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OZZY OSBORNE
interviewsofrecordingartists.com
Over thirty years ago, in a dudgeon-like basement, somewhere in the industrial city of Birmingham, England, four teenagers started a hard rock band called Black Earth, which they later changed to Black Sabbath. Black Sabbath's founding members, Ozzy Osbourne (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar), Geezer Butler (bass) and drummer Bill Ward, were four working-class British kids, who, at that time, were faced with the prospect of what they considered to be a bleak-looking future. With no secure employment, caused by decreasing economic growth, throughout much of industrial England, forming a rock band and taking a chance at making the big time in the music business, made sense. So once the quartet put together a play list of original songs, using what equipment they could obtain, Black Sabbath started playing the British pub and night club circuit. Two years later, by 1970, Black Sabbath was a huge phenomenon in Britain and Europe as well. Their self-titled debut disc, and their follow-up disc titled "Paranoid", quickly topped the charts throughout the UK and Europe. But in the USA, it was a different matter. According to Ozzy Osbourne (50), it wasn't until the singles "Paranoid" and "War Pigs", were featured in heavy rotation, by influential FM rock radio stations in several USA major markets, that, Black Sabbath took off in popularity. However, much to his dismay, Osbourne discovered, when Sabbath's music landed in the mainstream rock marketplace in the States, it hit in a way the band members never imagined or even intended. In the press, the members of Black Sabbath were accused of being involved in the occult and the media firestorm that greeted the band on their first American tour, Osbourne says, is a plague that he continues to encounter every time he tours, either as a solo artist or with Black Sabbath, to this day. "When we first started to write some songs about the occult," Osbourne said," we just thought the occult was the stuff that was portrayed only in old horror movies. We didn't realize it was for real and we didn't take it serious. We thought of the early songs in the same way fans of classic horror films view those movies. Now, we didn't take it seriously, really. I mean horror films are there in the theater to make people scared and happy films are there to make people happy. So when the press started labeling us as a band with ties to the occult, then we started investigating what that was all about, because that was certainly news to us." Additionally, Osbourne is quick to point out that, contrary to numerous reports, many of those early Black Sabbath songs such as "War Pigs", "Fairies Wear Boots" "Children Of The Grave" and "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath", which are featured on the new Sabbath disc titled, "Reunion", were not intended as statements condoning the occult or any kind of occult activity. "Originally didn't have a plan or anything like that," Osbourne said," we just wrote songs that we felt were right for us. We didn't want to shock the world with the song "Paranoid" or "War Pigs". So, we were all amazed at the response we received when we first toured America. Since we had changed the band name from Black Earth to Black Sabbath, we started to get written about in the newspapers as having something do with black magic. It was a joke man, really. I mean take the song "War Pigs" for example. That's an anti-war song. The lyrics that Geezer (Butler) wrote fit the song perfectly. I look back on those lyrics and those lyrics still have very profound relevance in our world today. Yet, to this day, there are people who still don't get it right. Now, as far as the press goes, I don't care really who is right or who is wrong. But give it a break man, OK? I mean, I have a fantastic career and Black Sabbath has such a large and loyal following of fans, you know man? Yet, we rarely if every get any credit for that." Since Black Sabbath has managed to maintain their "large and loyal following of fans" in spite of numerous personnel changes, 1999 looks like it should be a pretty good year at the box office for the original metal kings. After a layoff of more than 20 years without Osbourne, the original Black Sabbath lineup has reunited and they're touring the USA in support of their new "Reunion" disc, which was recorded live on December 5, 1997 at the second of two sold-out concerts in the group's Birmingham, England home town. Osbourne says that for him, each and every show still remains a challenge. "A good analogy is that, on-stage, I'm walking across a tightrope and if I fall, I fall into a net," he said. "You can rehearse until your blue in the face. But the best rehearsal is a live gig where everything that can go wrong will go wrong. Some nights, I think it's going to be great and everything is terrible. Other nights, I can't do anything wrong. That's all right though, because rock and roll is not to be analyzed. It's either enjoyed or disliked."
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