Ozzy Osbourne News

Ozzy mourns the passing of fellow Black Sabbath frontman, who died on Sunday.

By James Montgomery

Photo: Paul Natkin/WireImage

On Monday, Ozzy Osbourne released a statement praising the talents of the late Ronnie James Dio, who died on Sunday of stomach cancer at the age of 67.

“I was very saddened to hear of the passing of Ronnie James Dio,” Osbourne said in the statement. “Metal has truly lost one of its greatest voices. My heart goes out to his family and to his many fans. … Love and respect.”

Dio, who possessed one of the most formidable voices in hard rock, replaced Osbourne in Black Sabbath at the end of the 1970s (after rising to fame with acts like Elf and Rainbow) and led the band through a career resurgence, thanks to albums like Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules. Dio would leave Sabbath to start his own band in late 1982, briefly rejoined in 1990, left again, then joined a final time in 2006, when he fronted the band under the moniker of Heaven and Hell.

Osbourne’s statement is just the latest in a series of tributes to Dio’s talent, generosity and kindness that have been pouring in since he died. Slayer’s Kerry King said he was lucky to have known him, and called Dio “one of the nicest guys in the business, without a doubt.” Anthrax’s Scott Ian echoed those sentiments, saying, “Every day on tour, he’d have a kind word, a smile and a clap on the back. I feel honored and privileged to even have shaken hands with Ronnie, let alone be able to say we were friends.”

A whole new generation of hard-rock acts also remembered Dio, with the likes of Killswitch Engage (who covered his classic “Holy Diver”) and Mastodon releasing statements about his death.

Share your own memories of Ronnie James Dio and his music in the comments.

Related Photos

• Ronnie James Dio: A Life In Photos

Related Artists

• Black Sabbath
• Ozzy Osbourne

View full post on
Ozzy Osbourne

‘I cannot do it,’ he tells Inked magazine about watching the reality talent competition.

By MTV News staff

Photo: Getty Images

Ozzy Osbourne knows full well that his image as the deranged god of metal on a crazy train ride to oblivion has changed drastically over the past decade. While he was once known for (allegedly) biting the heads off of bats and (allegedly) snorting a line of ants, in these post-”The Osbournes” days he’s more likely to go off on young metal acts who have forgotten about melody as he looks for the legal drugs that help him overcome a nagging tremor.

The Blizzard of Ozz talks about all of that and more in a new interview with Inked magazine, where the 61-year-old hard-rock icon holds court on everything from “American Idol” to his first tattoos and what life is like sober.

“I wouldn’t have been speaking to Ozzy from 35 years ago because he would’ve been f—ed up and not having this conversation,” he said when asked what he might discuss with his younger self. “I never wanted to take the character of Ozzy off the stage, but it happened.” Now, with drugs and alcohol finally out of his life after decades of struggles, Ozzy, whose 10th studio album Scream will be released on June 22, said he only takes the medications he needs and that his life is not nearly as creepy and kooky as fans might imagine.

“I suppose there are people who imagine me going to my Bavarian castle and hanging upside down from the f—ing rafters every night,” he joked. “I’m just a guy, man — I’m just a crazy guy who started a merry-go-round ride many years ago, and I’m still here.” Ozzy has seen a lot changes over the years, but one of the biggest shifts in the music business — the emergence of reality singing shows like “American Idol” — is not something he cares to think about. “I cannot watch that sh–,” said Osbourne, whose wife, Sharon, is a judge on reality performance competition “America’s Got Talent.” “I cannot do it for the simple fact that for a person to come out of the working-class thing, pass the audition, go on the show and then have a panel of people tell them how f—ed up they are … I’m a 42-year veteran and I could not f—ing do it. My hat goes off to all of those kids on those shows.”

Because it’s a tat mag, Ozzy also runs down some of his most famous ink, beginning with his first piece — a dagger he got on his left arm when he was 15, complete with his name. “I don’t understand why, when I got tattoos all those years ago, everybody had daggers,” he said. “I don’t see what the f—ing point was now, but back then you would go for a dagger on the arm. But now it’s an art form.” He also confirms that the crude “OZZY” across his knuckles was a home job he did when he was stone-cold sober at age 16, one of the few he’s gotten while not in an altered state.

