{"id":270661,"date":"2025-11-04T10:16:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T10:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/270661\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T10:16:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T10:16:14","slug":"ozzy-osbourne-memories-of-a-hollywood-night-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/270661\/","title":{"rendered":"Ozzy Osbourne: Memories of a Hollywood night out"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ozzy Osbourne<\/a> was in a state of what you might call \u2018matrimonially enforced sobriety\u2019 when at the start of 1987 the newly launched UK edition of Metal Hammer magazine flew photographer Tony Mottram and me to Los Angeles to do a cover story.<\/p>\n

Word had it that, despite shaving his head once again to prevent Sharon from sending him on tour, Ozzy was behaving with unusual decorum. The hair had grown back a little, but now he resembled a Teddy boy. When photographed next to an old-fashioned jukebox, all he needed was a pair of brothel creepers and his hair slicked back with Brylcream.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Our meet took place at the Osbournes\u2019 house in Beverly Hills \u2013 not to be confused with the later abode which featured in The Osbournes reality TV show. Situated in an affluent street lined with towering, well-manicured palm trees, this house seemed slightly smaller but was no less palatial.<\/p>\n

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We were ushered in through a side gate. Their three children \u2013 Jack, Kelly and the now rarely seen Aimee \u2013 played noisily in the back garden. When Ozzy appeared and invited us into the house, one of them cried: \u201cDaddy! Daddy! Don\u2019t go!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDaddy\u2019s not going anywhere,\u201d he assured them, and led us into a living room overflowing with toys.<\/p>\n

So far so good, then.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to take plenty of drugs but it didn\u2019t work out for me, so with the help of my wife and her left foot I managed to stop,\u201d Ozzy said with a completely straight face. \u201cIt\u2019s the kids, I suppose. When you come in coked to the gills and can\u2019t look them in the eye, you do feel guilty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sign up below to get the latest from Classic Rock, plus exclusive special offers, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n

\n

\"Ozzy\n<\/p>\n

Suits you, Sir. Ozzy Osbourne in 1987. (Image credit: Tony Mottram)<\/p>\n

We had gone to talk to Ozzy about Tribute, a double-live album from an era when his guitarist was the late, great guitarist Randy Rhoads<\/a>, the existence of which had been rumoured for years. Ozzy explained that a previous live record, Speak Of The Devil, released in 1982, had simply been a stopgap.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe contracts had been signed and they wanted a live album, so I gave them one of Sabbath stuff with Brad Gillis on guitar and kept this in the can,\u201d Ozzy explained. \u201cI didn\u2019t want people to think I was cashing in on Randy\u2019s death.\u201d<\/p>\n

So why release it now?<\/p>\n

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\u201cRandy\u2019s mum called before Christmas and asked if we could put a live album together, and I replied: \u2018Yeah, just about\u2019,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it\u2019s as good as any other live album I\u2019ve heard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ozzy was prepping a follow-up to the previous year\u2019s studio album The Ultimate Sin<\/a>. \u201cThat was a good album,\u201d he said, \u201cbut there were all these people trying to get me to make a hit single, and it turned out a little too lightweight.\u201d Even back in 1987, Ozzy was talking about reducing the amount of time spent on the road from nine months to a maximum of four.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing away that long drives me nuts,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sharon had suggested we all went for a meal in the evening, and several hours later collected Mottram and me from our hotel on Sunset Strip and we headed to the studio where Ozzy was rehearsing with his band.<\/p>\n

Ozzy had a large grin as he slid into the front seat of the car, turning to face us both in the back and announcing: \u201cDid you ever have one of those days when you want to go out, buy an enormous bag of coke and dive into it face-first?\u201d So much for sobriety.<\/p>\n

OZZY OSBOURNE – “Crazy Train” (Official Video) – YouTube
\n\"OZZY<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

No surprises, then, that the more \u2018colourful\u2019 side of his character emerged when we reached the plush restaurant on Sunset Boulevard. \u201cNo, madam, he cannot come in wearing a leather jacket and T-shirt\u201d sneered the ma\u00eetre d, shooting a pitiful glance at yours truly. But Sharon eventually got her way and I was loaned a jacket and shirt.<\/p>\n

By now several sheets to the wind, Ozzy revealed a novel way of summoning the waiter \u2013 \u201cOi! Shithead!\u201d \u2013 while ordering yet another bottle of champagne. Towards the end of the evening he was encouraging us all to down glasses of it in one swig. It all got completely out of control.<\/p>\n

Afterwards, looking to hail a taxi, Ozzy seemed to forget he was in America and strolled out into the road, where he would have been flattened like a human pancake but for Mottram\u2019s last-ditch intervention.<\/p>\n

Dropping us back at our hotel, the legendary Riot House, Ozzy spotted a tattoo parlour across the road. \u201cLet\u2019s get a tattoo!\u201d he roared. \u201cCome on, guys, it won\u2019t hurt\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Offer politely declined, we gratefully, and unsteadily, got out of the car before it pulled away into the Los Angeles traffic. We had gone on the piss with Ozzy Osbourne and lived to tell the tale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ozzy Osbourne was in a state of what you might call \u2018matrimonially enforced sobriety\u2019 when at the start…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270662,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,216],"class_list":{"0":"post-270661","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}