The Blizzard Of Ozz
“BUZZ Newspaper” Article Feb- Mar 2014 (#35-oZ)
By: RLSchwinden/ MrZEro
>Birth of a Rebel <
John Michael “OZZY” Osbourne was born 3 Dec 1948 in the Aston section of Birmingham England. He went to grade school with Tony Iommi & was eventually in the band “Rare Breed” with Geezer Butler in 1967. In 1968 Iommi, Bill Ward, Butler & Osbourne formed “Polka Tulk” which became “Earth” in Sep 1968, then eventually “Black Sabbath” in Aug 1969. Osbourne was with “Sabbath” until Jan 1978, Ozzy left “Sabbath” to form what was to be the 1st incarnation of “Blizzard Of OZZ” (his father gave him the name) with 3 members of the band “Necromandus” with “Baz” Barry Dunnery on Guitar Dennis McCarten on Bass & Frank Hall on Drums, they worked on some studio demos until about Mar 1978 when Ozzy was persuaded to go back to “Sabbath” until mid 1979 when Osbourne was fired for his excessive alcohol & drug abuse & unreliable work ethic.
Ozzy formed the 2nd incarnation of “Blizzard Of OZZ” sometime in early 1980 initially christened “The Law” but soon changed to “Blizzard Of Ozz” with 2 former members of “Uriah Heep” Lee Kerslake (16 Apr 1947 Hampshire) on Drums & Bob Daisley (Robert John: 13 Feb 1950 Sydney) on Bass & new comer Randy Rhodes (Randall William: 6 Dec 1956 CA. -19 Mar 1982 FL) on Guitar formerly of “Quiet Riot” in Sep ’80 they release the 1st LP “Blizzard Of OZZ” much like Ozzy’s days in Black Sabbath the music was written mostly by: Rhodes & Daisley with almost all the lyrics being written by: Daisley & the melodies by Ozzy. Ozzy has stated that a few songs were things he had left over from Sabbath, that they would not spend enough time on, ex. Mr. Crowley & Goodbye To Romance. The 45 single of “Crazy Train b/w “You Lookin At Me” & an EP “Mr. Crowley LIve” followed in Dec’80 a picture disc with the Non-LP song “You Said It All”.
>O Fortuna <
The 2nd LP “Diary Of A Madman” was released in Nov 1981, again with the same band as the 1st LP. On 20 Jan 1982 in Des Moines, Iowa Ozzy performed a concert @ Veteran’s Memorial Auditorium. Ozzy had his 2nd biting the head off of an animal indecent, a live bat.
A friend of mine T. was friends with the person who actually captured the bat, it was lethargic & hanging on the wall inside of his father’s garage, he used a mayonnaise jar to capture it & bring it in the show that night. During the Legendary “Meat Fight” at the concert he tossed it from the jar on stage. Ozzy mistakenly took it for a rubber bat & bit the head off & spit it out & tossed the carcass to the side of the stage where Sharon & crew determined the bat was in fact a real animal.
The medical staff wanted to take Ozzy by ambulance however Sharon was able to convince them to take Ozzy by helicopter to Broadlawns Hospital. My friend Steve’s mother was an admitting nurse that night & saw them wheel Ozzy in a gurney, Ozzy was making growling & hissing noises at the medical staff as they rolled him down the hall, she did manage to get Ozzy’s autograph for her son.
On 19 Mar 1982 Rhodes was killed in a plane crash in Leesburg, Fl. Then in Nov 1982 saw the release of “Speak Of The Devil” with Aldridge, Rudy Sarzo (18 Nov 1950 Cuba) & Brad Gillis (Bradley Frank: 15 Jun 1957 Honolulu), a live album of Sabbath covers in response to Black Sabbath releasing “Live Evil” with Dio on vocals. There was a VHS only for this album released in Japan of an entire performance from 12 Jun 1982 @ Irvine Meadows, CA.
>Talk Of The Devil<
The 1st time I saw Ozzy was in March 1983 in Sioux Falls SD @ The Coliseum this was not long after the “Speak Of The Devil” LP came out, Ozzy had recently shaved his head bald, so when he came out he had very short black hair. The band consisted of Jake E. Lee (Jakey Lou Williams 15 Feb 1957 Fairmont, W.VA.), Tommy Aldridge (15 Aug 1950 Jackson/Pearl, MS.) & Don Costa. To the best of my memory here is the setlist for this show
I Don’t Know
Mr. Crowley
Crazy Train
Suicide Solution
Revelation (Mother Earth)
Steal Away (The Night)
Believer
Flying High Again
Fairies Wear Boots
War Pigs
Iron Man
Children of the Grave
Paranoid
I remember Ozzy yelling “Don’t throw F******* coins, you could blind me, so don’t throw F****** coins or I’ll stop the show” about 2/3 the way into the show.
>The Silver Moon<
In Dec’83 “Bark At The Moon” was released with a VHS to follow shortly after. This LP was written mainly by Daisley & Lee, though they were not given credit. “Rock N Roll Rebel” was written by Ozzy, with different lyrics according to an interview I read a few months before the LPs release, There were two 45 singles were “Bark At The Moon b/w One Up The B-side” & “So Tired b/w Bark At The Moon: Live” as well as 1 song was left off the LP titled “Spiders”.
