Many, many years ago, when this reporter was just a few months into his first music industry job as the assistant editor of a now-long defunct teen heavy metal magazine called Faces, he was lucky enough to be sent to interview Ozzy Osbourne, the legendary singer, cofounder of Black Sabbath and TV star who died Tuesday at the age of 76.
The interview was no small challenge: not only was Osbourne still deep in his wildman-of-rock-and-roll phase, the subject was the “Tribute” album, a live concert recording featuring Randy Rhoads, the brilliant guitarist and cowriter on Osbourne’s first two solo albums, “Blizzard of Ozz” and “Diary of a Madman,” who was tragically killed in a 1982 plane crash, at the age of just 24, while the band was on tour. The album was being released on the fifth anniversary of Rhoads’ death, and Osbourne was doing interviews about it.
The interview (portions of which appeared in Faces at the time) took place one day in March of 1987 at Osbourne’s hotel suite at 11 a.m., after what was apparently quite a night out: He and publicist Mitchell Schneider had taken in two shows — the roots band the Radiators and legendary Southern rocker Gregg Allman, the latter of which Osbourne apparently did not enjoy and complained about several times.
Osbourne emerged from his bedroom, clearly just woken up and seemingly hung over, wearing only a leopardskin-patterned bathrobe but also, curiously, loads of jewelry: two diamond rings, a gold bracelet, necklaces, and a gold top-of-the line Rolex watch, the face of which was encircled with diamonds. His robe only partially concealed the monster-face tattoo on his chest, and as he sat down, his knees poked through the robe, revealing simple smiley faces tattooed on both knees. His hair was shorter than usual, reaching to the bottom of his neck in the back but spiked slightly on top, and brownish and frosted.
In the long interview that follows — which has been lightly edited for readability — Osbourne talked about Rhoads, Ozzy-less incarnations of Black Sabbath, death threats, working with his wife Sharon, and the then-popular glam-metal movement. (One note: at one point late in the interview, Osbourne uses what can be considered a slur against the LGBTQ community; without excusing the use of the word, it was less taboo at the time than it is today.)
He was also completely on-brand: As he entered, Mitch asked, “Do you need anything, Ozzy?” to which he responded, “A new brain!”
Why is the “Tribute” album only coming out now?
Because I thought it would be sick! [to release it sooner after Rhoads’ death]. But I was under a contractual obligation to deliver a double-live album, and I refused to put [the live album featuring Rhoads] out because I was just…didn’t wanna know anything about it, so that’s why we went to the Ritz [in New York] and recorded a double-live album of old Sabbath stuff [“Speak of the Devil,” featuring guitarist Brad Gillis in Rhoads’ role].
But this the end, everything [featuring Rhoads] that’s good enough to put out is on that album (gestures to artwork proofs sitting on table). I actually didn’t have much to do with the, uh, compilation of the album, I think I spent about an hour in the studio sayin’, “That’s a good mix” and all that. I wanted it to sound live, I didn’t want it to sound like a doctored fuckin’ version of a live album. Live albums should sound live, y’know?
Was the B-side of this single (pulls out vintage 1980 single of “Crazy Train” b/w “You Looking at Me Looking at You”) the only track that you recorded in the studio with Randy that didn’t appear on either of the studio albums?
Wow! (Looks at single incredulously) “You Lookin’ at Me Lookin’ at You.” Originally this was gonna be on the album. It was one of those early songs that we… god, I haven’t heard that for years! That sold about four copies, I think. (Sings) “You, lookin’ at me, lookin’ at you.” (trails off)
Why does now feel like the right time to put out “Tribute”?
