Pod Insights British Scandal Sharon and Ozzy | Blizzard of Oz | 1 About this episode When Ozzy Osbourne is kicked out of Black Sabbath, his career and his life are in freefall. Enter Sharon Arden: a sharp, ambitious and straight-talking manager, determined to turn a self-destructive has-been into a solo star. Their partnership is volatile, risky and electric, but it just might save him… Or finish them both before it’s even begun.
For non-judgmental information and support on domestic abuse, women can visit https://refuge.org.uk/ or call the free National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247 day or night. Men can call the free Respect Men’s Advice Line on 0808 8010 327 or visit https://mensadviceline.org.uk/.
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Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:00 Matt Forde? A note before we start: This episode contains a pretty upsetting depiction of domestic violence. If you or someone you know is experiencing harm in a relationship or needs support, we've put links to free support services in the episode description.
0:18 Matt Forde? September 3rd, 1989, Amersham.
0:23 Matt Forde? Ozzy Osbourne wakes with a pounding head. Sunlight burning through his scrunched-up eyelids. Sharon! He reaches out an arm for his wife, but his body jolts in shock when it hits a brick wall instead. Sharon!
0:45 Matt Forde? He forces his eyes open. He scrambles up from the concrete floor. The smell makes him think he must have passed out in a public toilet. But then he clocks the bars over the windows, and his stomach lurches. Ozzy scrambles to his feet. Hello? His voice echoes around the tiled walls.
1:08 Matt Forde? His pulse begins to quicken. Hello? Is anybody there? He hears a chair scrape back, footsteps along the hallway. Then a tall, stone-faced police officer appears at his cell door. Ozzy feels the look hit him like a boot. What's going on? What's happening? The officer grabs his arm and drags him out. Don't play, damn son. You weren't neck-pissed.
1:39 Matt Forde? Ozzy's guts churn. What do you mean? What the fuck have I done? The guard yanks his arm down sharply. His shoulder explodes with pain. Watch your fucking mouth! Ozzy's head swims as he tries to recall what he did last night. But all he can picture is a bright red room, glowing like hell. The officer shoves Ozzy into the booking room.
2:10 Matt Forde? Perhaps it'll get more sense out of you this morning.
2:14 Matt Forde? Ozzy shuts his eyes, tries again to picture last night. Focuses hard on the red room. And he's overcome with a strange vivid sensation of wanting to headbutt a dragon.
2:27 Alice Levine? That's not a phrase that means something else, is it?
2:30 Matt Forde? He's been out all night headbutting the dragon.
2:34 Matt Forde? The officer drops him onto a metal seat. The clatter breaks his concentration. Ozzy feels something in his pocket. He pulls it out. A receipt for his local Chinese restaurant, The Dynasty. His daughter's sixth birthday party. That's where he was last night. Will someone please tell me what the fuck he's going on? The officer picks up a file, studies it, then looks straight at Ozzy, like he's trying to see his soul. Ozzy's heart kicks hard against his ribs. Well fucking raid it already!
3:13 Matt Forde? Slowly, the officer's eyes return to the file.
3:19 Matt Forde? John Michael Osborne, you are hereby charged with the attempted murder of your wife, Sharon Osborne.
3:41 Matt Forde? From Audible Originals, I'm Matt Ford.
3:43 Alice Levine? And I'm Alice Levine.
3:44 Matt Forde? And this is British Scandal, the show where we bring you the murkiest stories that's ever happened on these odd little isles.
3:50 Alice Levine? British scandals come in many shapes and sizes. Some are about money, some are about sex, they're all about power.
3:57 Matt Forde? But when we look at scandals a bit closer, they turn out to be stranger, wilder, just plain weirder than we remember.
4:04 Alice Levine? So we're journeying back to ask, who's to blame for what happened?
4:07 Matt Forde? And when the dust settled, did anything really change?
4:20 Matt Forde? So Alice, this is a musical scandal and we've done a lot of those over the years.
4:24 Alice Levine? We really have. Rolling Stones, Sex Pistols, Oasis, all of them absolute carnage.
4:30 Matt Forde? Exactly. And on the surface, this story follows a familiar arc. It's a working class kid who becomes a global megastar, loses it, gets it back, loses it again, drink, drugs, redemption, rinse and repeat.
4:42 Alice Levine? Oh, it's basically like a rock and roll comfort blanket at this point, so cosy.
4:46 Matt Forde? It is, but what makes this story different and what makes it far more volatile is where the power sits. We are done with brothers, we're done with bands, we're done with people that can't be in the same room. This is something else. It's a marriage. I have for you Ozzy and Sharon.
5:02 Alice Levine? Oh, a couple, a very different dynamic, but I imagine similar language to Oasis.
5:07 Matt Forde? Yes, maybe worse, definitely maybe worse. The story of Ozzy and Sharon is one of the most extraordinary, combative and codependent power couples in music history.
5:15 Alice Levine? This is going to be unhinged.
5:18 Matt Forde? It is, because on one side you have Ozzy, a man addicted to self-destruction. Back in the day, there was no one more shocking, more outrageous or more unpredictable. And on the other, you have Sharon, intelligent, ambitious and determined to turn Ozzy into an empire.
5:32 Alice Levine? And depending on who you ask, she's either the reason he survived or the reason that everything exploded.
5:38 Matt Forde? Exactly. Alice, I'm handing you a AAA backstage pass to a marriage fuelled by genius, madness and mayhem. But before we start, I should prepare you. Later in the episode, we wander into some slightly gross rock star behaviour. Um, how do I describe this? Biting the head off living things territory.
5:56 Alice Levine? Is that a metaphor or?
5:58 Matt Forde? No, it's literal.
5:59 Alice Levine? Cool. Uh, so listeners, maybe don't snack during this bit. And if you're very squeamish, sorry, this one might not be for you.
6:06 Matt Forde? This is episode one, Blizzard of Oz.
6:13 Matt Forde? 11 years earlier, December 1978, Birmingham, Alabama.
6:21 Matt Forde? Ozzy Osbourne storms offstage, fury coursing through him. In 10 years fronting Black Sabbath, that might be the worst gig he's ever had.
6:32 Alice Levine? What's your third favourite Black Sabbath song?
6:39 Matt Forde? The Devil's Highway. Devil's Highway, ah, the devil's highway.
6:44 Alice Levine? The damn highway, it's built by the devil.
6:47 Matt Forde? The service station doesn't have a Leon. It's not good as Norton Keynes.
6:55 Matt Forde? Black Sabbath invented heavy metal. Their shows used to start riots. But now their sets are 10-minute jazz solos, pop ballads the drummer sings. It's humiliating. Ozzy stares daggers at his guitarist, Tony Iommi. Fucking hell, mate, it's like listening to someone tune up for two hours. We've got to fix our set, it's got to be tonight. He knows if they don't get some fire back, this tour is going to be their last.
7:24 Matt Forde? Oz, man, I got a message for you. Ozzy snatches up the piece of paper, sees the support act's logo on top, and feels his blood boil as he reads the two-word message: "It's war." Ozzy's already sickened that this younger support act is being hailed as the future of rock and roll. Now he's being openly challenged by them.
7:46 Alice Levine? I don't really understand why this is bothering him so much. I mean, he is the headliner, he is the top dog.
7:51 Matt Forde? Ozzy is feeling threatened because a scene that he would have felt that he started is just starting to change a bit. And Van Halen are a point of divergence, they're still in that metal world, but that West Coast of America version of it, that is more spandex-based, long blond-permed hair, that slightly different sound, he will have felt like this movement that he basically invented is starting to move away from him, and here's a new version that's going to usurp him. Kicking open Van Halen's dressing room door, Ozzy elbows his way through a bustling crowd of roadies and groupies, draws up behind their frontman, David Lee Roth, and shoves. What the fuck is your problem? David turns slowly,
8:36 Matt Forde? narrows his eyes. Problem? Ozzy feels his fists bawl. You wanna fucking war with me? David smirks. Huh. Hell yeah, dude. A cocaine war? Ozzy spins round in confusion, suddenly aware of the strange young faces. David lifts a small mirrored tray, two lines neatly racked out. Frist that hit the floor pays the others' bar bill. All tore.
9:10 Matt Forde? Ozzy stares at David. Black Sabbath might have lost their edge, but in this department, Ozzy Osbourne still reigns supreme. Ozzy's nostrils are like Usain Bolt's legs.
9:23 Alice Levine? Well, we are a very congested pair often, so with the amount of fexofenadine we snort, there's no room for any cocaine.
9:32 Matt Forde? Yeah, the antihistamines would block the coke receptors anyway. That's what we do at our British Scandal Christmas party is we have an antihistamine war.
9:41 Alice Levine? Yeah, one's the lamatin, one's the citrazine, one's the fexofenadine.
9:44 Matt Forde? What was the middle one?
9:46 Alice Levine? Anyway, one's a placebo, spin it round.
9:49 Matt Forde? And then we leave it an hour and then bring in a load of cats and within five minutes we have a winner.
9:55 Matt Forde? In one swoop, Ozzy hoovers up his line.
10:00 Matt Forde? He sucks up David's line on his way back.
10:04 Matt Forde? He lifts his head. Silence.
10:09 Matt Forde? Nice little warm-up there. David's eyes light up like fireworks. Oh! It is! Oh!
10:24 Matt Forde? An hour later, the party in full swing. Ozzy sits back and smiles. This is what it's all about. Loud music, hot chicks, good drugs. Van Halen have it right. Sabbath's dressing room these days has all the fun of a hospice. He goes back in for another line when a hand squeezes his shoulder. He turns to see his bandmate, Tony. His heart sinks. "Righto, that's the gear loaded, let's move." Ozzy shrugs Tony's hand off, embarrassed, like his dad has come to pick him up. "You're alright, Tone, I'll stick on here." Behind him, David mutters under his breath.
11:08 Matt Forde? "Christ, it's only midnight, man, I haven't even lit the fuse yet." Ozzy sees Tony stiffen. "Come on, Oz, it's a long drive tonight, the lads wanna sleep."
11:20 Matt Forde? Ozzy launches out of his seat, bringing his nose up close to Tony's. Ozzy snarls. "Well, fucking go on then." For a moment, it's just the two of them. They formed Black Sabbath to escape the dead-end drudgery of their Birmingham suburb. Music was their ticket out of the joyless grind. Ten years on, though, that's exactly what Black Sabbath has become: a grind. And the grind is getting worse and worse. Well, Ozzy's had enough. He's sick of his bandmates and he's sick of his band. He'll catch them up in Cincinnati. Tonight, he's hanging out with Van Halen. And he's gonna show them and the world, he's still the most metal frontman around.
12:13 Matt Forde? Three nights later, Nashville, Tennessee.
12:17 Matt Forde? Twenty-six-year-old Sharon Arden tears through the cold backstage corridors, whizzing past cages, boilers, lighting rigs, trying to outrun the venue manager.
12:27 Alice Levine? And also taking notes for her next makeover.
