Ozzy Osbourne: I don’t like working with Tony Iommi

(Image credit: Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic - Getty)

Ozzy Osbourne says he doesn’t particularly enjoy working with Tony Iommi.

The pair, along with Geezer Butler, brought the curtain down on Black Sabbath with a sold out show at Birmingham’s Genting Arena in February 2017.

But looking back, Ozzy has spoken about guitarist Iommi in a new interview with The Times – and says he found it difficult working with him.

He says (via NME): “Do I like working with him? Not really. Do I like him as a person? Yeah, I love him as a person.

“But if people were to say to me, ‘Was there a leader of Black Sabbath?’ I’d have to say it was Tony because without his guitar riffs, we’d be still sitting in fucking rehearsal with our thumbs up our arses going, ‘What do we do now?’”

Ozzy will return to the UK and Ireland in 2019 as his No More Tours 2 run of shows continues – and as for Sabbath, the vocalist says he’s “moved on” and compares the band’s final run to meeting up with an ex girlfriend.

He says: “I’ll tell you what it was like. It’s like when you’re younger and you met a girl, Susie, and you break up and you don’t see her for 30 years.

“Then she’s in town and you go, ‘Oh, I’ll give Susie a call,’ because your memory only remembers the good parts and you can narrow it then to a week and you go, ‘I remember that week and it was lovely.’

“But then you go back and you go, ‘I forgot the fucking four and three-quarter years I was fucking miserable.”

Ozzy says he’s back “in control” now that he’s doing his solo shows and adds: “I get more pleasure out of doing the gigs now.”

Ozzy will headline a special Ozzfest on New Year's Eve at The Forum in Los Angeles, where he'll be joined by artists including Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie, Jonathan Davis and Body Count.

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Scott has spent 37 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in 2014 before moving into e-commerce in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, highlights deals, and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 12 years, Scott has written more than 11,500 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from news and features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.