It wasn’t my idea! [Randy’s mother] phoned up Sharon, because she’d been so inundated with letters and phone calls about the live album, and we’ve also ‘ad a lot of mail sayin’ “When ya gonna put it out?” And to be perfectly honest, it was basically Sharon and Randy’s mother who got it all together. I ‘ad no intention of puttin’ it out… [but] I think it looks very good, actually. The only thing I did say to Sharon was I didn’t want it to be sort of morbid. And there’s a track on the album called “Dee Outtakes,” it’s an instrumental thing that [Rhoads] wrote for ‘is mother. [The outtake] isn’t brilliant or anything, it’s just him gettin’ that together in the studio, talkin’ to [producer Max Norman], and you can hear a part where he fucks it up, and starts again. But not many [fans] ever heard ‘im speak … because, you know, he came and he went so quickly.
There’s a side of Randy that I’m tryin’ to show something about (picks up artwork) The reason why I put this picture of Randy in there — that was at Day on the Green [concert] in San Francisco. The reason why he liked that photo was because of the massive crowd, that was one of the first big crowds we played for, also he split ‘is pants onstage! And that’s why [his expression is like] “Oh no!” There’s a lot of photographs of ‘im, there’s a letter from his mother here, there’s things that you would never normally see.
He said in interviews that he wanted to branch out musically and do something different. Did you sense that at the time?
His dream was to get a degree in classical music and combine classical and rock together. Whether he woulda stayed with me and done it, I don’t know, but it woulda been a fabulous combination. So many of these guys can play fast, but they don’t play with any … [Randy] had a lot of soul and a lot of emotion with what he was playin’.
When did you first meet him?
What happened was, I’d got booted outta Sabbath [in 1979], and met up with a guy called Dana Strum, who now is the bass player with Vinnie Vincent. And Dana said, “I know this amazing guitar player.” And ‘e came at some bizarre fuckin’ hour, as Dana always does, he’ll freak ya out at four o’clock in the morning when you’ve drunk 95 cans of beer and smoked 85 joints or something and you fucking wanna just die!
Dana says, “Get up man! You gotta see this guy!” And I went ’round to a studio, and Dana’s virtually holdin’ my eyes open, y’know, “Listen!” And this lit’le tiny guy came in — and one of the first things I asked him was, “This guy looks like ‘e’s a fuckin drug addict or somethin, he’s so skinny” [Rhoads wasn’t] But then I heard ‘im play and it was just amazing. It all just fell into place. And I flew ‘im to England and then we shacked up with [bassist] Bob Daisley and started from there.
I heard that you hired him after hearing him play for two minutes.
Yeah, that’s true. I instantly spotted the fact that the guy was different, and ‘e was very good! And he looked the part — he reminded me of [David Bowie’s “Ziggy Stardust”-era guitarist] Mick Ronson a lot. And then we auditioned for Lee Kerslake, we went through about 900 fucking drummers, drummers are always a pain in the ass to find. So we found Lee about two weeks before we went into the studio.
Both albums were recorded with that lineup, right?
Yeah.
Why did Daisley and Kerslake leave?
It was kind of a situation where I knew we had to do a lot of work, and I didn’t want any complaints and anybody in the camp to start fuckin’ moaning and gettin’ …to be honest with you, I can’t really remember what ‘appened! I think it was we had two shows at the Palladium [in New York], and they were moaning that we had two shows or something. And just I said, “Fuck this, I want guys just to fuckin’ play!,” considerin’ I was just startin’ up again. Plus the fact that it wasn’t a good-looking band either, it didn’t look too cool. Bob’s playin’ on the new Sabbath album, you know.
Is he really? What do you think about the newer Sabbath stuff?
I don’t know anything about them anymore. I’m not puttin’ ‘em down or anything, I just don’t know anything about them. Don’t know where they are, what they’re doin’, or anything.
How did Randy react to the circus atmosphere of the ’82 tour, after the bat incident?
He didn’t get offended by anything, he was just… I mean, [drummer] Tommy [Aldridge] used to shit every time we used to do the final bow at the end of the night — this is with all the fuckin’ big lumps of meat and liver and snakes being thrown onstage every night. Tommy would be like “For fuck’s sake, let’s get out of here!” and I’d purposely hold him down for a long time while we were bowing (gestures).
