ozzy

Miracle Man
In his 25-year reign as the Godfather of Metal, Ozzy Osbourne has been through it
all-drug and alcohol abuse, a grand mal seizure, the death of Randy Rhoads and,
most recently, the dismissal of Zakk Wylde. In this rare interview, Ozzy explains what
keeps him coming back for more.

By Jeff Kitts

"I am never, ever going to retire again."

Such a statement shouldn't sound surprising coming from Ozzy Osbourne, a man who
has officially "retired" numerous times in the past few years, only to return again and
again to the heavy metal spotlight that has been his home for over 25 years. With a
new studio album, Ozzmosis, and a new guitar player, Joe Holmes, it is quite obvious
that the blizzard of Ozz is back-this time, he says, for good.

"I just couldn't take being retired," says Osbourne. "I was like a fish out of water. The
truth is that all I have is my voice-without that, I can't live."

Osbourne and his new right-hand man Holmes have come to today's Guitar School
interview and photo session in Burbank, California, fully primed and fired up. Eager
to make his mark on the world, Holmes is incapable of walking more than five feet
without picking up his trashed '73 Strat and unleashing quick bursts of unplugged
riffage for anyone within earshot.

"He walks around with that guitar all day long," says Osbourne. "He even goes to the
fucking toilet with the thing!"

At 46, Ozzy Osbourne is in the best shape of his life-physically, mentally and vocally.
Sitting at a small table in the photo-studio lobby, Ozzy is wearing black sweatpants, a
black tank top, blue-tinted glasses (admittedly superstitious, he never wears green)
and enough gold jewelry to sink a ship. Despite the tinnitis in his ears and the visible
apparent effects of a neurologically damaging grand mal seizure he suffered a few
years ago, his body-now five years clean and sober-more closely resembles that of a
trim 22-year-old than that of an aging rocker with a lifetime of substance abuse
behind him.

"I feel great," says Osbourne. "My big thing right now is working out-I'm a fitness
fanatic. I work out four or five hours a day-and I actually get a buzz from it. I don't
even go out much anymore.

"The truth is that I don't know why I'm alive today."

Not all of the setbacks Ozzy has suffered over the years have been life-threatening.
Some, like the tragic 1982 death of guitarist Randy Rhoads, were merely
career-threatening. Ozzy was faced with yet another major hurdle earlier this year
when he was forced to sever his working relationship with long-time guitarist Zakk
Wylde, who seemed more interested in filling the vacancy in Guns N' Roses than
touring with Ozzy this fall. But if there's one rocker who has the Midas touch when it
comes to finding new talent, it's Ozzy-and he feels the 30-year-old Holmes may just be
his greatest find since Randy Rhoads.

"Even though I've only been playing with Joe for a short time," says Osbourne, "the
truth is that this band could get up on stage right now and smoke any other band I've
ever had. I don't know much about Joe's history and I don't care-all I know is that he
plays like a motherfucker."


GUITAR SCHOOL: I guess it's safe to say you're not retired anymore.

OZZY OSBOURNE: When I retired after the last tour-which lasted about a fucking
week-I went home, gained a stack of weight, bought motorcycles and guns and all this
other shit. Then I started doing things I'd always wanted to do. I bought a football and
played football with my son. I really enjoyed being a dad...for about a week. Then
Sharon [Osbourne, his wife and manager] said to me one day, "Is that it now? Are you
finished?" She let me get all these things out of my system-then she asked me what I
wanted to do. And I said, "I want to get a band, man." [laughs]

GS: So how have you been feeling? How's your health?

OSBOURNE: I'm feeling great-I haven't touched a drink or used drugs in over five years.
I'm at this stage in my life right now where I don't miss it, but at the same time I'm not
one of these guys that says everybody should be sober. Hey, if you want to get fucked
up and get stoned, it's your business.

GS: What made you finally want to stop drinking?

OSBOURNE: I don't know. I wanted to stop drinking every day, but I couldn't because I
was feeling so dreadful from the day before-and the only way to feel better was to
drink. It's been over five years now, and I don't count the days and I don't care. I don't
go to AA, but I do see my therapist from time to time. There are things that you miss
out on without realizing it while you're drinking. Like the other day my little daughter
was in a school play, and I actually sat through the whole thing-but in the old days I
would have been all antsy, getting up and down, going to take a piss and walking
around. When we got back in the car, I said to Sharon, "You know what? I don't know
what's happening, but I'm really beginning to like life."

GS: Let's discuss what happened with Zakk Wylde. I get the impression that things
between you didn't exactly end on a great note.