And even though he’s hitting the road this summer for a shortened version of the Ozzfest with his old pals in Mötley Crüe, Ozzy said he has no interest in revisiting the good/bad old days. “Now I just go and do my show,” he said, reminiscing about his fellow rockers who died as a result of drug and alcohol abuse. “In the old days, when we came offstage, I went to the bus to get more drugs and alcohol inside me. I don’t even know whether they still do that — if they want to do that, fine. I don’t have a problem with that. I’m not one of these holier-than-thou guys. Believe me, if I knew I could have a good time with it, I’d do it again. I’m not turning nerdy. I just never gave sobriety a chance before, really.”

There isn’t much he hasn’t done, but the one thing Osbourne does crave is a #1 album in America — but even if Scream doesn’t do it for him, don’t look for Ozzy to retire anytime soon.

“How can I retire from what I do? I’m the luckiest man in the f—ing world,” he said. “I have voice problems when I’m on the road from screaming every night. I’m not Pavarotti by any means, but if I was, he used to do one show every six months or so.”

Will you help Ozzy fulfill his dream of a #1 album? Let us know in the comments!

Related Artists

• Ozzy Osbourne

View full post on
Ozzy Osbourne

Weezer, MGMT, Deadmau5 also among the performers at Halloween music fest in New Orleans.

By Josh Wigler

Photo: Getty Images

It’s not just ghosts, ghouls and goblins haunting New Orleans on Halloween weekend this year. The Big Easy’s music lovers can also look forward to seeing many of their favorite rappers, rock stars and more at the Voodoo Experience Festival 2010, set to take place at City Park in New Orleans from October 29-31 this year.

On Thursday (June 17) the festival announced that its lineup will include musicians such as Drake, Muse and Ozzy Osbourne among the high-profile performers. When the announcement was made at midnight, the fest’s official website crashed for several hours, according to Hit Fix, possibly indicating an unprecedented interest in this year’s show.

“I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Halloween than with a performance in New Orleans,” Osbourne said in a press release. This year marks the Prince of Darkness’ first appearance at the Voodoo Experience Festival, now coming up on its 12th year.

Other Voodoo performers include Weezer, MGMT, Metric, Hot Chip, Interpol, Florence and the Machine, Paul Van Dyk and deadmau5. Several local New Orleans acts will also be on hand, including Leo Jackson and the Melody Clouds, the Rebirth Brass Band, Big Sam’s Funky Nation and Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen.

Tickets are already on sale, with weekend passes available for $150 and VIP packages for $500.

Which music festival are you most looking forward to this year? Share your excitement in the comments below.

Don’t miss the “Drake: Better Than Good Enough” documentary, airing Wednesday, June 23, at 10 p.m. ET/PT on MTV!

Related Photos

• 2010 Voodoo Experience Festival Performers

Related Artists

• Drake
• Muse
• Ozzy Osbourne
• Weezer
• MGMT

View full post on
Ozzy Osbourne

The O’Jays also hit the stage at Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s ‘Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear.’

By Mawuse Ziegbe

Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images

Thousands of fans crowded the National Mall in Washington DC Saturday (October 30) for Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear,” and the two politician-skewering funnymen trotted out a slew of legends to entertain the crowd.

About midway through the show, which already featured a nearly 40-minute set from John Legend and The Roots, Stewart announced the next performer, Yusuf Islam. The folk icon formerly known as Cat Stevens, hit the stage with an acoustic rendition of “Peace Train.” However, instead of letting Yusuf placidly strum along, Colbert stormed the stage, ranting about the song’s message of harmony. The satirical pundit then proclaimed, “My train is arriving at the stage now and the conductor has an important announcement to make!”

Colbert did a fine job of busting up the performance, and cleared the way for a surprise appearance from one of rock and roll’s greatest show-stoppers: Ozzy Osbourne. Decked out in a black ensemble with his signature colored glasses, the Prince of Darkness screamed as he took the stage and led the band through the metal classic “Crazy Train.”

However, before Osbourne could finish, Stewart snatched the mic and reprised the whole interrupting-the-rock-legend-thing, spewing protests like, “I will not get on that train! I am not comfortable on that train!” Stewart commanded Yusuf to start up again with “Peace Train,” until Colbert jumped in, saying, “I’m gonna pull the emergency brake on this rainbow, moonbeam choo-choo!” Osbourne and Yusuf went back and forth, volleying metal and folk classics about trains, until both gave up the fight, embraced each other and left the stage.