That was the bizarre-est tour that I’ve ever done — the “Diary of a Madman” tour, where we [mock-] hung the midget and all that, that was fuckin’ insane! It was like, “Bring your own meat,” ’cause instead of a custard pie fight, we’d throw meat out to the audience, y’know. You’d throw out one bucketful and about eight tons of it would come back. But it was different, it was exciting, and the kids were great. You always get one guy that throws some fuckin’ object up there but you don’t really wanna look — somebody threw up a big marsh frog one night!
Is that how the bat ended up onstage?
eah yeah yeah. It seems like yesterday. Y’know somebody said to me yesterday, “It was five years ago,” and I thought, Fuckin’ ‘ell!
Okay, here’s where it gets rough. What exactly happened with the plane crash?
Uh, as far as I know, ’cause I was sleeping on the bus with my wife, we’d done a show in Knoxville, Tennessee, and we were driving to do a festival with Foreigner. And the bus driver had to stop and pick up some parts from a bus depot on the way, somewhere in Florida near Orlando. The depot was a big place with a private airstrip, and the guy had been driving all night. He was obviously a bit not all-there from driving [unintelligible]. And ‘e took them up in the private plane to take an aerial shot of the bus, and obviously he must have made a big error and fuckin’ flew the plane into the bus. And then the plane careered into a big house that was behind the bus and burst into flames.
There were some reports, I don’t know if this is true, that you had had an argument beforehand?
With ‘oo?
With Randy.
[Incredulous] No, no, no, not at all.
And the first gig after that was Madison Square Garden two weeks later, with guitarist Bernie Torme?
Yeah, that was another memorable gig, ’cause the kids knew what the deal was, and they carried me through. Bernie was scared, but the kids were great.
I had thought “This is it, it’s all over now, we can’t go on.” And my wife just said, “Don’t talk so stupid. ‘E [Rhoads] wouldn’t like it.”
Just to finish this part up, how would you like Randy to be remembered?
The thing is, there’s a side of Randy that nobody knew about. He was a very dedicated guitar player, he was a teacher, before ‘e played with me. And he was just a real sweet man, but he was also a very funny man. When he’d had a few drinks ‘e was hysterical. I can remember one time we were staying in a hotel, and there was a guy playing classical piano. Randy went up to ‘is room and came back down with ‘is guitar and one of those little Pignose amplifiers. He plugged it in at the bar and started playing along on the guitar, but doin’ all the heavy metal guitar moves. Hysterical!
You wrote a letter to People magazine recently criticizing their coverage of John Lennon’s assassin, Mark David Chapman. How do you deal with the death threats that you get?
I don’t read ’em. If they’re off-the-wall you just throw them in the trash. I’ve had police chiefs and various authority people say like, “Y’know, we’ve had a death threat; somebody’s said they overheard somebody saying that they’re gonna fuckin’ shoot you, or something.” You kind of have to build a switch inside you that switches yourself off to the fear, y’know? You can’t go around thinking… I mean, these people that wrote these fucking sensationalistic articles don’t know what it’s like to live under threat. I had the police chief of Tyler, Texas, phone up on the last tour and say, “Listen, I’ve heard from a very good source that there’s gonna be trouble at the show. I can’t guarantee the safety of Ozzy if ‘e comes to town.” So we never went.
Do you still get bothered by Christian protesters?
Oh yeah! Especially down in the South. Not so much around New York or L.A. Most of ’em are down in the Southern belt. The last show I did on the tour, I was sitting in a coffee shop and a bunch of Jimmy Swaggert fans or something came inside hoo-hahin’ and hallelujah and all that. But they talk about me being sick, and then this evangelist guy [Oral Roberts] got on the fuckin’ television and said, “If I don’t get eight million dollars by March I’m gonna die.” People buy that shit? (Shakes his head then laughs) I should put a thing out and say, “If I don’t get $200 million by August I’m gonna live!” (laughter)
You did an interview last year in the New Musical Express around the time of the Castle Donington festival last year where it sounded like you’d absolutely had it with touring and your image and heavy metal.
