During the July 26 episode of his “Spirit Campfire” show on Real America’s Voice, Ted Nugent spoke about legendary BLACK SABBATH singer Ozzy Osbourne who died four days earlier at the age of 76. Ted said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “In the wind, Ozzy is still alive. Some people wanna get high, some people gotta start low, some people think they’re gonna die someday. I got news. You never got to go. You know who’s never gonna go? Eddie Van Halen, Dusty Hill, Wayne Kramer and Ozzy Osbourne. And all are dearly departed.
“What an emotional time for people who embraced and celebrate and will forever embrace and celebrate the incredible soundtrack of BLACK SABBATH and all things Ozzy Osbourne,” he continued. “Now, did I disagree — in fact, I not only disagreed with a big part of his lifestyle, I condemned it. I think getting drunk and stoned and stupid is really disrespectful to God’s gift. And he made mistakes. We all make mistakes. I’ve made two. Anyhow, so Ozzy made some mistakes, so we won’t harp on that, because I was very critical of the TV show that made fun of his condition, made fun of his slovenliness, made fun of his disconnect, made fun of his mental decline through drugs and alcohol. But you know what? I loved Ozzy Osbourne. [Ted‘s former band] THE AMBOY DUKES opened up for the BLACK SABBATH concerts in Detroit, Michigan, in 1971, 1972, I believe it was. AMBOY DUKES and BLACK SABBATH… But Ozzy Osbourne had an incredible musical force.”
Speaking specifically about BLACK SABBATH‘s music, Ted said: “They called it heavy metal, but basically it was blues… Remember, Ozzy always celebrated that he was just obsessed with the spirit, the energy, the authority, the musicality of THE BEATLES. And you know where THE BEATLES musical authority came from? Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Mose Allison, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Jimmy Reed, B.B. King, Albert King, Freddie King, ultimately Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, and Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis and the Motown Funk Brothers, the Motown supreme artists. Ozzy always represented that. So what BLACK SABBATH — Tony Iommi and Geezer [Butler] and… I can’t remember but drummer’s name. But anyhow, we would open up for BLACK SABBATH at Madison Square Gardens and Largo, Maryland. 18,000 people. Here they’re big, giant concerts. Long Island Coliseum. It was so much fun. And I tried to have a conversation with Ozzy. Like I need a reminder why clean and sober is the only way to go. It’d be nice to talk to these guys because I know that Ozzy was given the musical influence by THE [ROLLING] STONES and THE BEATLES and THE YARDBIRDS and THE WHO, and before LED ZEPPELIN, THE KINKS, because of American black artists. All those British invasion guys were inspired by Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis…
“So Ozzy, thank you,” Ted added. “And the BLACK SABBATH band and Tommy Clufetos and Tommy Aldridge and, and Zakk [Wylde] and Jake E. Lee and Brad Gillis and Randy Rhoads, thank you for enriching the world’s lives, all of our lives, with your incredible music, because it was called heavy metal, but it was basically heavier, thicker, grinding rhythm and blues music. And he had an incredible, uncanny sense of melody and phrasing and cadence that he gleaned and created his own style and his own genre. Heavy metal — he was the God of heavy metal. All these other bands — METALLICA and SAVATAGE; I don’t even know the names of some of these bands.
“So we’re gonna dedicate this whole first segment to Ozzy Osbourne. And not only just his memory, but it will never fade away. Just like Eddie Van Halen, his music will never fade away.
“So, back to Ozzy, he was a bluesman. Yeah, they intensified the inspiration of those black founding fathers of the most wonderful, stimulating, defiant, uppity fun music.
“So, to the Osbourne family, we love you. We pray for your strength. We know these are difficult times. It’s always traumatic, it’s always heartbreaking and emotional, and we get lost, we become lost, uncertain of our every breath when we lose a loved one. Especially, I gotta tell you, it’s magnified when it’s such a historically profound, influential global figure like Ozzy Osbourne.”
During an appearance on the “Faith & Freedom” podcast, which is hosted by his wife Shemane Nugent, legendary rocker Ted was asked what it was like touring with Ozzy back in the late 1970s when Nugent was the support act for BLACK SABBATH on a North American run of shows. Ted responded: “Well, it doesn’t really matter because — and bottom line is we love Ozzy. He was a kind man, a gentleman, a hard-working guy, extremely talented. He did a vocalization and a songwriting musical force to reckon with. So we’re praying for his family and his friends and those millions and millions of fans out there that are really traumatized [by his passing]. I mean, there’s a lot of heartbreak and a lot of crying going on. So we’re with you people, and we share your heartbreak, we share your emotion and we share your love for Ozzy. Our hearts are heavy for the Osbourne family because he was a good dad and a good husband… And as he got clean and sober, he was a fun guy. He was a funny guy. He was a cocky guy. And more importantly, he’s known as the Prince Of Darkness. He was a Christian. He was against war…”
Ted continued: “I’ve been reviewing a lot of the testimonies and celebrations of Ozzy‘s life, and a lot of his lyrics were for peace, supporting the military, good over evil, identifying the scourge of mankind, being negative and being evil and satanic. So I believe, I’m confident when I say that Ozzy Osbourne was a Christian.”
