Founding Black Sabbath members Ozzy Osbourne and Bill Ward aren't really on speaking terms right now, and it's mostly due to the fallout of Ward leaving the Black Sabbath reunion over financial concerns and then Ozzy calling him fat and out of shape.
But did you know, in 1979, at the peak of the band's popularity, and also the peak of Ozzy's drug use… it was Ward who gave Ozzy the boot from Sabbath?
In a new interview with Quietus, Ward revealed that when Ozzy stopped showing up to rehearsals and the decision was made to kick him out of the band, he volunteered to tell the future Prince of Darkness:
I usually had to clean up all the shit. I’m like the fucking janitor in that band. Most of the time I always got the shit jobs that nobody wanted to do. I don’t do that anymore. I recognised I was co-dependent as well as being an alcoholic so I don’t do shit like that anymore. But Oz was like a brother. He still is today but I don’t talk to him right now. It’s not like I don’t love him or anything.
But at the time, I thought maybe I was the best guy to do it. I kind of volunteered to do it: up went my hand and it was one of the worst things I’ve ever done in my life, to be honest with you. I didn’t want him to leave the band but I could understand the reasons why but yeah, that was a tragic day. That was the day the band imploded.
In 2011, Black Sabbath announced they would be reuniting for a new album and tour. Not too long after, Bill Ward bowed out of the reunion citing financial reasons. The band went on without him, recording a new album and hitting the road and generally doing fine without him.
However, frontman Ozzy Osbourne seemed to take a swipe at Bill any chance he got during interviews. He's said that Bill was too fat to play in one interview, that he showed up "terribly out of shape" in another interview, and in general just couldn't shutup about what a fatty Ward allegedly was.
Then, once the promo cycle was wrapping up and talk began of a new album, Ozzy said he hoped Bill Ward "gets his stuff together" before the final Sabbath album. Unfortunately, that just lead to more mud slinging.