I was in a real depressing stage at that thing. Earlier on in the I’d gone to Japan and come up with this fuckin’ awful virus that I couldn’t shake off, y’know, and I’m goin’ to the doctor for antibiotics and decongestant pills and inhalants and vaporizers. And I thought maybe it’s time for me to quit. My shows weren’t goin’ too well, I wasn’t singin’ too well, and then I cut the tour short, as it happens.
And I got bogged down with depression, and I thought “Oh fuck this. It’s all over. I’m not gonna do it anymore.” But then just recently I did a benefit show with the band in Los Angeles for the homeless, and I got up there and just played, and this fuckin’ great feeling — it was there again. And I’ve since then decided that I’m not gonna go on the road for nine months ever again — three or four at the most. I’ve been doin’ it for 19 years and I can’t do the things that I used to do anymore. I’ve gotta work at a more easier pace, slow down a little. If I can’t give them my best shot, then I feel like I’ve cheated. Only my best is good enough. I see these fuckin’ bands from the Woodstock era and they sing their one all-time hit and they barely even move, and you think, “What the fuck is he tryin’ to do?”
Don’t you ever feel that way when you’re playing “Paranoid”?
No, because I play it like I’m fuckin’ enjoyin’ it! I mean, “Paranoid” is one song, but there’s a lot of other songs in my set that have been hits. It’s like fuckin’ “Sing Along with Ozzy!” at my shows. As long as you are enjoying what you’re doing — can you imagine me just standin’ there going (mumbles opening lyric from “Paranoid”), “Finished with my…” (trails off) As long as you look like you’re alive!
You kind of disappeared for a while after the last tour.
I just took off. At the end of the tour I was so depressed, so fucked up, and so disappointed with myself. I just wanted time to myself. So I just travelled around America and Canada, just on my own. I just didn’t wanna see anybody, and I didn’t go to fuckin’ Tibet, like everybody said, and shave my head bald, and I didn’t have an affair with fuckin’ Stevie Nicks as somebody else reported!
If I’d’ve gone home, I know what it would’ve been: “Oh Ozzy, I forgot to mention it, but we have to wrap up by doin’ these TV interviews and these 15 in-stores,” and all this, and I just didn’t wanna do anything! I wanted to just get sane again, ’cause tours send me fuckin’ crazy. I have to have a security guy with me — as I must, because of these fuckin’ ‘eadcases — and you feel like a prisoner of your own success, when you’re on the road. Because you go under a different name, and you can’t sit in a coffee shop without some fuckin’ waitress slipping a tablemat under you sayin’ “Please sign this.” I was just tired of living like that, y’know. So I changed my look — collar and tie and suit. There was a report that said they saw me in a coffee shop in California and I resembled an insurance salesman more than the wild man of rock and roll.
Is it true that Sharon asked radio stations to keep an eye out for you?
I don’t know. [Unintelligible] fucked up. I don’t know where they got the photograph with the bald head from! But people like fuckin’ intrigue, though, don’t they?
How are your kids?
Lovely!
How many do you have?
With Sharon, three, but I have two from my ex-wife, and one adopted son from my ex-wife.
When did you last see them?
They were out in California about a week ago. I’m going home tomorrow! (Looks heavenward.) After a year! I ‘aven’t been home for a year, apart from a fleeting visit now and again.
Don’t you and Sharon ever get on each other’s nerves?
All the time! We have some real screaming fights from down here [unintelligible], sometimes we end up exchanging a few blows, but that’s the way it goes.
Is it hard having her as your manager?