But the audience wasn’t left without a stellar performance from some music legends. Colbert and Stewart paced about, lamenting the lack of singers to belt train-related hits, until a line from the smooth chorus of the O’Jays “Love Train” wafted through the air.

“Is that the sound of Philadelphia?” Stewart wondered.

Colbert queried, “Was that the sweet Philly soul?”

It sure was. The legendary soul group then took the stage in slick white suits, busting easy throwback moves to their 1973 single to the delight of the crowd.

What did you think of the “Rally to Restore Sanity And/Or Fear”? Let us know in the comments!

Related Photos

• Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert Hold ‘Rally To Restore Sanity And/Or Fear’

Related Artists

• Ozzy Osbourne

View full post on
Ozzy Osbourne

The Roots, Sam Waterston, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and more attend ‘Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear.’

By Mawuse Ziegbe

Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images

In between performances from music titans such as Ozzy Osbourne and the O’ Jays during Saturday’s (October 30) “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear,” “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart, conservative caricature Stephen Colbert and a cast of funnypeople quipped about everything from Chilean miners to the “Real Housewives of New Jersey.” Despite the deluge of laughs, the event’s overall message could possibly be summed up by the groovy mantra of the O’ Jays feel-good classic “Love Train”: People all over the world, join hands.

Philadelphia collective the Roots kicked off the three-hour live event with a 40-minute set packed with a bunch of the band’s notable jams. Bundled up in a camel coat, Black Thought led the outfit through their jocular Phrenology joint “Thought at Work” and the How I Got Over album’s eponymous cut, in the shadow of The Capitol Building. John Legend joined the Roots crew for “Dear God 2.0″ and the musicians’ covers of soul classics “Hard Times” and “Little Ghetto Boy” from the collaborative album Wake Up! Legend recounted the story behind Bill Withers’ “I Can’t Write Left Handed” before launching into a bluesy, soulful rendition powered by a fiery solo from guitarist Kirk Douglas, who also doubled up on vocal duties when the band played “The Seed 2.0.” The stars closed the set with Curtis Mayfield’s uplifting hit “Move On Up.”

“MythBusters” hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman engaged the thousands of rally attendees in a few geeky pastimes, including a large-scale version of the Wave and an attempt to create a literal “groundswell” by commanding everyone to jump simultaneously.

But the crowd really went nuts when the event’s figurehead, Jon Stewart, strolled onstage in khakis and a dark blazer, greeted by a sea of waving hands nearly an hour after the event began. Stewart introduced a patriotic rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” sung by four U.S. troops, before screaming to the audience, “Are you ready to restore sanity?” After bantering about the racial makeup of rallies — quipping that an event with too many white people is “racist” while an occasion marked by too many people of color means they’re “asking for something” such as equal rights —
Stewart, with the help of some “Daily Show” correspondents jokingly asked the crowd to count off to ensure the racial composition of the rally matched that of the country.

Stephen Colbert, pulled off a dramatic entrance that referenced the odyssey of the trapped Chilean miners, initially speaking to the crowd via camera from his “fear bunker” and ascending from below the stage in a capsule-like contraption.

Other highlights of the day included a speech from Father Guido Sarducci, who attempted to pin down the “right” religion, and a poem recited by actor Sam Waterston. Former Jet Blue flight attendant Steven Slater and “Real Housewives of New Jersey” starlet Teresa Giudice sent video apologies for their famed freak-outs. Comedian Tim Meadows appeared as PK Winsome during a taped skit, urging attendees to splurge on souvenirs, and basketball great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar made an appearance.

Ozzy Osbourne and Yusuf Islam — formerly known as Cat Stevens — surprised fans with performances of their respective hits “Crazy Train” and “Peace Train,” with Colbert supporting the former and Stewart championing the latter. R&B legends the O’ Jays followed-up with their well-worn jam “Love Train.”

Soul great Mavis Staples teamed up with Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy for a tender, acoustic version of their collaboration “You Are Not Alone” from the R&B legend’s latest album.
Rocker Sheryl Crow was accompanied by Kid Rock on the piano for a song that implores listeners to help out, crooning, “I can’t stop the war, shelter homeless, feed the poor … The least that I can do is care.” The performance featured a video-taped verse from embattled MC T.I., who wasn’t able to attend.

