Speaking recently with Billy Morrison, heavy metal legend Ozzy Osbourne took part in an interview on his SiriusXM station ‘Ozzy’s Boneyard‘ to discuss his health and more. Earlier this month, Osbourne announced that he was retiring from full-scale touring.
In this new conversation he cleared up some misconceptions about that. The following exchange took place:
Billy Morrison: Everyone’s gonna be wanting to know what’s with the touring thing?
Ozzy Osbourne: Well, I’ve been working my guts out to try and get back on my feet. I’ve come to the point where Sharon says to me, ‘you know what, the truth of the matter, you can’t keep booking tours and failing, cancelling.’
Morrison: Right, yeah.
Osbourne: So, if I can ever get back to where I can tour again, fine. But right now, if you said to me, ‘can you go on the road in a month?’ I couldn’t say yes. I mean, if I could tour I’d tour. But right now I can’t book tours because right now, I don’t think I could pull them off.
Morrison: Right. And medically, you just don’t know how you’re gonna be. I mean everyone’s like, ‘oh my God, Ozzy‘s retiring’ and I knew it wasn’t that.
Osbourne: This fucking press drive you nuts. I mean, I, I looked in the magazine, ‘Ozzy‘s on his last legs,’ I’m fucking not dying.
Morrison: Well, I’m, I’m sitting next to him and he’s definitely not on his last legs. He’s on the same pair of legs that he’s had since I’ve known him.
Osbourne: Come on, guys. Haven’t I’ve had it bad enough already? If I get okay today. If the doctor said to me today, ‘oh, you can tour.’ It would take another six months to get it together, you know?
Morrison: Of course. Of course. And I think what it is, everyone who listens to this show knows if you could, you would.
Osbourne: You’ve got no idea. You got no idea what my, I feel like a one-legged man in a butt kicking contest.
Morrison: Yeah.
Osbourne: The only thing I’ve got that keeps me going is making records. But I can’t do that forever. I gotta get out there. You know, it’s like, I don’t even know the fucking….
Morrison: And, and let’s face it, there’s other ways to get out there. There’s residencies where…
Osbourne: The Vegas thing’s okay but…
Morrison: Well, no, but you could do stuff in LA where it’s down the street. The thing that people don’t understand about touring, it’s not the 90 minutes where you’re standing on a stage. It’s the travel.
Osbourne: [I’m] still in constant pain. I do to the best I can to stay away from the pain medication, but there are times when I go, ‘you know, I’ve gotta take something.’
Morrison: Well, constant pain is something that is debilitating. It wears you down.
Osbourne: I mean, last week I couldn’t, I’ve been sleeping great and all sudden for two back to back nights. I never slept a wink. If you gotta torture me, just keep me a awake for a couple of days. I’ll tell you whatever the fuck you want me to say.
Morrison: ‘It was him over there.’
Chief among Ozzy‘s health woes are the lasting injuries and side effects he has endured a late night fall in 2019. That tumble ruptured steel rods that had surgically been inserted in him following a 2003 ATV accident.
The surgeries that ensued attempted to alleviate the injuries sustained in that fall didn’t offer much relief, leaving him with nerve damage. He also continues to suffer issues with his mobility and balance. Beyond that, the 74-year-old Osbourne was also diagnosed with PRKN 2 (a form or Parkinson’s Disease) in the early 2000s.
Comments