I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s really funny, I was sayin’ this to her on the phone last night — when we’re with each other, we sometimes get on each others’ case, but as soon as we’re separate, it’s like a big part of my life’s gone, it’s like my life stops. I don’t know what to do with myself! She’s a great person, she’s a great mother too.
When did you first meet Sharon?
I met her when she used to work for her father as a receptionist, many many years ago. And I always had a secret admiration for her, from a distance, for a long time. She’s had to carry around a lot of…she’s had to fight to get where she’s gotten in her career, because her father has got such a bad [reputation] , you know, [the notoriously tough and threatening British artist manager] Don Arden. She’s had to really live through that, y’know. She’s a very honest woman, she’s a very hard-working woman.
Does the image you put across ever feel limiting?
Well, the only thing that feels limiting is the fact that if I wanted to branch out in a different area — like, when I put out [the ballads] “Goodbye to Romance” or “So Tired,” they would still be put on the heavy metal rack. That was not heavy at all, and [radio] wouldn’t play it because it was classed as heavy metal.
Is there anything you’re listening to now that you really like?
I like a bit of variety in music. My record of ’86 was “So” by Peter Gabriel, I played the fuck out of that, that was incredible. And I wasn’t a Peter Gabriel fan before that. And I quite like that, uh… [to Mitch], what’re they called? It’s kinda disco…
Mitch Schneider: INXS?
INXS, yeah. Played that for awhile.
Any metal bands?
I don’t listen to too much other metal bands because I think a lot of ’em sound so fuckin’ stereotyped, so much, like the 95th version of Ronnie James Dio. They’ve got a radio station in Los Angeles called KNAC that plays nothing but metal, and it don’t half wear ya down, y’know, when everybody sounds like Rob Halford or Ronnie Dio.
Do you like any of the speed metal bands?
Yeah, I really like Metallica. I’m not really jammed up on speed metal at all, but I did a tour with Metallica. It’s like a faster version of Sabbath — early Sabbath, y’know, the way they look, walk around is just like that as well.
It’s very punk, too.
Well, it’s combination of new metal and punk, this thrash metal is like, “Fuck you!” Because as soon as something starts to work, it gets capitalized by the industry, and when it gets capitalized, it gets fucked.
I mean, I was lookin’ through, what was it, Metal Edge [magazine] yesterday. The guys look more like chicks now! It was like a fuckin’ drag magazine! Eh — what’s this fuckin’ band Poison or something? What’s this about? (Laughter)
I knew it!
(Ozzy begins flipping quickly through magazine) I said to my wife yesterday, there’s a great new band — and I swear to God that it was totally accidental, like, and I didn’t mean it at all to be a knock — but I thought they were four chicks! I swear to God! I said, “Sharon, there’s a great-lookin’ new chick band out now: Poison.” She said, “What are you talkin’ about? They’re fuckin’ guys!” And I swear that was a pure, innocent accident. I’ve gotta find this fuckin’ photo in one of these magazines. It’s incredible!
But Ozzy, everybody’s doing that now! Even the guys in your band look kinda like that!
You’ve gotta see this fucking photo! (Points to picture of himself in the magazine) Now, does that look like a chick?
(Laughing) No, it doesn’t.
I’ve gotta fucking find this (Looking frantically through magazine, sees different photo of himself with Alice Cooper.) Now me and old Alice here, we don’t look like fuckin’ chicks. (Sees photo of Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi wearing eyeliner.) Even Iommi wears eye makeup now! Fuckin’ ‘ell, what’s happenin’? And never, ever before! We’ve all turned into fuckin’ raving ‘omos! (He turns page and lands on photo of Poison.)
All: There they are!
That’s it! I even fancied the fuckin’ lead singer! (More hilarity)
Mitch: Well, I hate to break this up, but the next interviewer is here. Ozzy, Sharon just called, if you wanna call her back?
Okay. (long pause) What the fuck was I doin’ listenin’ to fuckin’ Gregg Allman last night? Like I’m still in a fuckin’ mystery over that!