Stewart and Colbert also dished out awards, such as the Medal of Reasonableness to citizen Velma Hart for her levelheaded questioning of President Obama and a Medal of Fear to the news organizations who barred their employees for attending the rally.

However, when Stewart signed off at the close of the three-hour event, he maintained that the rally wasn’t just about poking fun. Instead, he urged the thousands of attendees to remember that the hyperbolic images of political extremists and religious nut jobs that clutter the media are not true representations of the American people. The speech was followed by a brief performance from legendary crooner Tony Bennett, who dished out an a cappella version of “America the Beautiful.” The crowd’s chants of “USA” rang in the air before all of the show’s performers hit the stage one final time to join Mavis for the Staples Singers’ 1972 single “I’ll Take You There.

Did you attend Jon Stewart’s “Rally to Restore Sanity And/Or Peace”? Let us know in the comments!

Related Photos

• Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert Hold ‘Rally To Restore Sanity And/Or Fear’

Related Artists

• Sheryl Crow
• Ozzy Osbourne
• The Roots
• John Legend

View full post on
Ozzy Osbourne

Space-age Best Buy ad also features Ozzy’s wife, Sharon.

By Gil Kaufman

Photo: Christopher Polk / Getty Images

What happens when the Blizzard of Oz meets the Bieber? You’ll find out on Super Bowl Sunday when Best Buy unveils a commercial co-starring Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne and Justin Bieber.

Best Buy confirmed on Wednesday that Grammy-nominated pop superstar Bieber will take his place alongside the metal legend and his equally famous chat hostess wife for the retail chain’s first-ever ad during the big game, according to Business Wire.

Details on the concept of the commercial were not announced at press time, but BB confirmed that the ad is slated to air during the third quarter of the February 6 showdown between the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers. According to a press release, it will “showcase creativity and humor to millions of football and advertising fans throughout the country.”

“We’re delighted to have Justin and Ozzy help us tell the Best Buy story,” said Drew Panayiotou, senior vice president of U.S. marketing at Best Buy. “We know people have high expectations for these ads, and Justin and Ozzy add a whole new dimension of fun.”

Britain’s Sun tabloid ran a photo on Thursday (January 27) that was purportedly shot on the set of the ad, in which the unlikely trio are dressed in black-and-silver futuristic space suits.

It won’t be the only time you see Bieber on Super Bowl Sunday, as an ad for his upcoming 3-D concert movie, “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never,” will also pop up at some point after the most-watched telecast of the year, during an episode of “Glee.”

The film opens one week later, on Valentine’s Day weekend. This is not the first time Bieber has teamed up with a major sporting event to support a release. During Game 3 of last year’s World Series, the teen pop star debuted a mini-music video for the unplugged version of his song “Never Say Never” to promote his acoustic album, My Worlds Acoustic.

Related Photos

• Justin Bieber, Ozzy Osbourne On The Set Of Their Super Bowl Commercial

Related Artists

• Justin Bieber
• Ozzy Osbourne

View full post on
Ozzy Osbourne

Osbourne asks, ‘What’s a Bieber?’ in Best Buy spot featuring the music stars.

By Jocelyn Vena

Photo: Christopher Polk/ Getty Images

Best Buy aimed to make Super Bowl fans Beliebers when they aired their ad starring Justin Bieber and Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne during the big game between the Steelers and the Packers.

Dressed in “Tron”-type clothing, Ozzy appeared on a space set selling 4G service for Best Buy. In the ad, Ozzy shoots a commercial within the commercial for the store. Flubbing his lines, it’s announced that a new face will replace the rock icon.

“I’ll take it from here,” Bieber chimes in. Then Bieber, also dressed in “Tron” clothing, looks into the camera and says, “It’s Bieber 6G fever,” besting Ozzy’s 4G claims.

“What’s a 6G?” Sharon Osbourne asks.

“What’s a Bieber?” Ozzy replies.

Then Bieber, with facial hair and disguised as a crew member, reappears and says, “I don’t know, but it kind of looks like a girl.”

According to a press release for the ad, the commercial aimed to “showcase creativity and humor to millions of football and advertising fans throughout the country.”

“We’re delighted to have Justin and Ozzy help us tell the Best Buy story,” said Drew Panayiotou, senior vice president of U.S. marketing at Best Buy. “We know people have high expectations for these ads, and Justin and Ozzy add a whole new dimension of fun.”

