The Prince of Darkness was unexpectedly self-effacing, hilarious and generous, say lovers of Black Sabbath
I interviewed Ozzy in 1997, for Kerrang! magazine. We met in a hotel on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, where he proceeded to drink gallons of Diet Coke, and take the piss out of himself. He was the least pretentious rock star I ever met, and during my decade in the industry, I met hundreds.
By the time I met Ozzy, I’d had enough of music journalism. I decided he should be my final interview because how do you beat that? I’d interviewed everyone I’d ever wanted to, including Nirvana, so it made sense to end my music journalism career by chatting with Ozzy.
Ozzy was so self-effacing and hilarious. He told me about becoming partially deaf while working in a factory testing car horns, how he’d thought Spinal Tap was a documentary about Black Sabbath, and how the band named themselves after a horror movie for a joke. He was already shaking back then, and seemed very small and frail, but he had this gorgeous twinkling quality, which I certainly hadn’t expected to encounter in the Prince of Darkness. And he clearly couldn’t do a thing without Sharon, which he was more than happy to admit. Liz Evans, Tasmania, Australia
