As Ozzy Osbourne is on his don't-call-this-a-final-tour tour, No More Tours 2, he just managed to kindly throw his Black Sabbath bandmates under the bus.
In a new interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer, Ozzy says he felt judged on the tour and didn't have much of a good time:
"I didn't have a great time," he admits. "I spent nine or 10 years in Sabbath, but I'd been away from them for over 30 years. With them, I'm just a singer. With me, I get to do what I want to do. I was getting bad vibes from them for being Ozzy. I don't know, what the fuck else can I be?"
It's certainly understandable that Ozzy would prefer to go solo, as he's the boss, whereas with Sabbath it would be more of a committee decision, by why throw your bandmates under the bus?
I can see how Ozzy could still feel alienated from Geezer Butler and Tony Iommi, after all, he was kicked out of the band all that time ago, and those wounds are probably still there, even after all the money they made together. Also, there may have been some residual bad blood from the ousting of Bill Ward.
Ward called the contract he received unsignable, and insinuated it was a money issue. Additionally, he and Ozzy were just not getting along but Ozzy questioned if Bill Ward could perform. Eventually, Iommi did as well.
Iommi and bassist Geezer Butler seemed to remain on good terms with Ward, as the trio accepted a Lifetime Achievement Award together a few years back.
If the rest of Black Sabbath were interested in making music before, I'm not so sure they'd be willing to call Ozzy now. Ultimately at this point, Ward has no interest either.
Another interesting quote from this recent Ozzy interview:
"I've gotten older but the audience seems to have stayed the same," he laughs. "I see fathers and sons and grandsons. I got a thank-you card about three days ago from a 70-something-year-old woman saying, 'You might not believe me but I love going to your concerts with my son.' It makes you feel weird. I've replaced Bing Crosby and all them, I have."