Bieber made numerous high-profile appearances last week in anticipation of the February 11 release of his 3-D movie “Never Say Never,” including stops at the “Today” show, “Late Night With David Letterman,” “The Seven” and “Saturday Night Live.” Next week, he’ll premiere the flick in L.A.

When Bieber sat down with MTV News on Friday, he gave us his pick for the Super Bowl … sort of. “Either way, whatever team wins, it’s not my team,” he said. Though he did have props for one team’s fan-made theme song.

“Did you hear the Lil Wayne song … ‘Green and Yellow’?” he asked Sway of the New Orleans MC’s remix of Khalifa’s “Black and Yellow.” “I saw it today and I thought that was pretty cool.”

Related Photos

• Justin Bieber, Ozzy Osbourne On The Set Of Their Super Bowl Commercial

Related Artists

• Justin Bieber
• Ozzy Osbourne

View full post on
Ozzy Osbourne

Following our latest visit to the archives of Rock’s Backpages – the world’s leading collection of vintage music journalism – we bring you a classic interview with Black Sabbath. Originally titled A Dorito and 7-Up Picnic with Black Sabbath, the piece first appeared in Circular in September 1972

Some people might want to meet Bob Dylan. Others, if asked which rock idols they’d most like to rub elbows with, might spout off names like John Lennon, Pete Townshend, Keith Richard, Ray Davies. Feh.

Me, I was whizzing over to Griffith Park in my 1966 Chevy II to say hi to the greatest rock group in the world, the true keepers of the faith, the absolute Number One group of the ’70s so far.

You know who I’m talking about as well as I do: Black Sabbath.

A Flashback: Jan. 12, 1972

How it all came about was, I won the recent What Black Sabbath Means to Me Contest. This, as I later found out, was a special offer included in but 500 lucky copies of Master Of Reality pressed during December, 1971.

Fate as it were, upon acquiring my fifth new copy of Master Of Reality, the aforementioned contest blank popped out. The instructions were a model of conciseness: “In 10 words or less, explain why you love Black Sabbath’s music.” So, as the strains of Into The Void rumbled on, I strained my faculties for some glimmer of imagination.

I scratched my chin, looked up at my poster of lggy Stooge, hummed a few Kinks’ tunes, even tried conjuring up the beloved Ferocious Flintlings (better known to the world as Grand Funk) for inspiration.

Then my brother Kevin, age 16, looked up from his copy of Teenage Wasteland Gazette and said: “Black Sabbath have discovered the secret of sound.”

That was it.

The Myth of Downer Rock Exploded

So anyway, as I made my way to Black Sabbath’s picnic table, it was obvious that these guys were not what they were cracked up to be. There were no sacrificial victims on the table. No black cats either. Only two of the group were wearing their silver crosses. Not a single member had fangs. I mentioned this to Ozzy Osbourne.

“Well, you know, people describe us sometimes as if we ran around fields with pitchforks in our hands. I think they expected flames to shoot out of the cover of our second album. Want some Doritos?”

This isn’t the only respect in which Black Sabbath have been misinterpreted. Their first album, which for a long time gave the group the stigma of a Black Magic tag, consisted largely of tracks that were a warning against black magic – “old business tycoons going to black magic rituals to get themselves involved with young chicks… things like that, they’re sick.”

Likewise the deplorable misinterpretations of Hand Of Doom, which in actuality is a grisly anti-heroin song:

Take your little dose
You join the other fools
Turn to something new
Now it’s killing you…
Stick the needle in.

Humble Beginnings

Black Sabbath’s first LP was recorded in two days, an amazing fact in these days of $500,000 Stones albums. The second, Paranoid, took all of a week, with the title cut written in the studio in five minutes. Tony Iommi’s description of Sabbath’s music is just as concise: “We play it mainly because we like it, you know. We like what we’re doing – the heavy thing. We found it was exciting and really got into it and that was it. We’re pretty quick at writing; I think of a riff or melody, and the others write around it usually.”

The reason for the short studio time allotted Sabbath’s first album was that no one gives an unknown group much money to make an album with. And they were pretty unknown, as far as the media were concerned. With naïve innocence, Black Sabbath all rushed out to buy the English trade papers the week their debut was released, only to find that it had been savagely attacked by all the critics.

