Outrageous. Controversial. Outspoken. That best describes Ozzy Osbourne. For eleven years Ozzy was featured as lead singer for Black Sabbath, then last year he left. On his own now with a group called “Blizzard of Ozz” and a debut album on Jet Records, Ozzy made a stopover in Syracuse. His concert performance here was nothing less than sensational.
He’s been called the King of Heavy Metal, and rightly so. Here’s our talk with the King – Ozzy Osbourne.
Q – How did it feel when you left Black Sabbath?
A -It was the happiest day of my life.
Q – Did you save your money?
A -Sure. As it happens I’ve got more money in the bank than Black Sabbath.
Q – How’d that happen?
A -Because they had to buy the name off me, you know.
Q -At the time you left Sabbath, they were talking about doing jazz.
A -What’s Black Sabbath got to do with jazz? If you want to see jazz, go to New Orleans.
Q – You were unhappy with the group’s last three albums.
A -I was terribly unhappy.
Q – What direction did you want to see the group go in?
A -I wanted to make music that I know people could relate to. Who knows about Martians? Has anyone ever seen a Martian? Well then what are we writing about Martians for? The whole reason I pulled out of Sabbath was I didn’t feel I was giving the people my heart.
Q – I understand Black Sabbath didn’t enjoy the road?
A -I’ll tell you what it was. It was down to bone idleness. We thought we were bigger than we were.
Q – Why’d you wait a year to release this album?
A -I don’t want to sound artificial, but it was my first shot on my own and I was kind of nervous about the whole deal, whether it was gonna be a success or not. We put out a small tour in England to see how the people would react to me with a new band. Believe it or not the album went straight up the charts to No. 7, and the tour was extended seventeen days.
Q – What do you think of your replacement in Sabbath-Ronnie Dio?
A -Ronnies a good singer. He’s a very competent singer. He’s great. I gave him the job you know. Good luck to him.
Q – What do you think of your competition — Van Halen. Styx, Judas Priest, Scorpions?
A -They’re all great. You see the thing of it is, heavy metal will never die. Never die.
Official Website: Ozzy.com