12:30 Matt Forde? He's gunning for her, and Sharon knows why. It's 10pm. Black Sabbath were due on stage forty minutes ago, and Ozzy is nowhere to be found. Technically, this isn't her lookout. She isn't even the band's manager, her dad is. The infamously fearsome Don Arden. The music business's answer to Al Capone. But he's not here, so as the next best thing, it's her neck on the line. She barrels into Van Hayman's dressing room, straight into a bouncer. Whoa there, little lady. Groupies wait outside. Get fucked, shrimp dick. I'm paying your wages. David?
13:14 Matt Forde? Where the fuck is Ozzy? Dude. That guy's a fucking animal. Sharon smacks his shoulder. Where the fuck is he? Dude, fuck! Last time I saw him, it was 5am. She went and tequila in the hotel bar.
13:36 Alice Levine? You're not helping, David, my love.
13:39 Matt Forde? Yeah, cover for him, mate. I actually think he had an early one last night, Sharon. Sharon swallows a scream. The hotel has no record of Ozzy checking in, nor do the local hospitals or police precincts. Sharon's chest begins to tighten. Ozzy's always been a liability, but he's never gone missing before. She jumps, as the venue manager bursts through the door. Right, I'm pulling the plug. Sharon clasps her hands together. No, wait. She turns pleadingly to David. David, will you go on for Ozzy? David blinks. Take Oz's place? Me? No fucking way, dude.
14:25 Matt Forde? Oh, what the fuck now? Her assistant hovers in the doorway.
14:30 Speaker 02 Sorry, Sharon, it's your dad. He just called from LAX. He's getting on the next flight.
14:38 Matt Forde? Sharon squeezes her eyes shut, her skull aching with pressure. Her dad is the last thing she needs. But there's nothing she can do now. It's too late. She has to cancel the show.
14:57 Matt Forde? Six hours later, Sharon finishes up filing the missing persons report. The lobby is swarming with journalists. Head low, she slinks past them, heads for the lift. But a figure catches her eye. Lank hair, hunched shoulders, dressed in black, looking like a pissed wizard. Uh, Sharon, where's me fucking luggage? An unexpected wave of relief crashes over her. She was convinced he'd been killed or kidnapped. She thought she'd never see him in one piece ever again.
15:32 Speaker 02 Where the fuck have you been?
15:34 Alice Levine? I'm with Sharon, where the fuck has he been?
15:36 Matt Forde? So after three days of consecutive cocaine wars with Van Halen, we can only assume there was some sort of ceasefire in the end. He passes out in the wrong hotel room, has his old door key, so the maid lets him in. She's like turning down the room. He'd slept through the entire show, in fact, he'd slept for nearly 24 hours. So no one knew where the hell he was.
15:55 Alice Levine? That is a hell of an app.
15:58 Matt Forde? Sharon lunges at him when a voice booms out behind her. There you are, you fucking brain-dead deformity. Do you have any idea the fucking carnage you've caused? Sharon freezes at the sound of her father. Locks eyes with Ozzy. Canceling a gig? Christ alive, Sharon. Now every fucking promoter between here and Timbuktu is trying to pull out. The tour's in fucking freefall. Sharon's throat clenches. Her father is blazing his way towards her.
16:29 Speaker 02 But, Dad, I...
16:31 Matt Forde? You're fucking fired!
16:34 Alice Levine? Wow, firing your own daughter?
16:37 Matt Forde? Yeah, and he's not just a tough dad, he was known as the English Godfather, and that wasn't just some cosy nickname. He had alleged links to the mafia, regularly used threats of violence, apparently involved in kidnapping and all sorts of things, and reportedly once dangled the manager of the Bee Gees out of a fourth-story window for trying to poach one of his acts.
16:56 Alice Levine? What you might say, if we were being generous, is, he's a man of passion. He manages with passion, he fathers with passion.
17:02 Matt Forde? Yeah, I mean, it's nothing compared to what my agent does.
17:06 Matt Forde? Sharon stares at him stunned, then feels a bolt of lightning crack inside her.
17:12 Speaker 02 Hey! You don't get to do this!
17:16 Matt Forde? She steps towards her dad.
17:17 Speaker 02 I've been through the fucking rigga tonight, trying to save your fucking arse!
17:22 Matt Forde? Don waves a hand, turns away. Sharon feels her arm fire forward. She slaps the back of his bald head. The lobby falls silent. Don turns slowly around, smouldering. Sharon glances at Ozzy, a look of dumb confusion plastered across his face. She is done.
17:46 Speaker 02 Thank you all!
17:48 Matt Forde? She's leaving, and she will never let her father boss her around ever again.
18:02 Matt Forde? Two months later, Staffordshire, England.
18:08 Matt Forde? Ozzy takes another deep drag of his joint, then a swig of brandy, and sits on the edge of his bathtub, trying to shut out the voices in his head.
18:19 Matt Forde? He's been struggling with his old demons since getting booted out of Black Sabbath.
18:25 Matt Forde? "Demon" is putting it lightly, I think it's fair to say. Ozzy had had a traumatic life as a young man. He grew up in poverty, he stole to survive, he was sexually abused by older boys, and attempted suicide earlier in his life. So... he'd endured a lot of trauma.
18:43 Matt Forde? Ozzy's brain has been a battlefield, a constant churn of thoughts, memories, regrets. He might have hated Sabbath's latest setlist, but he never expected to be fired. He hadn't realised just how much being in the band had kept him grounded. But with nothing else to occupy his mind, he's in freefall. Music wasn't just his job, it was his entire life. Now that it's gone, he has no income, no savings, a million pound tax bill due, a mortgage on this massive country house that the dole definitely won't cover, and the voices won't shut up about it.
19:23 Speaker 02 John, get down here, we have company!
19:28 Matt Forde? His jaw clenches, his wife, Thelma.
