Ozzy Osbourne’s Reddit AMA taught us 13 things about the Prince of Darkness...
When Ozzy Osbourne’s latest full-length album Ordinary Man dropped, it (rightly) received critical acclaim and massive outpourings of fan support. To talk with those fans about the new record – and anything else on their mind – The Prince Of Darkness took park in an AMA on Reddit. While the discussion was heavily padded with saying hello to family members and the singer’s undying love of music, it also taught us some incredible things about rock’s greatest madman.
Here are 13 things we took away from Ozzy’s Reddit AMA:
There’s been plenty of speculation about Ozzy’s career following his Parkinson’s diagnosis, especially after he postponed his North American tour. But Ozzy made it clear that since he can’t tour, he’s just going to write like crazy. “I am making another album because while I can’t tour, I can make music,” he said. “What I learned from Ordinary Man, it got the juices flowing again. People say they write the best songs when they’re unhappy, and I was unhappy last year.”
Early on, someone asked Ozzy about the personal themes behind his new album Ordinary Man. And while most of Ozzy’s music examines the singer’s depression and weakness, this one was especially hard. “After my neck surgery I was feeling pretty down,” he responded, “so I was not going to write how happy I was being in agony.”
One Redditor broached the most sensitive subject one can discuss with a musician: his sock drawer. The Prince of Darkness, ever the professional, had an answer. “I have a massive selection of crazy socks. I don't like plain socks - no brown. I like to have some crazy shit on there like ‘fuck off’ on the side.”
Ozzy explained that his collaboration with Elton John on Ordinary Man was pretty standard — being Elton’s friend, Ozzy just called the Rocketman up and asked. But when it came to who he’d like to work with next, his response was kind of lofty: “I’d love to do something with Paul McCartney but I doubt that will happen.”
When a fan asked how Ozzy felt about people getting tattoos of him, the PoD’s answer was a little more nuanced than most might think. “For one, I’m flattered,” he said. “Honored. But it’s there for life, and it makes me feel a little uncomfortable. It’s a bold statement to have my name or face on their body forever. When they’re old, will they regret it? People are getting a lot of tattoos nowadays.”
One fan asked Ozzy about when he witnessed his first mosh pit, citing a 1974 show where Ozzy yelled his patented, “COME ON!” as though trying to incite one. But Ozzy responded, “Ozzfest!”, meaning he didn’t see kids throw down at one of his shows until 1996 at the earliest.
It’s known that Ozzy would occasionally hang with wrestler Andre The Giant, having met the towering figure at WrestleMania. When a Redditor inquired about drinking stories, Ozzy had a pretty killer one: “He would drink vodka and cranberry in a jug and would drink a 6 pack of beer while we waited for the jug to be made. He would drink & drink and never get drunk.”
Ozzy Osbourne and Lemmy were famous friends, and given that both were known for living in excess, one might assume Ozzy’s immediate memory of the Motörhead singer would involve booze and speed. But when asked about the first thing he thinks of remembering Lemmy, Ozzy’s response was quite beautiful: “His apartment.” He went on to elaborate, “Lemmy to me was the ultimate metal guy. He lived it slept it. He wasn’t one thing and then another. He was Lemmy on and off stage. What a nice guy he was.”
It turns out that Ozzy’s Scary Little Green Men from Ordinary Man wasn’t some drug metaphor — the singer is actually bothered by the idea of a thorough probing. “Aliens!” he responded when asked what inspired that song. “If we think we’re the only living thing in the universe, we’re all fucking mad. There has got to be other life out there, why should we be the only planet with life?”
One question posed to Ozzy was how the harmonica part in Black Sabbath’s The Wizard came to be. In response, Ozzy revealed that the part wasn’t written out and he wasn’t a harmonica virtuoso: “I just picked up the harmonica and played it.” Further proof that sometimes the best moments in rock are totally spontaneous.
On several different occasions throughout the AMA, Ozzy gave poignant answers regarding late guitarist Randy Rhoads. When asked what he would change if he could go back in time, he wrote, “I would make sure Randy never got on that plane.” When asked about the hardest part of his career, Oz was equally heartbreaking: “Saying goodbye to Randy Rhoads.”
These days, Ozzy’s vocally sober, and is quick to discuss that his past debauchery isn’t something he’s always proud of. But when a fan asked about what he’d tell his 18-year-old self if he could send a message back in time, Ozzy showed that he’s never going to be a puritan. “Have more sex and take more drugs,” he responded. “Have fun.”
Some of the best moments in the AMA were when Ozzy took the piss. When asked about the song Eat Me from Ordinary Man, he said, “It’s about playing golf,” and his thoughts on Keith Richards snorting his dad’s ashes are, “Better than snorting his Mom.” We’ll always love you, Ozzy Osbourne.
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Listen to Ozzy Osbourne’s Ordinary Man below:
