Just last month, Ozzy Osbourne teamed up with fellow Black Sabbath member Tony Iommi for a special live event! The two Black Sabbath members performed the band’s song “Paranoid” as a part of this year’s 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Ozzy and Tony’s relationship stretches as far back as 1968, which is when Black Sabbath was formed. During a recent conversation with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Ozzy reflected on his relationship with Tony Iommi; while he and the guitarist are in a good place now, Ozzy says that their relationship used to be tumultuous. Below is what Ozzy had to say about he and Iommi’s past relationship, as well as where they stand now (the following quotes were transcribed by Ultimate Guitar):
“Well, there was a period of time where we were arch-enemies. But then, since I’ve been laid up with this surgery I’ve had, he’s been so supportive to me; he texts me all the time, we text each other. And we just ended the Commonwealth Games together. It’s really nice to be friendly with someone – he used to intimidate the shit out of me.”
Osbourne is then asked if that tension between him and Iommi was “the root of distrust” that would eventually work its way into breaking up part of the band; Ozzy was fired from the band in 1979. Ozzy shared the following to clarify:
“I just felt like they were the musicians, and I was the singer, and I didn’t have that much to say what went down, you know? The only thing I did was try to put a melody on there. I couldn’t do it, because it was just too out of my range, you know?”
After sometime away though, Ozzy and Tony got back together to perform several Black Sabbath reunion shows in 2011; however, Ozzy doesn’t seem super fond of these shows. Below, he speaks to how these 2011 reunion shows sparked some old tension between him and Iommi.
“The tours were like stepping back for me. It was the same old thing… Tony would say, ‘It’s not an Ozzy show, it’s not your band.’ And [there was] a lot of unsettlement. I didn’t enjoy [it], you know.”
Since those shows though, things between the two musicians have chilled out. Not only are they good friends now, but Tony even appears on the new Ozzy Osbourne album! We are glad both Ozzy and Tony have been able to make amends and continue to create awesome music together! You can check out the full interview featuring Ozzy Osbourne below.
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