The man who ended up smoking 30 cigars a day after trying to quit cigarettes also comes across in his book as level-headed, self-aware and savagely funny. Here’s what the late rock legend can teach us about addiction, fame and how to choose just the right support act
“Here’s the thing, man,” wonders the late Ozzy Osbourne in his new memoir. “Why would anyone want life advice from me?”
Yes, he gave us Iron Man, War Pigs, Planet Caravan and so many other metal classics. But, by his own admission, Osbourne was also a criminal, a cheat and an addict, who routinely risked his and others’ lives and bit the head off a bat. (In his defence, he says, he thought it was a toy.)
For all his mistakes and misdemeanours, however, Osbourne comes off well in Last Rites (written with Chris Ayres): self-aware, level-headed and savagely funny, and not just by rock star standards.
Osbourne died in July aged 76, less than three weeks after performing with the original Black Sabbath. Like a dispatch from beyond the grave, Last Rites documents his struggles behind the scenes with Parkinson’s disease, high-stakes spinal surgery in 2019 and successive complications.
