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Ozzy Biography and FAQ 1/2

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Nov 5, 2000, 3:00:00 AM11/5/00

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Welcome to The Complete Ozzy
Osbourne Biography

The largest source of info on Ozzy on the
Internet

Updated: March 21/2000

For Complete Ozzy Osbourne lyrics, tablature, MP3 and midi
visit http://ozzymusic.cjb.net

My Email:sud...@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.

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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 run by record companies 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
:)

I welcome any suggestions, corrections or complaints you may have.

[I have been asked if it is alright to use this FAQ. The answer, as stated
above, is YES. The only condition is that you leave the credits in.]

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Revision History
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[VERSION Mar. 21/00]
- Added a whole whack of information on Ozzy's childhood. Details on his
childhood, his family and his father's death. You can find most of the new
additions in chapters 1.1 and 1.8 and 3.3. There is a good deal of info in
these chapters (some of it is disturbing).
- Updated 3.9 a bit

[VERSION Mar. 12/00]
- Updated 'Where are they now' with some badly needed current events -
Updated 3.10

[VERSION Aug. 22/99]
- Added information given to me by one of the actual officers who arrested
Ozzy at the Alamo. I am awaiting a copy of the actual arrest report.

[VERSION Jan. 1/99]
- Changed future tense to past tense for reunion info and added
some information on Jake E. Lee's current doings.

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Table Of Contents
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[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 did Black Sabbath come 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?

[2.0] Ozzy and Randy
[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?
[2.12] Of Priests and Devils
[2.13] Will there ever be a reunion?

[3.0] Ozzy Album Discography
[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] Where to find lyrics, tabs, links, and other info
[3.10] Ozzy's Movie Career
[3.11] Where are they now?

[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.

1998
====
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 world wide 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 50, 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
Alanis Morissette is 48, do you think she will still have sell out concerts?

"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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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 shets.

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 in school, 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 a 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. and then 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. Unable
to pay the fine, Ozzy spent three months (or was it 6 weeks?) in
Birmingham's Winson Green Prison for breaking into an occupied boarding
house.

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 glucode for 12 hours after being thrown through a glass window
while fighting 3 men.

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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'.
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".

History:
-------

"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 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.

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1.4 Who was Earth/Black Sabbath?
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BAND MEMBER FULL NAME BIRTHDATE

Tony Iommi [guitar] Anthony Frank Iommi Feb 19, 1948 in
Aston
Bill Ward [drums] William Ward May 5, 1948 in UK

Ozzy Osbourne [vocals/harmonica] John Michael Dec. 3, 1948 in
Osbourne Aston

Geezer Butler [bass] Terence Michael July 17, 1949
Butler

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1.5 How did Black Sabbath come 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 were of 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. One 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.

Their 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, however 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 a countryside,
apparently in a gothic setting. 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
plain 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
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

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. The reason for this is will be 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.

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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.

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."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
-------------
They 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 Ozzy and Randy
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 suggested he start a new
band. Over in Los Angeles, a 23 year old guitar player named Randy Rhoads
was turning heads.

Born Dec. 6, 1956 in Santa Monica, Randy was with Quiet Riot (who
are best remembered for their hit "Cum On Feel The Noize"). Randy
had recorded two albums with Quiet Riot, released only in Japan.
Randy was introduced to Ozzy through Dana Strum (now of Slaughter).
Randy showed up at Ozzy's audition and reportedly played for just
five minutes before Oz said he was in. With Bob Daisley on bass and
Lee Kerslake on drums, they recorded an album, "Blizzard of Ozz", in
England. The album would also contain a melody titled "Dee" which
was dedicated to Randy's mother, Dolores, a source of inspiration
for Randy. The album was released on Don Arden's JET Record label.
What about Don Arden and Black Sabbath? Well when Ozzy was fired,
and Ozzy went solo, the record company said bye-bye to the Sabs.

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?'

Since this chapter will be the end of the Black Sabbath era, here is a list
of the albums which were recorded with any of the original members. As you
can see, in the end only Tony chose to remain in the group:

Ozzy Tony Bill Geezer
=======================================================

Black Sabbath * * * * Paranoid
* * * * Master of Reality *
* * * Volume 4 * *
* * Sabbath Bloody * * *
* Sabotage * * * * We
Sold Our Soul * * * * Technical
Ecstasy * * * * Never Say Die
* * * * Heaven and Hell
* * * Mob Rules *
* Live Evil * * Born
Again * * * Seventh Star
(was to be solo) *
Eternal Idol *
Headless Cross *
Tyr *
Dehumanizer * * Cross
Purposes * *

"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.

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 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, they stopped to do some repairs on the tour bus at its base
near Leesburg, Florida. The bus driver, Andrew Aycock invited some of the
people for a ride in his Beechcraft Bonanza airplane (9-10 am). The bus
driver took Don Airey and Jake Duncan (the tour manager) for a spin. Aycock
had been involved in a previous accident in which a young boy was killed.

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). The pilot's ex-wife was standing outside the bus and it is assumed
the pilot 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 and careened into a nearby house where it exploded. Ozzy ran into
the house and pulled out 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. 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 cigarrettes rolled up in one sleeve. He was wasted and
he never spoke. Billy <last name removed> 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. <snipped>"

Ozzy married his long time friend Sharon, on a Honolulu-Hawaii beach on July
4, 1982.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 say
for 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.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 a
patented 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 bullshit. 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 am not a long hair rock freak. I live a conservative life and am neutral
in my views towards the church and Ozzy. I am not under the devil's
influence, though some religious person could easily claim so for my
negative views, but from my perspective this religious group is trying to
blame the actions of this 14 year old on Ozzy. Drug abuse may be higher
among the 'headbanger' heavy metal crowd, but to shift the blame to the
music itself seems to suggest the person is all too easily influenced by
music. Shouldn't television and newspapers also be censored then?]

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

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 Wormwood Scrubs prison.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.

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. He
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.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.10 Ozzmosis
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

In 1993, Ozzy was officially retired. His fans had the 'Live and Loud' video
and 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".
On the final album a
song titled "My Little Ozzmosis is defined as "the diffusion of
Man" is written by fluids through a membrane" :) Geezer Steve
Vai but it is Butler, his old Sabbath friend would also Zakk who
played guitar be on the album and tour. The band on it,
this bothered recorded the album in Paris, and was Ozzy.
There are still produced by Michael Beinhorn. Since Zakk dozens
of unreleased was busy with his own project, Pride and songs with
Ozzy and Glory, it was arranged that Steve Vai Vai that have
yet to would be contributing to the album. The see daylight.
songs would be split so that both Zakk and
Vai would appear on the album. Because of On October 24, 1995
the record company once again interfering Ozzmosis hit the with
plans, only Zakk's material made it stores. The first to the
final product. However Steve Vai track on the album, 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.

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.

Towards November '96, Ozzy played his last show of the tour in Hawaii. His
plans now are 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
will be a song called "Back on Earth" which was co-written with Steve Vai.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.

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.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.0 Ozzy Album Discography
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

This discography comes from OZ...@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 .

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