Back in 2002, Nugent slammed Ozzy‘s family reality TV show “The Osbournes” for being “soulless” and singled out Osbourne‘s wife and manager Sharon for “[taking] advantage of [Ozzy‘s] drooling condition to make millions of dollars from people laughing at [him]”. In an interview published at Salon.com, Nugent had the following response when asked for his opinion on the series that at the time was the highest-rated program in MTV history: “I think the success of ‘The Osbournes’ as a TV show is an indictment of the soullessness of mankind.
“Now, I’m just a guitar player, but when I see a train wreck, I don’t look at it and laugh — I try to save injured people. You’re not supposed to wring entertainment out of tragedy.
“Ozzy is a nice man, he is a kind man, he is an extremely talented man, extremely tenacious, obviously. But he is the poster boy of why I never touched poisons in my life. Because I don’t want to drool, nor do I want to allow a woman in my life to take advantage of my drooling condition to make millions of dollars from people laughing at me. That’s what she has done. And no one is laughing with the Osbournes — they are laughing at them. I find that soulless.”
On whether the Osbournes represent the family life that people think most rock stars have, Ted said at the time: “That’s the worst thing. There’s three levels. Well, there’s obviously a million levels. But let’s go with the obvious three. There’s Jerry Garcia‘s level: They did so many drugs they died. You don’t have enough tape and I don’t have enough time to list all the dead assholes. That’s Level 1: The ultimate failure of individuals and society to identify deadly conduct. Horrifically, not only didn’t they identify it, they fucking celebrated it. They encouraged it, they wrote about it, they danced about it, they drew people into it. So now, you have death and mayhem out of control. That’s not an opinion; that’s an observation of [more than five decades of] clean and sober. I’d like to go see Jimi Hendrix, I’d like to go see John Belushi, I’d like to, well, I wouldn’t like to go see Jerry Garcia, he’s not one of my favorite guitar players. But that’s the ultimate stupidity: Poison yourself to death for no other reason except that some trendy asshole thought it was groovy, baby.”
Ted continued: “The second level is Ozzy: you’re not dead, but damn close. And again, I’m to repeat this: I like Ozzy. He is a good guy. He is an extremely talented man. More talented for the fact that he took those talents he does have, which are moderate, and sold 50 million records with them. He surrounded himself with the Randy Rhoadses and the Tommy Aldridges and the Zakk Wyldes and mastered building a million homes out of timber that most people couldn’t have built a barn with. That’s real talent.
“So that’s Level 2: You did all the stupid things, but you survived. Great. Then there is Level 3: Ted. He defied the stupidity and his American dream soars on the wings of an American eagle. Because my happiness — the content, the fiber, the joys, the emotion — is all thriving in my life, because I discipline myself. Aha! That’s what Jerry and Ozzy didn’t have: The big ‘D’. Discipline. My parents taught me to shoot a gun conscientiously, safely, and responsibly, and disciplined me if I didn’t. I would get my block knocked off, which is what Ozzy‘s little brats need a good dose of. God, I wish my dad was still alive. He could fix those kids in one night. I’d just say, Dad, could you fix those assholes for me? Thank you very much.
“Level 3 is those who are smart enough not to drink and drive, not to poison their God-given gifts, and to live the American dream of seeking excellence, and the resulting happiness that can not be stopped.”
In a 2003 interview with Classic Rock Revisited, Ted doubled down on his criticism of “The Osbournes”, saying: “God bless Ozzy and Sharon. God bless their family. I hope they can find happiness. What I see is not happiness; it is superficial happiness. You don’t encourage and much less allow your children to swear violently at people and be totally undisciplined. Look at how fat his kids are. When you have kids that fat, then they are just eating bad food, which is a manifestation of a certain cultural depravation where they can’t even monitor their own health habits.
“Ozzy, God bless him, is super talented. He is a great man. He is a man of heart and soul and goodwill. He is a very funny man, but he is a perfect poster child of why I have never touched drugs, alcohol, tobacco or fast food. You get stupid, fat, slow and drooling. He is an absolute shell of a man. He doesn’t have any capacities physically or mentally. It is just pathetic that someone would find entertainment or recreational joy from watching a wounded man shuffle about and mumble. It’s embarrassing.”
Ozzy died on July 22 of a heart attack, his death certificate revealed. The certificate also reportedly said the musician suffered from coronary artery disease and Parkinson’s disease.
A little over a month ago, Osbourne reunited with the rest of the original BLACK SABBATH lineup for what was his final performance at the “Back To The Beginning” charity concert in their original hometown of Birmingham, United Kingdom.