OSBOURNE: Well, it didn't end on a good note, but it didn't end on a bad one either.
What happened was, I asked Zakk to come and play on the record [Ozzmosis], and he
did. And he played great. But then this whole Guns N' Roses thing happened. So I said
to him one day, "Zakk, before you hear it from somebody else, I want you to know that
I will be auditioning guitarists to do the tour with me, because I guess you're not
coming back. So don't be alarmed if you hear about it." That night, he called Sharon
and said, "What's the matter, doesn't Ozzy like my playing anymore?" So I said to him,
"Zakk, are you gonna play with me?" And he couldn't give me a straight answer.
Finally, Doug Goldstein, Zakk's manager, called Sharon and said, "Okay, Zakk's in for
the tour-send us the contract." And I go, "Yes!" Soon after that, Doug called my wife and
said that Zakk was still negotiating with Axl Rose. And I thought, "What the fuck is
going on?!" What I gathered was that Zakk was using me as a bargaining chip with
Guns N' Roses, and that really got me upset. It wasn't fair because I had always been on
the level with Zakk. So I called him and said, "I want to know what you're going to do."
And he said, "Just give me the rest of the day." But he never called. The next day, I said
to Sharon, "That's it-he's gone. It's over." And it wasn't because I was jealous-hey, if he
joins Guns N' Roses and makes a million dollars, fine. All I wanted was a straight
answer from him-but he didn't show me that respect.

GS: What was it like while you were recording Ozzmosis-was there any tension
between you and Zakk?

OSBOURNE: I really didn't see much of Zakk while we were recording. The way
[producer] Michael Beinhorn works is that he concentrates on one thing at a time.
Drums, bass, guitar and vocals-everything is in its own slot. So I would come into the
studio as Zakk was leaving and I'd say, "Hi Zakk, how'd it go today?" And he'd say, "Oh,
fine-just great." And that would be it. It was kind of a sterile environment-much
different from the way we did No More Tears.

GS: You recorded Ozzmosis more than once before settling on the current version.
Why?

OSBOURNE: The first time we recorded Ozzmosis, my heart really wasn't into it-I was
just going through the motions to keep people happy. Eventually I realized that we
had maybe three or four good songs, but that the rest was shit-and coming off an
album like No More Tears, the idea of doing something inferior was a fucking joke. The
first time I recorded this album, it was with [No More Tears producers] Duane Baron
and John Purdell, then I brought in Michael Beinhorn and he cut out all the songs he
didn't want on the album. And the truth is that Michael's technique is so different
from Duane and John's that it seemed crazy to keep any of the old recordings.

GS: It seems that Michael had a lot of input into what went on in the studio.

OSBOURNE: I've heard a lot of horror stories about Michael, but I think that's because a
lot of people don't like to take direction. I mean, if you're taking a driving lesson and
the guy says, "Okay, now indicate to go left," and you say, "Fuck off, I want to go right,"
then what's the point of having a lesson? Sometimes Michael would say to me, "Look,
Ozzy-go home. You're not on today. We can do it better tomorrow." And I have to be
honest with you, when he did that to me I knew in the back of my mind that he was
right, but sometimes my ego was going, "Who the fuck does he think he is?" But he has
the ears-he knew when I was on and knew when I was off.

GS: Tell us about your new guitarist, Joe Holmes.

OSBOURNE: This guy smokes-I can't believe how good he is. He's fucking brilliant. And
I'm not just saying that; I'm being totally on the level with you. There's no doubt in my
mind about Joe. He plays Zakk's riffs as good as, if not better than, Zakk, he plays
Randy's riffs as good as Randy-he's just an incredible player.

GS: Each of your previous guitarists has had a very unique style. Do you think Joe has
his own style as well?

OSBOURNE: Well, Joe comes from the Randy Rhoads school of guitar. But he's a real
player. He plays like a bird. He's got that hunger and energy-and he never shuts up. He
just keeps going and going and going. And I don't like these Fender guitars that he
uses-I like the sound of a Gibson. But Joe's gotten some great sound out of his
Stratocaster. The saddest thing is that I only wish I'd met Joe before I recorded this
album. But you'll hear him on the next record. And the one after that and the one
after that...

GS: It's an incredible coincidence that Joe once took lessons from Randy Rhoads.

OSBOURNE: It's really spooky because when Joe plays the Randy Rhoads stuff, he plays
just like him-it's like I can see Randy's fingers. It's 13 years ago that Randy died, and I
still send flowers to the grave every year-and I will continue to do it for the rest of my
life. But I haven't been back to his grave in a long time-I'm planning on it, but I don't
know how I will react when I get there.

GS: You always seem content with letting your guitarists share the spotlight with you.

OSBOURNE: Why not? I love giving guys a break and watching them develop. And they
all develop, they all get egos, they all get pissed off and after that they all fly from the
nest. And then I get another one. It's like when Randy died-at first I thought my career
was over. But then, two weeks later, I was playing Madison Square Garden. It wasn't
the greatest show, but at least I got on with it.

GS: Are you confident that your fans will recognize, like you have, that Joe is in the
same league as Zakk, Jake and Randy?

OSBOURNE: All I can say is, have I ever let you down?