Well, retirement didn't last long.
Ozzy Osbourne, the mythical monster who lead Black Sabbath down the road to paranoia in the '70s and leaped out on his own "Blizzard of Ozz" in the '80s is returning to his throne as King of Metal.Deep into the "Retirement Sucks" tour, Osbourne and his band - guitarist Joe Holmes, former Black Sabbath bassist Terry "Geezer" Butler (who also accompanied Osbourne during his last tour) and drummer Randy Castillo - will hit the David O. McKay event center on the Utah Valley State College campus, Friday, April 19. The music begins with the thrashing of Sepultura at 7:30 p.m. Hardcore goth/metalite Type O Negative, making its fourth appearance in Utah in a little over a year, will also play that evening.
Tickets are still available at all Smith'sTix outlets or by calling 355-TIXX (8499).
John Osbourne was born in Birmingham, England, on Dec. 3, 1948. By the time he was 20, he had formed a group called Earth. In 1969, the band renamed itself Black Sabbath and featured guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward and bassist Butler.
The self-titled album, more a mixture of horror stories done to blues and jazz riffs, brought the band into the forefront. And with the help of the follow-up album's title song "Paranoid," the Sabs (as the band's English fans would call it) forged a following. Other albums, "Master of Reality," "Vol. 4," "Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath," "Sabotage," "Technical Ecstasy," "Never Say Die" and the platinum-selling compilation "We Sold Our Souls for Rock and Roll," defined a new generation of doom-laden heavy metal. All of which went platinum (sold more than 1 million copies a piece) with the exception of "Sabotage," "Never Say Die" and "Technical Ecstasy."
"We were just doing the opposite of what was happening at the time," Osbourne once said. "All that love stuff of the late '60s made me sick. We wanted to get to the dark side of life."
By 1980, Osbourne decided he had enough of the Sabbath (and vice-versa) and ventured out on a solo career. After recruiting guitar virtuoso Randy Rhodes - who had formed Quiet Riot while still in high school - Osbourne recorded his groundbreaking solo debut, "The Blizzard of Ozz."
"Crazy Train," "Suicide Solution" and "Mr. Crowley" were a few of the tunes from that album which had the press forge its image of Osbourne being a sick and demented influence. And his reputation for drug and alcohol problems didn't help either.
By the time the follow-up album, "Diary of a Madman" came out, Osbourne had been accused of biting heads of doves and bats and blowing up a goat. While the dove and bat incidents did occur, the goat was a stage gimmick. And after contracting rabies from the bat, Osbourne left those gruesome antics in the dust.
When Rhodes died in a 1982plane crash, Osbourne had to reassess himself and his priorities. Instead of calling it quits, he decided to press on. After releasing the space-filler double length "Speak of the Devil," which featured Night Ranger's Brad Gillis on guitar, Osbourne discovered former Ratt guitarist Jake E. Lee and released "Bark at the Moon."
The fans, sensitive to Osbourne's manic state, welcomed him and his band with enthusiasm. In fact, the MTV concert simulcast of the 1984 "Bark at the Moon" concert was filmed in Salt Lake City's Salt Palace arena.
"The Ultimate Sin," which featured the Top 100 single "Shot In the Dark," marked Lee's last album with the Oz man. Osbourne released his own nod to Rhodes in "Tribute," a collection of concert recordings featuring his late friend and guitarist. In 1988, Zakk Wylde stepped on board as the string-pick-ing axeman on "No Rest for the Wicked."
The extended play "Just Say Ozzy" and the full-length "No More Tears" album marked yet another era of Osbourne music. The ballad "Mama I'm Comin' Home" and the rocker "I Don't Want to Change the World" seemed to reveal how tired the madman really was.
The double-disc "Live & Loud" contained liner notes which seemed to confirm Osbourne's decision to leave the music business.
However, in 1994, Osbourne got tired of sitting at home and decided to give music another chance. To worldwide metal fans' joy, "Ozzmosis" emerged in 1995 and featured the staple rocking anthems and powerballads. With the help of producer Michael Bein-horn, who is known for his work with Soul Asylum, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Soundgarden, Osbourne refined his sound and also picked up Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman to fill in the frills.
"I simply got tired of retirement," Osbourne said recently. "It's a romantic idea, but it doesn't work in reality. So I'm back doing the only thing I know how to do."
And with nine platinum albums and one gold, what more could a crazy man want?