No More Tears: Ozzy Speaks!

John Michael Ozzy Osbourne is an English heavy metal and Grammy Award winning vocalist and songwriter. Osbourne rose to prominence as lead singer of the pioneering English band Black Sabbath, whose dark and hard sound helped spawn the heavy metal genre.

Due to his distinctive voice and Sabbaths style, Osbourne became known as the Prince of Darkness. Indeed, Osbourne is also known as the Godfather of Heavy Metal.

But, you all know that by now. But, perhaps you did not know that his wife Sharon Osbourne has finally spoken out about husband Ozzys recent drink and drugs relapse.

The former X Factor judge - who is currently living apart from her partner of 31 years - confirmed recently on chat show The Talk (here in the US) that Ozzy had fallen off the wagon, but she denied rumors that the couple were set to divorce.

Chatting with OZZY OSBOURNE was always an experience for me through the years. And so for this latest one, well, let us just say he caught me a little off guard as I prepared to ask my first question. Are you nuts?, he asks, a serious tone embedded.

Er, well, maybe a little, ... why?! Because I have just been speaking to a f**king nutter on the phone and I do not know what the f**k her problem was. F**king bint!

Was she American? I think she was from Venus or somewhere!

Well, given what you are now going through, I guess you have to put up with that sh*t! I know, I know ... it is called Rock n Roll

OK, well, I know you are back in the spotlight for some personal issues, and as much as we are talking today one-on-one, I do not wish to touch on anything too sensitive for you, my friend. So, let me just ask how are you feeling today? Well, it is only when you come out of the bubble that you realize what an asshole you were!

Indeed. Have you ever considered AA? I am not in Alcoholics Anonymous and I do not preach the flag. For me, I just did not drink.

But that changed. So, with what we are now reading in the press about you, what was the worst thing about being the old Ozzy? That I had to wake up the next morning and feel like sh*t! I never woke up, I came around, covered in my own urine, puke! In all kinds of dodgy places that I did not even know where I was or how the f**k I got there! Even now people come up to me and say, How ya doing, Oz? and I will be like Do I know you? And they will say, You spent four f**king weeks at my house!

Did not the music business help you in any way? The entertainment profession is one of the only industries where the more f**ked up you turn up the more they like you! All the greats die and it is sad. But if you, as a reporter, were talking to me drunk, I would say call me when you are sober. But if I was drunk, you would write that I tried to do the interview with Ozzy Osbourne, but could not make head nor f**king tail of what he was saying!

And some kid somewhere would go, Wow, hey, that is so cool. It is sex, drugs and rock n roll and I did the f**king lot man. I got sick and tired of feeling bad. I aint saying to anyone out there, Look, do not do this or that as there is a better way.

So, what makes someone relapse? Some days I wish I could say, F**k you all, get me some cocaine, get me some heroin, get me some whiskey, Im off!

All this must have been so hard on Sharon? When I would go out the house she did not know whether I was gonna come back. Or how I was gonna come back. If I was gonna come back in a police car, an ambulance or even a f**king hearse!

Looking back, at what point did you realize the path you were on was bad? I had a rude awakening ten years ago ... when I realized my head was stuck down a vodka bottle and knew I had to get out of it. Right now I am working on trying to quit smoking. Which if you can quit smoking you can fly to the moon!

I know you have been back clean and sober again now for a while now - was death a consideration? In the end of the day, it is life that kills you. If you enjoy getting drunk, shooting heroin, doing whatever the f**k you do, and you can honestly say you are not altering your lifestyle and you are not f**king with other people, then do it! I just could not live in my head the way I was. I got to the point in my life where I was terrified of dying and f**king petrified of living.

OK, lets take a step away from all this tabloid stuff. Your music has been described in many ways, so how would you yourself describe it? Is it Heavy Rock, Heavy Metal or Alternative? What the f**k does Alternative mean? What is Alternative music? In my day it used to be called Underground. Alternative, my f**king head! You know, as the years go by, there is gotta be somebody somewhere that runs out of a f**king name.

It was called Hard Rock, Loud Rock, Heavy Metal, Industrial Metal and now it is Alternative. To be honest with you, some of these bands, and I find myself sounding like my old man when I get started, I do not know what the f**k they are singing about. They just sound like they have got their balls in a vice! There is no melody.

Do you keep an eye on the charts? I do not even know what the f**ks going on out there! I will even ask Sharon and she will say so-and-so and I will say Well, who the f**k are they? And she will say that they have sold twenty-million albums. And I will be like, Well, they did not sell twenty-million and one, because I have not bought one!

I know your private life just got blown up again, but for a while there you were going unnoticed. So, what is the private Ozzy like? I live in Buckinghamshire, England and I have got my dogs, my kids and my little bit of forest. And I just live a totally separate life than what I do for a living. I have never been one of these guys that ever hang around the in-club and have my photograph with the in-person. I could not give a rats ass who you are. I am very much a home-body, you know. It is not because of my age though!

Has anyone ever told you that you suck at what you do? "Well, let me tell you that once I did one of my worst f**king shows ever! I had got bronchitis and I could not sing for shit and I got angry. I suffer from terminal professionalism. If somebody walked up to me, and I have had people do it, and tell me I suck I just smile and nod. I mean, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but it is not a nice thing to say to anyone.

All I do is what I do and when I go in to make a record, I do not go Oh yeah, I have been doing this for twenty-five years now and it is about time I made the biggest pile of sh*t that I have ever made! None of us do that. But, if someone did come up to me, I would just say, Heres the mic, you get up and have a f**king go!

What is the most asked Ozzy question that really winds you up? Er, So, Ozzy, what do bats taste like? It is like, f**k off! Or it is Did you write Suicide Solution so that kids would kill themselves? Bollocks!

Describe Ozzy back twenty years ago and, given what has just been revealed, then describe him now! Totally out of control ...

And now? ... still totally out of control!

OK, finally, given everything that went on in the past and everything that is currently going on, what would you like everyone to know about you? I am Ozzy. You either like me or you dont!

Interviewed by Russell A. Trunk