19:33 Matt Forde? Pulling his dressing gown closed, he trudges downstairs. A stranger stands in his living room, dressed in black with a white collar. Mister Osborne, I hope I didn't wake you.
19:47 Alice Levine? Awake? He's probably not slept for seven days.
19:50 Matt Forde? Ozzy blinks, wonders if he's hallucinating. Uh, no vicar, I... His voice cuts off as he spots crumbs on the vicar's plate. Uh, sale, in the kitchen. Thelma rolls her eyes. Excuse me, Reverend. That's my fucking space cake. There's half a ton of fucking Afghan ash in the carrot cake. He watches the blood drain from Thelma's face. You spiked the vicar! Ozzy's eyebrows shoot up. Me? I didn't fucking do anything! No, you didn't, because you never do. You're always stoned out of your mind.
20:35 Matt Forde? Ozzy shuffles awkwardly as Thelma paces the floor. You stay here and stay out of trouble. Just feed the chickens. Ozzy snarls. Those bastard chickens. Every day, Thelma is on his case. No sympathy, no sweetness, just nagging. Feeling his last nerve snap, Ozzy storms to the back door, slips on his wellies, and grabs his shotgun. Come on, chuk chucks. Dinner time.
21:11 Matt Forde? Marching out into the cold grey afternoon, he feeds a couple of cartridges into the gun.
21:19 Alice Levine? To scare them, right? He's just gonna scare them into going into the feeding bit, right?
21:23 Matt Forde? Yes, the meat that you eat, that you get from the supermarket, all those animals are humanely scared to death.
21:30 Matt Forde? He puts the gun to his shoulder, aims at the coop, then fires. All he can hear is squawking, flapping, and bursts of feathers as Ozzy fires again.
21:43 Alice Levine? Okay, this is mad.
21:45 Matt Forde? In a way, isn't this more ethical than people like me who just get the chicken breasts in a vacuum-packed thing from Lidl?
21:54 Matt Forde? The chickens are hard for him to hit now they're running about, so Ozzy changes tack. He wanders to his shed, grabs a small canister of lawnmower fuel.
22:03 Alice Levine? Oh my god, okay, no, no, no, no, no, no.
22:07 Matt Forde? And returns. He douses the coop, sparks his lighter, and holds it to their bedding. It goes up like a tinderbox. Basking in the warm glow of the flames, he finally finds some clarity. He's not cut out for the country life, knee-deep in chickens, taking tea with a goddamn vicar. He's the prince of bloody darkness. He should be making music, singing, in the beating heart of the heavy metal business. And in that moment, he knows exactly what he needs to do to get there.
22:53 Matt Forde? Please continue to hold. Your call is important to us. One month later, March 1989, Sunset Strip, Los Angeles. Sharon taps her fingers on her kitchen counter and squeezes her phone so tight her knuckles ache. If she has to endure another minute of this ear-shredding hold music, she's going to murder somebody.
23:20 Speaker 02 Hello, Sharon?
23:22 Matt Forde? Sharon bolts upright.
23:24 Speaker 02 Yes? It's a no, I'm afraid. But he wishes you all the best.
23:30 Matt Forde? Sharon grits her teeth.
23:32 Speaker 02 Okay, thanks.
23:35 Speaker 02 For nothing, you shit munching twat!
23:40 Matt Forde? Sharon mashes the phone up and down in its cradle, then shoves the whole thing clattering off the counter. She's spent the entire day calling potential clients. Twenty rejections in one day, and she knows exactly why. This has Daddy's fingerprints all over it.
24:00 Matt Forde? Her father's had her blacklisted, trying to teach her the lesson that without him, she's nothing in this business. What's really beginning to boil her piss is she's beginning to suspect he's right. There's only one thing for it, even though she can barely afford it: cheesecake at Roxy's.
24:20 Matt Forde? Doesn't sound like it should be that expensive, does it?
24:22 Alice Levine? No, it doesn't really. How expensive can cheesecake be? You could just get a slice, Sharon. You'd have to have the whole thing.
24:27 Matt Forde? There's only one thing for it: a steak bake.
24:31 Matt Forde? Walking along Sunset, a dark figure stumbles out of the liquor store, cutting straight across her path.
24:38 Speaker 02 Watch out, you fucking-
24:41 Matt Forde? The insult dies on her lips, and her eyes widen. Sharon, fucking hell, doll, how are ya? She blinks, stunned by what she's seeing. Ozzy looks awful: sallow skin, unwashed hair, a burgeoning new beer belly straining his t-shirt. She'd heard Ozzy had taken his firing badly, but not like this. He looks like death warmed up. Everything okay? She gawps at him, unsure what to say. Ozzy is half the reason she's in this mess. This hapless idiot lay waste to the only career she's ever known. But she can't deny she's happy to see him. Friends have been hard to come by these last few months. She smiles.
25:27 Speaker 02 Ozzy, what are you doing right now?
25:33 Matt Forde? Half an hour later, she and Ozzy are catching up over cheesecake and coffee. She laughs as he fills her in about the chickens and the vicar. I thought I'd killed him!
25:44 Alice Levine? Oh god, so this is the space carrot cake? So he really did have a big slice then?
25:50 Matt Forde? Yeah, Ozzy didn't see him for two weeks and thought he killed him. Turns out the vicar didn't put two and two together and instead thought he had a flu. He'd been hallucinating for three days, thought he caught a bug, um, but it was so ill he missed church.
26:01 Alice Levine? You would be like, "That does sound like something that's going around."
26:06 Matt Forde? He even explains what's happened to him that night in Nashville. And to her amazement, Sharon still finds herself laughing. I didn't fuck up your life completely, did I?
26:18 Matt Forde? Sharon looks down at her fork.