“It really threw us,” remembers Tony. “What had gone wrong? Were we really as bad as they said? One review of our first album must have been the worst rating ever, and we thought, ‘Oh, Christ. This is it.’ We were worried if everyone else would think the same.”

Then, the group’s spirits at their lowest, the album made its surprise appearance on the charts. The rest of the Sabbath story is history, and the group hasn’t paid much attention to reviews since.

7-Up and Doritos with the Dark Princes of Heavy Metal

Back to the business at hand, the beer was ok, Doritos a bit stale. Ozzy delighted in mugging with a 7-Up can for photographs, all in the line of maintaining his image as the face of the group.

One thing people have rarely picked up on is just where Black Sabbath’s music comes from; the group is often seen as a faceless four-piece entity. Such is hardly the case. Tony Iommi is a former school bully, these days reformed, with the result that the aggro, as the English would call it, comes out in his guitar work (power chords at their ultimate) and songwriting.

The words, on the other hand, come from bassist Geezer Butler, as Tony emphasizes: “Geezer writes most of the lyrics. Some of them are very doomy, but they vary from that to drugs and the bad things that happen sometimes with the band.”

I asked Geezer for comment on this…

“People feel evil things, but nobody ever sings about what’s frightening and evil. I mean the world is a right fucking shambles. Anyway, everybody has sung about all the good things.”

So there’s an element of catharsis in your music?

“Yes. We try to relieve all the tension in the people who listen to us. To get everything out of their bodies – all the evil and everything.”

Trivia Time

One fact I wanted to check on was Tony Iommi’s short-lived alliance with Jethro Tull in early 1969. What happened?

“I only stayed with Jethro Tull for three weeks. It was just like doing a 9 to 5 job. The group would meet, play a gig and then split. Whereas with our group we are all good friends; we not only work as a group, but we all lived together for a long time.”

Of Demons, Wizards, Iron Men and War Pigs

As my talk with reigning kings of Heavy Metal rock continued, the whole moral here became quite clear; Black Sabbath are just a bunch of rock ‘n’ roll kids who happen to make music that, along with Grand Funk, is louder than anything ever created, and which, not incidentally, sends our older brothers off into shrieks of anguish and condescension concerning that viperous noise we’ve got on the record player.

Ironic, too, that people could glorify the Stones’ pretence at being “street fighting men,” only to cringe when the real article came along in Black Sabbath – a group from the factory job rat-race world of fists and street fights known as Birmingham, England.

But it’s all about raw, musical energy, and if Sabbath’s music happens also to be a shade more vengeful and violent than any previous rock, it’s because they mean what they say about releasing the tension in their audiences. With few of the trappings and affectations common to all too many groups, Black Sabbath deliver.

“Want a cheeseburger?” asked Geezer, in an unconscious mimic of the Beach Boys’ Bull Session With The Big Daddy classic. That about summed it all up.

Epilogue/Aftermath

My mind began to dizzy from all this. Visions dancing in my head as I drove home, Surfin’ Bird came on the radio to heighten the hallucinatory state even further. Around the corner of Pass and Verdugo in Burbank, I think I saw God…

When I got home I frenziedly began to play all the records I’d ever liked because they had the Beat – Beatles VI, The Kink Kontroversy, Out of Our Head, E Pluribus Funk, The Who Sings My Generation, Funhouse, All Summer Long, Chuck Berry’s Golden Decade, The Crystals’ Greatest Hits, Paranoid, Kick out the Jams, Beatles for Sale, Dion’s More Greatest Hits, Back in the USA, Back Door Men, Here Are the Sonics, Master Of Reality, Beach Boys Party, The Beatles’ Second Album, The Live Kinks, Demons and Wizards, Teenage Head…

*

After dancing the Locomotion for 36 consecutive hours, Mr Saunders collapsed from a case of what the doctors termed “second-degree prostate delirium” and is currently recuperating at his bedside in the Burbank Municipal Hospital.

He will be released at the end of September, in time to finish his senior year at the University of Texas in a wheelchair.

• Free this week on Rock’s Backpages: An audio interview with Black Sabbath axeman Tony Iommi from 1973.

