Earlier today, Wednesday July 30, in highly emotional scenes, Ozzy Osbourne's funeral procession took place through the streets of his beloved hometown in Birmingham, England. Ozzy's death last week at the age of 76 was a shock to the rock and metal world, prompting a near-unprecedented outpouring of grief, love and tribute.
Earlier this year, ahead of what would be Ozzy's final show at the Back To The Beginning event at Villa Park in Aston, we spoke to Anthrax guitarist and band leader Scott Ian about Ozzy and Sabbath's profound impact on him as a fan, musician and peer.
When did you first hear Sabbath and Ozzy?
“I had an uncle, Mitch, who is only 10 years older than me - he’d be 18, I was eight. I’d sit in his room and look through his comics and flip through his vinyl collection. One day, I look at this album cover and I’m like, ‘What is this? What is ‘Black Sabbath?’ And he went, ‘Oh that’s ‘acid rock’, which I still have no idea what that means. But he put it on and the first song starts with the wind and the bell and the thunder and then the riff kicks in. I’m sitting in my uncle’s bedroom, with black lights on, all these weird posters, listening to Tony Iommi playing the devil’s triad riff. I’m thinking, ‘Oh my god, this is scary.’ But I instantly became a Black Sabbath fan.”
Did you cover Sabbath songs in the early days?
“Oh yeah. Paranoid and War Pigs and Sweet Leaf and Symptom Of The Universe… I’d probably played almost every song off the first six Sabbath albums before Anthrax was even a band. And then of course Anthrax covered Sabbath Bloody Sabbath as the b-side of the Indians single. Sabbath runs so deep for me.
Anthrax supported Ozzy in the late 80s. What was that like?
“We did two months with him on the No Rest For The Wicked tour [in 1988], and he could not have been nicer. He’d pop into the dressing room every day and hang out. Ozzy was firing on all cylinders and we got to tour with him all around the States, which was incredible.”
What’s your best Ozzy story?
“Back in 2001, I had a show on VH-1 in the States. I had guests on, and we booked Ozzy. This was a Halloween show, I’m dressed in full Gene Simmons costume and make-up, but with my bald head and beard. Ozzy shows up with Sharon, he’s been doing promo all day, and I can instantly tell he just doesn’t want to be there.
“So he sits down next to me on a roadcase – and remember I’m dressed in Gene Simmons make-up – and he’s just silently staring at me. I’m getting one-word answers and he’s giving me the stare of death. Now, I’ve known Ozzy for 13 years at this point, he knows me, and I’m literally sweating, like, ‘Oh my god.’
“And then he starts staring at me really closely. And he goes, ‘It’s you! Scott! I thought it was just some asshole dressed as the guy from Kiss!’ Suddenly it was all hugs and kisses. But I do remember Sharon standing at the side and shouting, [Sharon Osbourne voice], ‘I told you it was Scott, Ozzy!’”
What should Ozzy and Sabbath be remembered for?
“For being an unbelievably original band who forged their own path and influenced everything that came after them. When you see the tree of heavy metal with all the branches coming off, Black Sabbath are the roots. None of the bands at that [Back To The Beginning] show would exist without Black Sabbath.”
You can still order an official Back To The Beginning programme, with all proceeds going to the Big Issue, from the official Louder store
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