Ozzy Osbourne Returns… And He Has A Lot To Say

Ozzy’s frustration echoes that of many others, who don’t understand how something like what happened in Virginia could occur. He says:

“What gets me riled up? Man’s inhumanity to man. We haven’t learned, I think. There’s a lot of work to do, you know. I [have an] incredible life, but my kids, and their kids… you know. You’ve just got to live every day at a time. But that shooting at the school, who would have thought after Columbine that would [happen]? We’ve got to do something about this.”

Ozzy made a commitment to doing something about his problems with alcohol and drugs some years ago, and he admits that the recording process has become a different experience for him.

“It was a lot easier than I thought it [would be],” he explains. “I was building this big thing, ‘I cant do it without alcohol or drugs.’ I used to think the alcohol and the drugs made my — well it kind of does, in one way — makes your mind open to whatever crazy thoughts. I had to do a deal with myself: if it got to the point that I was going to jump off the wagon again, I would just forget about it.”

With his first original work in six years – a work done entirely clean and sober, Ozzy doesn’t want anyone to mistakenly think that he’s gone soft.

“First of all, I didn’t realize it’s the first one in six years,” he says. “With that TV thing we had, it was like being tossed into a different world. So I’ve been doing gigs, I’m still active. I’m not becoming a fu**ing, sorry…I’m not becoming the weather guy.”

And Ozzy is looking forward to continuing his career, rather than looking to the past to define himself.

“I think what keeps me going is the fact that I don’t think I’m good enough yet,” he says. “Sharon (Ozzy’s wife) says,’Look at what you’ve done? how old you are? and how much in demand you are and what you’ve achieved.’”

But that’s not good enough for Ozzy. “People often say to me, what do you think is your best-ever record you worked on?,” he shares. “And I go in my head, ‘well, if I say this one or that one, that means every other one [isn’t as good].

So my answer is…I haven’t made it yet.”