Interviews

 

OZZY OSBOURNE

 

Words: Rod Yates

 

When Ozzy Osbourne first appears on the end of the phone, he doesn’t realise there’s an interviewer already waiting to speak with him. Chatting to his Australian assistant Melinda, who’s connecting the call – fans of The Osbournes reality show will remember her as the nanny – he replies to her enquiry as to his health with a quiet and croaky, “I’m still feeling a bit crappy from this fucking chest thing we all had…” At which point she informs him that the interviewer has already joined the conference, and Osbourne – ever the consummate performer – immediately springs to life, offering a friendly hello.

 

“Everybody on the tour’s had this chest thing, it’s like a bronchitis thing,” he explains of his initial comments. “I’ve been on that many antibiotics to keep going. My tongue’s all sore, my throat’s all sore. But,” he says, repeating a mantra on which his career has surely been based, “rock goes on.”

 

Ask Ozzy Osbourne to recount any memories of his visits to Australia – first with Black Sabbath and, almost two decades later, as a solo artist – and he says,

 

“You know what? My memory is terrible now! I can’t remember the last time we were there.”

 

And so you embark on another line of conversation – mainly surrounding his latest album, Black Rain – only to be brought back to the topic minutes later when a memory pops into his head, almost as if by coincidence than any real design.

 

“The one thing I do remember about Black Sabbath in Australia, I’ll never forget this,” he starts. “We were in Adelaide and someone said to us one day, ‘Do you want to go to a party?’ Adelaide was like really quiet and laidback so we were all thinking, What’s this going to be like? I was standing there posing around in my platform shoes, and this guy comes up to me and says, ‘Are you with that band Black Sabbath?’ And I said, ‘Yeah’, I’m thinking I’ve been recognised. And he said, ‘Oh great, I bought your new album yesterday.’ I said, ‘Oh good, what do you think of it?’ He said, ‘It’s crap!’ I took it back and returned it for another one!”

 

A hearty cackle descends down the phone line.

 

“But that’s Australians. They’re not like, ‘Oh, you could have done a better album’, he thought it was crap and he changed it for something else!”

 

Osbourne’s career has, of course, never been to everyone’s taste. But to those who have recognised its myriad charms, he remains one of the most loved figures in music today. He may never have received widespread critical kudos – and seems to take such acclaim with a grain of salt; when discussing his recent Grammy nomination he shrugs and says, “I don’t mind, it’s better than a poke in the eye with a burnt stick” –  but more loyal fans you’ll struggle to find. Indeed for a man who’s seen, played and smoked it all, this continued adoration is one of the few things that still surprises him.

 

“I love the fact that people are still into me and my music, it’s phenomenal,” he gushes. “I’ve been 40 years in the business, and I’m always moaning and bitching, and Sharon will say something like, ‘How many other people do you know of your age that are still in demand? I just take it for granted most of the time but then I have a reality flash and it’s like, woah.”

 

Osbourne’s career has taken a sidestep in recent times thanks to his stint as a reality TV star courtesy of The Osbournes series. Succeeding in both raising his profile and, in the process, taking him away from music, his return last year with ninth studio solo album Black Rain was something of a triumph. Reciting proudly that it was the only album on Epic to go Gold in America in 2007 (although he adds with a typically self-effacing chuckle: “I don’t know if it’s cos everyone else’s was a crap record!”), his subsequent headlining of the Ozzfest and, most recently, a US arena tour with Rob Zombie has met with rave reviews. All of which bodes well for his upcoming Australian dates. Given that he’s now 59, there’s a very real chance that this might be the last time we ever get the chance to see Osbourne performing live down here. Although by the sounds, retirement may still be a way off yet.

 

“I tried retiring once, but what do I retire to?” he offers. “It’s not a job that I do, I don’t have to work for someone I can’t stand. I don’t give a shit, as long as the audience is happy. I’ve always had a great fanbase, and now I’m getting fathers, sons and grand children. And they’re what keeps you going.”

 

 

 

[BACK TO INTERVIEWS]