View full post on Music: Ozzy Osbourne | guardian.co.uk

Rock band preparing comeback album, reports suggest

More than 40 years after Ozzy Osbourne first sang about Satan coming round the bend, Black Sabbath’s original lineup may be getting back together. Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward have reportedly reunited in a “secret rehearsal studio”, with plans to record a new album and tour.

Metal Talk and the Birmingham Mail have both reported Black Sabbath’s return, with the Mail quoting a June interview with Iommi. While the guitarist criticised the report on his website, calling it “speculation”, he stopped short of denying that the band had reformed. “Thanks to the internet it’s gone round the world as some sort of ‘official’ statement on my part,” he said. “To my old pals, Ozzy, Geezer and Bill, sorry about this, I should have known better.”

In the June interview, Iommi was more forthcoming. “It’s all been very hush-hush,” he said. Although Iommi was reconciled with Osbourne last year, they didn’t begin writing together until this summer.

Just a fortnight ago, Metal Talk claimed, the group booked a date in the studio, coming together for the first time since 2006. “We’re really looking forward to it and I think the stuff we’ve been writing is really good,” Iommi said. “It’s more back to the old original stuff.”

Last year, a Black Sabbath reunion looked about as likely as an audience for Osbourne at the Vatican. The singer was suing Iommi, asking him to “do the right thing” and share the Black Sabbath trademark with the rest of the band. “I don’t think there is any chance [of a reunion],” Osbourne told Rolling Stone. But in July 2010 they buried the hatchet, and plans have apparently been simmering since then. “Ozzy’s been the worst at trying to hold it back,” Iommi said. “He’s doing a lot of TV and he’s being asked stuff about a reunion and he’s going, ‘Well I never say never.’ He told me, ‘I don’t know what to say.’”

If Black Sabbath have indeed reunited, it still doesn’t mean they will necessarily release a new album; they didn’t manage it last time. But the sexagenarian band-members have high hopes. Only Ward, their drummer, is suffering with health issues. “He hasn’t been 100%,” Iommi said. “He had [a heart] operation a few months ago, so we’ll see how he is.”

Black Sabbath have sold more than 100m albums worldwide. They were admitted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006.

View full post on Music: Ozzy Osbourne | guardian.co.uk

Despite no official confirmation by guitarist Tony Iommi, the Midlands metallers are reportedly working together again

More than forty years after Ozzy Osbourne first sang about Satan coming ’round the bend, Black Sabbath’s original lineup may be getting back together. Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward have reportedly reunited in a “secret rehearsal studio”, with plans to record a new album and tour.

Metal Talk and the Birmingham Mail have both reported Black Sabbath’s return, with the Mail quoting a June interview with Iommi. While the guitarist criticised the report on his website, calling it “speculation”, he stopped short of denying that the band had re-formed. “Thanks to the internet it’s gone round the world as some sort of ‘official’ statement on my part,” he said. “To my old pals, Ozzy, Geezer and Bill, sorry about this, I should have known better.”

In the June interview, Iommi was more forthcoming. “It’s all been very hush-hush,” he said. Although Iommi was reconciled with Osbourne last year, they didn’t begin writing together until this summer.

Just a fortnight ago, Metal Talk claimed, the group booked a date in the studio, coming together for the first time since 2006. “We’re really looking forward to it and I think the stuff we’ve been writing is really good,” Iommi said. “It’s more back to the old original stuff.”

Last year, a Black Sabbath reunion looked about as likely as an audience for Osbourne at the Vatican. The singer was suing Iommi, asking him to “do the right thing” and share the Black Sabbath trademark with the rest of the band. “I don’t think there is any chance [of a reunion],” Osbourne told Rolling Stone. But in July 2010 they buried the hatchet, and plans have apparently been simmering since then. “Ozzy’s been the worst at trying to hold it back,” Iommi said. “He’s doing a lot of TV and he’s being asked stuff about a reunion and he’s going, ‘Well I never say never.’ He told me, ‘I don’t know what to say.’”

If Black Sabbath have indeed reunited, it still doesn’t mean they will necessarily release a new album; they didn’t manage it last time. But the sexagenarian band-members have high hopes. Only Ward, their drummer, is suffering with health issues. “He hasn’t been 100%,” Iommi said. “He had an operation a [heart] few months ago, so we’ll see how he is.”

Black Sabbath have sold more than 100m albums worldwide. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006.

View full post on Music: Ozzy Osbourne | guardian.co.uk