The next time I saw Ozzy was @ The Iowa Jam with “Accept, Night Ranger, Ted Nugent (w/ Brian Howe) & Motley Crue” in Des Moines IA. @ the State Fairgrounds on 28 May 1984. The band consisted of Lee, Daisley, Carmine Appice & Don Ariey
In Feb ’86 Ozzy’s 4th studio LP came out “Ultimate Sin” his band was now consisted of Lee, Randy Castillo (Randolpho Francisco Castillo: 18 Dec 1950 Albuquerque, NM – 26 Mar 2002) & John Sinclair (12 Apr 1952 London) of “Uriah Heep” the 3rd member of this band to play with Ozzy’s band & Phil Soussan (23 Jun 1961 London) with a VHS “Ultimate Ozzy” a concert filmed on 1 Apr 1986 in Kansas City’s Kemper Arena. Once again the majority of this LP was written by: Lee & Daisley, with the exception of “Shot In The Dark”
With several bootlegs floating around for years of the Ozzy/Randy era such as 2 May 1981 @ New York Palladium & 28 Jul 1981 Montreal Canada @ St Dennis Theater for the King Biscuit Flower Hour show & 7 Jan 1982 Albuquerque New Mexico Tingley Coliseum. The “Tribute” LP was released in Mar 1987 to commemorate the 5 year passing of Rhodes. This LP was mainly from the11 May 1981 Cleveland, OH. show.
>Crown Of Thorns<
In Feb 1988 Ozzy releases a duet with Lita Ford a 45 Single of “Close My Eyes Forever” oddly enough Iommi & Ford had recently broken off their engagement. In Oct 1988 Ozzy releases his 5th studio LP “No Rest For The Wicked” the band at this time was; Daisley, Castillo, Sinclair & new comer Zakk Wylde (Jeffrey Phillip Wielandt: 14 Jan 1967 Bayonne, NJ) on Guitar. As with the 4 albums before the majority of this record the lyrics were written by Daisley & the music was written by Wylde. Though Geezer Butler appears on the cover he is not on the LP, but did tour with Ozzy. There was a Promo only CD “Crown Of Thorns” released with the Non-CD Track “The Liar”. Later in 1989 there was a VHS released “Wicked Videos” on 12 Aug 1989 Ozzy performed at the “Moscow Peace Festival” an LP came out of this “Stairway To Heaven, Highway To Hell” where Ozzy recorded “Purple Haze”.
Ozzy’s long time friend Bill Ward releases “Ward One: Along The Way” in Jan 1990 with Ozzy, Daisley & Wylde, Ozzy sings lead on “Jack’s Land” & “Bombers”. Then in early 1990 the 1st “Best Of” CD & Cassette was released titled “Ten Commandments” on Priority Records (an independent label primarily known for Rap Releases) a 1 time print, this title vanished almost immediately after it came out, 10 songs from the 1st 4 albums. Then in Mar 1990 the EP “Just Say Ozzy” was released, a 6 song “Live” recording from Nov ’89, there was a Promo CD released from this too titled “Live Pigs”.
>They’re The Ones<
In the ongoing feud between Ozzy & Sabbath, Iommi & Butler release the VHS documentary “History Of Black Sabbath Vol. 1 & 2” in retaliation Ozzy & Bill Ward release “Don’t Blame Me” their own VHS documentary, this title sold a million copies on VHS, a theme song was recorded for this, but only released as a B-Side to the next single.
Then comes Ozzy’s zenith when he releases “No More Tears” in Sep 1991 again with Daisley, Sinclair, Castillo & Wylde. This time Wylde, Daisley & Lemmy (of: Motorhead) wrote the majority of the songs for Ozzy’s 6th CD. The single for “No More Tears” has the Non-CD track “S.I.N.” And Ozzy scores his 2nd Top 40 Hit with “Mama I’m Coming Home” a #28 hit on the Billboard Chart in Apr ’92.
It’s at this time Ozzy announces his retirement with the “No More Tours Tour” so we wind this down & leave the rest for “Part 2” … “See You On The Other side”
Note worthy:
Jake E. Lee’s new band “Red Dragon Cartel” will be appearing @ Pickle Park on 22 Mar 2014 Fri in Fridley, MN. I myself with Cat Jackson are part of a new Tribute to Ozzy/Sabbath “The Diary Of Ozzy” covering several Black Sabbath & Ozzy songs deep tracks & hits appearing with “Rock And Roll All Nite: Early KISS Tribute & GIRLS, girls, GirlS: Motley Crue Tribute”
Until The Next Time … check twice before you bite the head off that rubber bat.
MrZERo
www.MrZeros.Com
The statement above about Ozzy biting the head off of a bat is false. I was at that concert and I know who brought the bat. The bat was used as a teaching tool from a local high school. The dead bat was stolen and taken to the concert and thrown up on stage where Ozzy Osbourne picked it up and held the wing in his mouth and then proceeded to throw the bat back into the audience where it disappeared forever.