"Sabbath will not do it, they won't take a chance": How Ozzy Osbourne predicted the future and saved Motörhead's Heavy Metal Holocaust

After Ozzy Osbourne was sacked by Black Sabbath in 1979, his solo career got off to a convoluted start with Blizzard Of Ozz, released in September 1980 in the UK and six months later in the US. With the album an instant success in America, Ozzy’s epic arena tour started there in April ’81.

Support for the first three months were Motörhead, making their US debut. Now major stars in the UK after their breakthrough with Ace Of Spades, Lemmy, Fast Eddie and Philthy felt like they’d stepped back to their scuffling days as they often faced hostile reactions or dumbfounded apathy from audiences.

When the tour started, Ozzy was still reeling in the post-Sabbath aftershock. As Lemmy recalls in his memoir: “Ozzy really was having a rough time on the tour we did with him. He nearly died on this trek. He was at the height of his nervousness and the depths of his despair, and he was just overdoing everything. We kept finding him flat on his face, passed out on the floor everywhere at the beginning of the tour. Finally, his girlfriend Sharon took over and pulled him out of it.”

Once out of his slough of despondency, Ozzy and Motörhead became friends for life. “We got on really great with Ozzy,” Fast Eddie told me on their return. “When we started the tour he was like the Ozzy we’d heard of – a nutcase. He was out of it most of the time we saw him. But after four or five weeks he seemed to mellow out quite a lot and we started to get on really good.”

While Motörhead were away, No Sleep ’Til Hammersmith had entered the UK album chart at No.1. Arriving home to find they were one of the biggest bands in Britain, they decided to celebrate by playing the mammoth Heavy Metal Holocaust at Port Vale football ground in Stoke-on-Trent on August 1.

The original plan was to co-headline with Black Sabbath but come on before them. Early reports suggested the event would see the most spectacular Motörhead show yet, rumours including a Battle Of Britain RAF squadron flying over during Bomber and Motörhead’s own bomber taking off from the stage. It would be a tough act for Sabbath to follow, especially with Ronnie James Dio now in place of Ozzy.

A few weeks before the event, Sabbath announced they couldn’t do the Heavy Metal Holocaust because they were finishing their new album in the States. “Ozzy told us in Las Vegas that Sabbath would pull out,” Eddie told me. “He knew our album had gone in at number one, and said: ‘Sabbath will not do it, they won’t take a chance.’ We said: ‘No, it’s all booked, man. There’s only six weeks before the gig. They can’t pull out.’ A few weeks later they pulled out. Ozzy was dead right.”

“Obviously, they were scared that we’d blow ’em off stage,” Lemmy reasoned.

“When we were in Santa Monica and Ozzy was on our bus, we were talking about him doing it instead,” Eddie continued. “He said: ‘I can’t, man.’ We thought it’d be great, Sabbath out, Ozzy in, because if it wasn’t for Ozzy we wouldn’t have been there in the States. He was the only person who wanted us on his tour. You appreciate somebody doing something like that for you.

“He had to blow out three gigs to do Port Vale. He went back and did ’em eventually.

“Port Vale was a nostalgic gig for Ozzy. That’s why we introduced each other on stage. I wouldn’t have minded if Ozzy had wanted to go on last but he didn’t mind. He’s a genuine rock’n’roller.”

Motörhead were first to agree that the rest of the bill that day was less than compelling. Blasting through the biggest PA ever assembled in Europe, it was only when Ozzy came on that the crowd jerked out of its stupor for this familiar, much-loved figure who went down a storm and even sang Paranoid as darkness fell, relishing the irony.

Ozzy and Lemmy remained firm friends, the latter writing lyrics for songs including Mama I’m Coming Home, Desire and Hellraiser on 1991’s No More Tears. Lemmy’s death in 2016 hit Ozzy hard. He later admitted, “I think about Lemmy all the time, he was a great fucking guy."