26:20 Speaker 02 Yeah, you did. But I'll survive.
26:25 Matt Forde? Oh, fuck. I'm sorry.
26:30 Matt Forde? She looks back up, takes in his dank hair, his hollow cheeks.
26:36 Matt Forde? She hadn't considered that there was someone in this industry with worse prospects than her. But there is. He's sat in front of her.
26:43 Speaker 02 Christos, drink some water. You look like a wax figure that's been left in the sun.
26:50 Matt Forde? He's a nightmare, an impossible coke-addled drunk. But as he looks up at her with his puppy-dog eyes and big grin, she's reminded that Ozzy Osbourne is rock royalty. And she might be the only person who can handle him. So even though every professional instinct in her body is screaming at her not to, she finds herself leaning forward.
27:15 Speaker 02 Oz, I have an idea.
27:19 Matt Forde? Because Sharon's decided she is going to take him on, clean him up, and make Ozzy Osbourne a megastar again.
27:41 Matt Forde? September 1979, Mars Studios, LA.
27:47 Matt Forde? Ozzy sits at the sound desk, sketching a logo in his notepad. The words "Blizzard of Oz" in spiky capitals. When under the table, he feels Sharon kick his shin. Ow! Could you maybe show the tiniest bit of interest? Ozzy looks up. They're auditioning musicians for a new band today. But he's struggling to muster any enthusiasm. His old band, they were mates from back home in their Birmingham suburb. They might have driven him mad, but they shared a bond. That's what gave them their fire. Sabbath without that spark, it's just crap karaoke. Why did you even fucking come if you aren't going to bother listening? Could you maybe show the tiniest bit of interest?
28:33 Matt Forde? I don't know what I'm fucking listening for. I just sing what I'm told. Sharon grabs his hand. Bullshit. You have good instincts, Ozzy. Listen to them. She squeezes his fingers. And Ozzy feels the kind of rush that usually costs him a hundred dollars a gram. Anyway, that guy played like he had wankers cramp, so you didn't miss much. I really miss the phrase "wankers cramp".
29:01 Alice Levine? You just don't hear it enough.
29:04 Matt Forde? Ozzy cackles. Sharon gets him. Thelma always rolled her eyes at his potty mouth. Sharon's one of the guys, except nicer to look at. Alright, gimme five. I need a leak.
29:20 Matt Forde? Ozzy is readjusting his flies as he makes his way back to the rehearsal room. When he hears something drifting down the corridor that stops him dead in his tracks. It's the most incredible riff he's ever heard in his life. And it sounds like God himself is playing it. He sprints back to the room to find a blonde kid, barely twenty, stood in front of Sharon, shredding his heart out. It's heavy like Sabbath, but it bounces all over the place like Beethoven or something. Ozzy stares. Rapt.
29:52 Speaker 02 Ozzy? This is Randy.
29:55 Matt Forde? Hey, man. Randy Rhodes. What was that? Randy looks puzzled. Oh, I was just warming up. I can play some Sabbath licks if you want. God, no. Keep playing that thing.
30:12 Matt Forde? Randy shrugs, picks back up. As Randy plays, Ozzy shuts his eyes. He can hear something over the top of it, a melody in his head. Not an old Sabbath one, something new, something entirely his own. Looking up, he sees Sharon's smile beaming back at him. He'd assumed Blizzard of Oz would consist of Sabbath knockoff tracks, but now he can see something different taking shape in his mind's eye. Blizzard of Oz isn't a band, it's an album, a solo album, an outpouring of everything he has felt this past year. And Randy Rhodes is going to help him write it.
31:05 Matt Forde? September 1980, Norbert Castle Hotel, Blackpool. Sharon rolls up onto her tiptoes, her five foot two frame stretching for all it's worth, scanning the crowd. And her heart sinks.
31:21 Matt Forde? Tonight was supposed to be a showcase for Ozzy's new band, but she can't see a single industry contact she's invited. She refuses to let it dampen her mood. She's poured everything into this, and the 200 punters who are here are responding well to the new material. Helped along by Ozzy, who's throwing himself around this hotel ballroom like it's Wembley Arena. All right, this is our last one, and it's called Crazy Train All Aboard!
31:51 Alice Levine? I would not be boarding a train that Ozzy Osbourne was driving. We're afraid to announce that the Crazy Train has been cancelled.
31:58 Speaker 02 Sold in a crazy train bus replacement service is now in operation.
32:02 Matt Forde? Imagine the announcements on the crazy train, the three S's, see it, say it, snort it.
32:10 Matt Forde? Sharon can hardly believe Ozzy's the same man she saw a year ago.
32:14 Matt Forde? She's got him a new haircut, some highlights, decked him out in a crisp new black catsuit that clings to his slimmer physique. Diamante studs, bright white tassels lining the arms. He looks like a proper modern metal star. She's fizzing inside with pride and can't wait for him to get off stage to tell him.
32:38 Matt Forde? After the show, she rushes backstage, but half a dozen groupies have snuck into the wings, waving pens and pulling down their tops.
32:47 Matt Forde? She watches as Ozzy chats and laughs, struggling to sign his name across their jiggling boobs.
32:52 Alice Levine? It's an occupational hazard. Not every part of your job can be being on stage and, you know, performing to a crowd. Sometimes you've got to do the admin of that work, which is...
33:04 Alice Levine? Jiggling boobs.
33:07 Matt Forde? Sharon pushes through the gaggle of girls to congratulate him. Sharon! She throws her arms around him in celebration. We fucking did it, Sha! Come on, let's get fucking loaded! To her surprise, Ozzy grabs her hand and leads her to his dressing room.
