During an appearance on the “Faith & Freedom” podcast, which is hosted by his wife Shemane Nugent, legendary rocker Ted Nugent was asked what it was like touring with Ozzy Osbourne back in the late 1970s when Nugent was the support act for BLACK SABBATH on a North American run of shows. Ted responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “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 the morning of July 22, his family announced in a statement.
“It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning. He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time,” the family said.
No cause of death was given, but Osbourne had battled a number of health issues over the past several years, including Parkinson’s disease and injuries he sustained from a late-night fall in 2019.
