OSBOURNE moved out of the house and chooses not to participate in
The Osbournes. She doesn't wish to be typecast or judged. Aimee is
writing for a fashion magazine. Good luck to you :)
JACK OSBOURNE has been quoted as saying he doesn't ever plan on moving
out from his parent's house. Jack scouts new talent for Epic records. He
has appeared on many talk shows. Jack has lost his weight and glasses
and has given up smoking and alcohol. He has a new British TV series
titled, ³Jack Osbourne Ardenaline Junkie²
BILL WARD left black Sabbath in August of 1980, a day before they were
to play in Hawaii. He gave personal reasons for his reason, however his
constant alcohol and drug abuse also played a part in his decision. Bill
has gone on to release two solo albums, "Ward One" in 1990 and, "When
the Bow Breaks", released April 29, 1997. Shortly before the 1998
Ozzfest was to begin, Bill Ward suffered a heart attack while
rehearsing. His latest album is titled "Beyond Aston" (his hometown)
which is set for release in 2005. Bill has his own web site at
www.BILLWARD.com
GEEZER BUTLER continued to shuffle between Ozzy Osbourne's band and
Black Sabbath. He has been quoted as saying, "I am never playing with
Black Sabbath again". He has a band of his own called "G/Z/R"
(pronounced Gee Zee R). His band's first album was the 1995 "Plastic
Planet". Most of the songs for the album were written during a two week
period at a Massachusetts farm. "Giving Up the Ghost", is a song from
the album which describes his feelings about Black Sabbath, and how he
feels the band should be put to rest. Geezer released an album in 2005
titled OHMWORK.
TONY IOMMI is still with Black Sabbath. From the beginning, Tony would
always want to be part of the band, and according to Ozzy, to be in
control of the band. He released an album called FUSED in July of 2005.
BLACK SABBATH continues to play Ozzfest annually as recently as 2005.
JIM SIMPSON won the lawsuit against Sabbath and their managers. He was
awarded 35,000 pounds. He now manages the Birmingham Jazz Festival. He
was asked to provide information for this FAQ, but has not responded.
You can find him at www(dot)bigbearmusic(dot)com.
RONNIE JAMES DIO (www(dot)ronniejamesdio(dot)com) is touring in 2005.
Dio calls Ozzy 'a fat slob who looks like Benny Hill' and Ozzy used to
use a dwarf in his shows whom he would call "Ronnie" :). He released
³Evil or Divine: Live in New York City² in 2005.
PHIL SOUSSAN (www(dot)philsoussan(dotcom) says he didn't like waiting
around during the retirement of Ozzy (No More Tours) and quit the band.
A solo album is in the works.
JAKE E LEE (www(dot)jakeelee(dot)com) went on to join Ray Gillen
in Badlands for two albums (Badlands, 1989 and Voodoo Highway, 1991),
until Ray's unfortunate death. Jake released a CD in April of 2005
titled RETRACED.
BRAD GILLIS (www(dot)bradgillis(dot)com) is still touring with Night
Ranger. A new album is expected to be released in September 2005.
TOMMY ALDRIDGE toured with Whitesnake again in 2003. He gave up touring
for a while to concentrate on freelancing. He has a Website at
www.tommyaldridge.com.
BOB DAISLEY has been doing session work for studios around London. His
website is bobdaisley.com. Bob is now living in Syndey, Australia. He
has a live DVD due out shortly. He is also making appearances with GARY
MOORE at festivals throughout Europe. The two will also work on an
upcoming album.
RUDY SARZO (Quiet Riot/ Whitesnake/Sun King)was a member of Ozzy
Osbourneıs band from March 1981 to September 1982. He is currently
playing with Ronny James Dio.
SHARON OSBOURNE sucessfully completed chemotheraphy for her
cancer. She remains Ozzy's wife and manager. Sharon obtained her own
talk show which debuted September 15th, 2003 and was eventually
casncelled in January 2004. She continues to manage Ozzyıs career.
ZAKK WYLDE has his own website at www(dot)zakkwylde(dot)com and
is still in Black Label Society. He is still touring as of 2005.
DON ARDEN still scouts for new talent and dreams of a comeback.
His Jet records folded in 1986 due to legal bills accumulated in
connection with the assaults and other illegal activities. In 2004 Don
released a book titled ³Mr. Big² Published April 2004 by Robson Books.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
4.0 Closing Remarks
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Black Sabbath are undoubtedly one of, if not, THE band, which created
the genre of heavy metal. There are already a handful of tribute albums
dedicated to Sabbath and countless bands who were inspired by Sabbath.
Ozzy has repeatedly said he hates being classified as a heavy metal
artist however since it has become so diverse. Alice In Chains and Bon
Jovi are considered heavy metal. See his point? If you look at his
albums lately, they really aren't heavy metal. His albums contain a
diverse mix of gentle ballads to hard rocking songs with ear splitting
guitar licks.
These are our own personal tastes, but I think there is probably a
song on each one of his albums that everybody could enjoy. Classify his
music as you will, the man deserves some credit for his part in music
history.
True, he has led a life of ups and downs, much of it under the influence
of various drugs (though he is now sober). He has made McDonald Happy
Meals out of various flying animals. He has been accused by just about
every religious organization to be a devil worshipper, a promoter of
Satan's music. Yes, Ozzy's life has been surrounded by highs and lows,
and it is quite likely that when he dies he will be remembered only as a
lunatic madman.
Who is the real John Osbourne? Nobody but him really knows.
It is painfully obvious that he is getting old though. He no longer
jumps up and down like a wild man, no longer runs back and forth from
one end of the stage to the other. His later concerts show him either
standing at the mic, hopping up and down or walking from one end of the
stage to the other.
His voice can no longer make all the high notes it once did, and he will
sometimes mouth curses at his frustration with this. Concert
cancellations over Ozzyıs health are not uncommon. The reviews for
Ozzy's shows seem to contain more complaints each year.
The reviews for Ozzfest seem to indicate that Ozzyıs voice is failing as
each year passes and it might be time for him to retire.
Despite the reviews, he's still capable of releasing great albums.
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4.1 Credits
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The information from this file was gathered from various sources. If you
are a hard-core Ozzy fan, you may recognize a lot of the information
from a book or interview you have read. The information was *not*
however, taken from any one web page. I've noticed a lot of web pages
had carried the same information I had found while researching.
Information for this file was obtained from:
=> The Black Sabbath Story I VHS (Castle 38316-3)
=> Ozzy's official site
=> Chris Tetley Interview
=> Guitar World Magazine (Aug. 1988)
=> Rock-It's Black Sabbath and Ozzy comics
=> Ozzy Osbourne Biography by Ethlie Vare
=> Article by Steve Rosen
=> Guitar World, Dec. 1995
=> Alexander Rack's Black Sabbath FAQ
=> Mark Plummer article (Newcastle show, 1970)
=> Black Sabbath Mailing List
=> Ozzy on various talk shows
=> Scott Cohen's "Ozzy Osbourne" article
=> AOL/Ticketmaster Interviews
=> The Story of Black Sabbath by Steve Rosen (ISBN 1-86074-149-5)
=> Articles by Brian Harrigan, Mick Houghton, Royston Eldridge
=> Metal Edge magazine
=> Sabbathlive.Com (Thanks Rob!)
=> Ozzyhead's page
=> Ozzyasylum.com
=> Joe Siegler's Black Sabbath web page
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