33:27 Speaker 02 You really should be out there with your girls.
33:32 Matt Forde? Instead, Ozzy hands her an overflowing glass. I'm busting for a piss and I can't unzip this fucking thing! He turns, bends over, and backs up into her.
33:43 Alice Levine? Lol!
33:45 Matt Forde? Isn't this like how gorillas flirt?
33:49 Matt Forde? Like a panda.
33:51 Matt Forde? Sharon brushes her hair to one side, tugs at his zip.
33:57 Matt Forde? What do you reckon? I'll give Rod Stewart a fucking run for his money in this, eh? He starts to wiggle his bum. She laughs, pushing him away.
34:06 Speaker 02 Ozzy!
34:08 Matt Forde? Come on, dance with me.
34:12 Matt Forde? She feels his hands clasp her waist, swaying her.
34:16 Speaker 02 You're paying for the dry cleaning if you fucking piss yourself.
34:20 Matt Forde? Her pulse spikes as he pulls her hips into his.
34:23 Speaker 02 Oh, see?
34:25 Matt Forde? He must have already drunk half a bottle. Yeah? Well, stop looking so fucking sexy then. Despite herself, a giddy shiver shoots through her as they slam together. She looks up in surprise, takes in his large eyes, his insatiable grin.
34:45 Speaker 02 Christ, Oz, I'm your bloody manager, not your fucking backstage stray.
34:51 Matt Forde? She can't believe it. What is she doing? She has worked so hard to prove herself in this industry. She can't really be about to flush that all away over a silly case of fanny flutters, can she?
35:05 Alice Levine? Oh my god.
35:06 Speaker 02 Fanny flutters!
35:07 Alice Levine? Is that a British scandal first if you ever said fanny flutters?
35:11 Matt Forde? I've never said it on the podcast. Sorry, this is a case of my lingo bleeding into the show. I get them at Christmas, I get them when England win.
35:21 Matt Forde? Her reputation might never recover if word gets out she slept with her client. This is insanity. Unless, of course, no one ever finds out.
35:38 Matt Forde? Six months later, Beverly Hills, L.A. Sharon gently opens her eyes to the warm glow flooding the bedroom. Ozzy's arm is heavy across her chest. She turns to find him awake, staring peacefully at her. She smiles. Any fear their personal relationship might ruin their professional one has evaporated. The last six months with Ozzy have been blissful. Placing her hand on his face, she moves in for a kiss.
36:08 Speaker 02 Good morning, rock star.
36:11 Matt Forde? Ozzy slides his hands down her back. How does a fucking rock star more like?
36:20 Matt Forde? Who's fucking interrupting at this hour?
36:24 Matt Forde? Sharon jerks upright. She can't believe she almost forgot. She bounces out of bed, grabbing her gown.
36:32 Speaker 02 Get dressed, Ozzy. We've got to go.
36:39 Matt Forde? An hour later, the two of them are sat in the back of a limo. A small birdcage wedged between them. Sharon detailing her big plan.
36:48 Speaker 02 So I tell them you're putting all the Black Sabbath bullshit behind you. Then you slip this dove from your pocket and release it into the air.
36:57 Matt Forde? Ozzy frowns at the cage. What the fuck for?
37:02 Speaker 02 To demonstrate you're all about peace and harmony now, you fucking dolt.
37:06 Matt Forde? It's a dove. You're the boss.
37:12 Alice Levine? So it's very much adopting the 12 Days of Christmas approach to gift giving and conflict. You know, French hens solve a lot of problems. You've got your geese, you've got your partridges. If in doubt, chuck a dove in there.
37:25 Matt Forde? Yeah, I think people should use birds as apology gifts. So that I'm very sorry that I offended your mother, here's a robin redbreast.
37:33 Alice Levine? That's lovely. Um, I think you think I'm being hostile. I'm not, and I don't like that you felt that way. Blue tit.
37:42 Matt Forde? He leans in to kiss her. Sharon places her palm firmly on his chest.
37:48 Speaker 02 Not here.
37:51 Matt Forde? Today is CBS Records' annual sales conference, and all the industry big hitters are here. Buzz has been building about Ozzy with every show he plays. So she's looking to turn this momentum into a record deal. She clambers out of the car, makes her way to reception.
38:11 Speaker 02 Sharon Arden, with Ozzy Osbourne.
38:14 Matt Forde? Yeah, of course. Line starts over there. Sharon freezes. The queue to get in is enormous, but she's getting this deal. So she gets into line and sends Ozzy off to mingle. Forty minutes later, the queue hasn't moved, and she's beginning to get annoyed. She marches back to reception.
38:38 Speaker 02 Excuse me, I made an appointment with...
38:43 Matt Forde? She's cut off by an ear-piercing scream. Sharon twists around to see the queue has dispersed. People backed up against the walls, and in the centre, Ozzy. Blood and feathers all over his chin, and a headless dove in his hand. The screams multiply as he spits out the head onto the coffee table.
39:07 Alice Levine? It's easy to think of this in a sort of cartoony way, but that is just so viscerally horrible and disgusting.
39:17 Matt Forde? Do you know what? This is why mums love Westlife. Because, yes, they are tedious and boring and they basically just do cover versions, but they're nice boys. They don't bite the heads off doves.
39:34 Matt Forde? Sharon's mouth drops open as two security guards drag Ozzy backwards out of the building. My name's Ozzy Osbourne. Blizzard of Oz, the new album, coming soon.
39:48 Matt Forde? Sharon charges out after him.
39:51 Speaker 02 What the fuck was that?
39:53 Matt Forde? Ow, I thought you wanted to get attention.
39:56 Speaker 02 Not like that. Fuck Ozzy. I need these people to take us seriously.
