The only reason I have read this Ozzy Osbourne’s interview in Consequence of Sound, is because of his opinion about U2’s music and Bono…and let’s just say Ozzy didn’t disappoint.
The prince of Darkness still have some great lines, such as ‘A good rock and roll show to me is better than sex’ (well, he is 66!), or ‘People bust their egos before they show their talent’ or even the predictable but funny ones about his longevity, ‘I used to say I’ll be dead by 40, and then when I got to 49 and three-quarters, I thought, maybe not, maybe I’ll be dead by 50. They’re gonna have to shoot me to put me out’. His projects can’t disprove this last one, although he may be done with Black Sabbath, as a group: ‘I’m going to be doing another Black Sabbath album and another tour, and I thought, “Well, people are going to think I’m not doing my solo stuff anymore.” So, Memoirs of a Madman is to let people know I’m not retired from my solo career. I am going to continue after Black Sabbath, because this next Black Sabbath thing is the final thing. We’re not doing it anymore.’
You would think that nothing can possibly scare Ozzy, however there’s something he is afraid of: ‘It’s really interesting because I don’t work with computers. They frighten the crap out of me. I’m always thinking I’m gonna press the wrong button and something bad is gonna happen. I’m just cool without it. I know other people who work with me use it, but it’s amazing, the information highway and how much misinformation gets on there, you know?’
Of course the subject goes to the present state of the music industry, and, as promised, U2!
‘The whole music industry has completely changed over the last 10 years. People make records straight on computer. U2 did an album free, and it’s like, why would anybody do that? I don’t know.’
‘I liked some of their earlier stuff, but to be perfectly honest, that Bono pisses me off. He’s made his name out of working with and talking about starving people in Africa. I don’t particularly like what he does. It’s phony. Besides, personally I think we get bad news all the time. When people want to listen to music, they want to get away from bad news. They want to go to concerts and have fun. Whenever I see somebody going on about, “I’d like to bring your attention to the plight of the blue whale,” yeah, we know all that. We want to be entertained. If you feel that bad, you do something!’
Really? Bono is phony? After this I don’t need to read more, it’s the best part! But it is barely surprising as Ozzy’s wife, Sharon Osbourne had already tweeted this after U2’s release:
‘U2 you are business moguls not musicians anymore. No wonder you have to give your mediocre music away for free cause no one wants to buy it… PS, btw (by the way) you are just a bunch of middle age political groupies…’
After this nasty bomb in Bono’s camp — it’s really not a good time to be Bono these days — the interview just reveals that Ozzy think he hasn’t ‘made my Sgt. Pepper, meaning the pinnacle of the greatest band ever.’… But there’s still time Ozzy, plenty of time…