40:04 Matt Forde? But Sharon suddenly stops talking. She's looking at what's happening behind Ozzy.
40:10 Matt Forde? Journalists and photographers have poured out of the conference, pressed up against the building's window, watching Ozzy pluck a final feather from his mouth. You haven't got a toothpick, I've got dove feathers between my molars. That is the problem when you eat them raw. British scandal's advice on dove eating? Pluck them and cook them. You pluck them, we cook them. Oh no, it would be the other way around, wouldn't it? If you were selling them. We pluck them, you cook them.
40:34 Alice Levine? That's better, yeah.
40:35 Matt Forde? Levine Family Farms.
40:37 Alice Levine? Why am I getting roped into this?
40:39 Matt Forde? Because Levine sounds better. Ford Family Farms, ooh.
40:42 Alice Levine? Ooh, though.
40:45 Matt Forde? Sharon sees two record execs peering out of the window. A large crowd already formed around Ozzy. Ozzy, did you know it was real? Ozzy carefully dabs his mouth, replies. Oh yeah. Tasted like tomato sauce. The crowd erupts. Sharon lets out a little laugh. She's been so focused on making her own mark that she's overlooked Ozzy's greatest asset: his madness. So from now on, she is going to encourage and capitalise on Ozzy's antics and create the maddest, baddest, most outrageous tour the world has ever seen.
41:42 Matt Forde? January 1982, Des Moines, Iowa. Randy Rhodes slips behind a stack of Marshall amps, takes a sip of water, spots Ozzy's half-finished bottle of Jack Daniels. He hates alcohol. He's seen firsthand the destruction it can cause, but he loves Ozzy, loves making music with him. He just wishes he didn't have to be such a goddamn maniac all the time. Ever since the dove incident, the crowds have been pelting them with all sorts: dead birds, lizards, rodents. One guy even brought a severed cow's head.
42:19 Matt Forde? Randy keeps telling himself that working with Ozzy is his fast track to fame, but it's starting to feel like the hardest road possible, and it's especially hard since Sharon devised a gauntlet of death-defying stage stunts so Ozzy can capitalise on his latest notoriety.
42:37 Matt Forde? He steps back out into the heat of the crowd and forces himself to lock in the opening notes of Crazy Train as a giant mechanical arm swings past his face, Ozzy clinging to it, missing Randy's head by inches. Fucking hell, that! This is the part of the show Randy hates the most. It's his most technically demanding solo of the entire set, and he has to play it while Ozzy, grinning like a man possessed, yanks a lever that fires fifty pounds of raw meat and animal ant trails into the air, spraying the crowd with a tidal wave of flying gore.
43:15 Alice Levine? And Randy doesn't like that, okay. I think he needs to ask himself some questions about why.
43:23 Matt Forde? Randy thinks he might be sick. He tries to focus on his solo until he feels something hit the side of his guitar. He looks up in shock, a red smudge on his star-shaped 1974 Gibson Les Paul.
43:38 Matt Forde? He turns as a piece of awful comes flying out of the darkness and hits him in the forehead, then another, and another.
43:47 Matt Forde? Jesus Christ, Oz! Watch out! Ozzy jumps back as he dismounts the mechanical arm, and an object thuds at his feet. What the fuck was that? Randy squints at it. Oh god, it's a fucking rat! Ozzy bends down, picks it up. Randy rushes over to knock it out of his hands, but as he does, he spies a devilsome grin spread across Ozzy's face, as two leathery wings unfurl.
44:19 Matt Forde? Everything seems to move in slow motion, as Randy watches Ozzy lift the bat, high up into the spotlight. Ozzy, no! Put it down! The audience cheers a deafening, as Ozzy brings it down, close to his mouth. Ozzy, no! Opens wide. Then...
44:47 Matt Forde? Randy's stomach heaves, as he sees blood spill from the corner of Ozzy's mouth. His eyes frozen in shock, as the bat's twitching body falls to the ground.
44:58 Alice Levine? Oh my holy sweet baby Jesus.
45:02 Matt Forde? And this is how Covid starts.
45:07 Matt Forde? What the hell are you doing?! Randy throws his guitar down on the stage, as commotion breaks out offstage. Tech crew and medics rush past, screaming at him to spit it out. They bundle Ozzy into the wings. What the fuck, man? Ozzy starts laughing.
45:27 Matt Forde? It felt so fucking rubbery. I thought it was a dog toy. Randy stares at him, at Sharon striding in behind him. It's rock and roll, Randy! Something inside him snaps. You fucking knock this shit off, or I swear! The drinking and drugs he could endure. But all this, with the blood and the guts and the bat biting, it's sick! They're as bad as each other. And Randy wants no part in it. So either Ozzy and Sharon clean up his act, right now, or he's walking. And this band is finished.
46:25 Matt Forde? Februari 1982, San Antonio, Texas.
46:31 Matt Forde? Ozzy slumps in the back of the police car, head pressed against the window. Glances over the officer's shoulder at the clock on the dashboard. Twenty minutes until he's due on stage. Ozzy turns to Sharon.
46:46 Matt Forde? Do you reckon we'll make it? Sharon snaps round from her window and snarls:
46:50 Speaker 02 "Ozzy! One more word and I will punch your teeth so far down your throat you'll be eating with your arsehole!"
46:58 Matt Forde? He's tried apologising to her, to everyone, but it really was an honest mistake. He'd been drunk, he'd needed a wee, he'd found a quiet little spot in which to relieve himself. How was he supposed to know it was a war memorial? There are often clues.
47:15 Matt Forde? The big engraved words "Gloria's Dead", 1939 to 1945.
47:19 Alice Levine? But that could mean anything.
47:20 Matt Forde? The car pulls up behind the venue. Ozzy is whisked through corridors to his dressing room for a quick change. Randy springs up off the sofa.
47:30 Matt Forde? You fucking pissed on the Alamo?
47:34 Matt Forde? Oh, don't you fucking start. I've had enough of it from her already. We got a crowd full of fucking Texans out there and they hear some limey British bastard just got busted pissing all over their war dead? Ozzy feels his nostrils flare. Will someone change this fucking baby's nappy? He feels a thwack on his back.
47:55 Speaker 02 Don't talk to him like that, you stupid arsehole!
47:57 Matt Forde? Ozzy spins round at her. Stop fucking eating me, Sharon! Ozzy's patience with Sharon's physical outbursts has run out.
48:07 Matt Forde? He launches up from his seat, sending the contents of his dressing table flying. He lunges at Sharon, pulls his fist back, but finds himself grabbed and yanked back down by Randy. Hey, whoa, enough! Ozzy crashes back into the chair.
48:24 Matt Forde? Behind him in the mirror, he sees Randy shaking his head, pityingly.
48:30 Matt Forde? "Seriously, man, you're gonna fucking die if you keep on like this. And I'm telling you now, I don't wanna be around to see it." Ozzy watches him leave, then follows him to the door, screaming after him. "Good. Fuck off then. Good fucking riddance." He skulks past Sharon, sits back down at his mirror.
48:50 Speaker 02 "I should've left you to fucking rot in..."
48:52 Matt Forde? "Oh, you can fuck off and all." Sharon stands, snaps her head round, and storms out without a second glance. Ozzy glowers darkly in the mirror.
49:05 Matt Forde? It's his name on the posters, his name in the papers. Ozzy Osbourne is who all these people have come to see. This is his show, his tour, and he doesn't need anyone holding him back.
49:29 Matt Forde? Noon the following day, Leesburg, Florida. Ozzy shuts his eyes, snuggles back into Sharon, and sighs.
49:41 Matt Forde? The tour bus has pulled up in a lay-by, and Ozzy's been trying to sleep for the last four hours. But he has daggers at the back of his eyeballs, and worst of all, regret sloshing around his system. He knows Randy only ever wanted to make music, and Ozzy's got him wrapped up in all this chaos, making his life hell. Ozzy wouldn't be here without him. He was too harsh. He'll apologize, put things right. He just needs five minutes more kip.
50:09 Matt Forde? He reaches his arm across Sharon when he's suddenly ripped back upright by a deafening bang.
50:16 Matt Forde? The entire tour bus tips onto two wheels.
50:18 Alice Levine? "Which two?"
50:19 Matt Forde? "Oh yeah, is it like a wheelie, or is it Dukes of Hazzard?"
50:23 Matt Forde? Then slams back down again. He blinks, disoriented. "What the fuck was that?"
50:30 Matt Forde? From the belly of the bus, he can hear the whirrings of commotion, the rest of his band scurrying around. Footsteps frantically running up and down the aisle, bangs and crashes, voices raised. "I told you, no solids."
50:46 Matt Forde? It's a chemical toilet.
50:49 Matt Forde? Ozzy thumps on the side of his bunk.
50:52 Matt Forde? Stop fucking about, you pricks. We're trying to sleep in here. He goes to put his duvet over his head when his privacy curtain is torn back. Ozzy looks up to find himself staring into the deathly pale face of his drummer. You need to get off the bus now. Ozzy looks over to Sharon, sees alarm in her face. Then he smells it: smoke and an acrid smell of fuel. A primal fear grips him. He grabs his pants, grabs Sharon, and in a hazy, hungover panic barrels down the gangway, heading for the exit.
51:28 Alice Levine? For a man who has quite a high threshold for adrenaline, you know, he's often got entrails being thrown at him. If he's panicking, then that would send a shiver down your spine.
51:39 Matt Forde? Panicking, but also first grabbing his pants.
51:42 Alice Levine? Yeah, well, good. There is a sense of decorum that I really didn't think that he would have.
51:47 Matt Forde? Even the prince of darkness realises he's got to cover up. Outside, Ozzy's eyes reel at what he sees. A hundred yards away, a small passenger plane has crashed into the side of a nearby building.
52:01 Alice Levine? Oh my god.
52:02 Matt Forde? Wreckage is strewn all around: twisted metal, brick, burning wood, thick black smoke curling up into the sky. Uh, fucking hell, what do we do? The wing of the plane caught the bus. He takes in the dented back end, smoke rising from its engine, and then sprints towards it, tripping over his feet in his haste. Randy! Ozzy dives back on board. Randy, get off the bus, get off the fucking bus! Tears his way down the aisle, ripping back the bunk curtains as he goes. Where's Randy? Randy? Kicks in the toilet door to find the cubicle empty. Uh, where the fuck are you? At the front of the bus, his drummer clambers on.
52:48 Matt Forde? Oz, stop, come back! Ozzy starts ripping up cushions and luggage, tossing them everywhere. Uh, where the fuck is he? Ozzy man, stop! Ozzy stops and stares into the shining, quivering eyes of his drummer.
53:04 Matt Forde? He's not on the bus. He was on that plane.
53:18 Matt Forde? From Audible Originals and Samizdat Audio, this is the first episode in our series, Sharon and Ozzy.
53:25 Alice Levine? A quick note about our dialogue: in most cases, we can't know exactly what was said, but all of our dramatizations are based on historical research.
53:32 Matt Forde? If you'd like to know more about this story, you can read I Am Ozzy by Ozzy Osbourne, Extreme by Sharon Osborne, Black Sabbath: Symptom of the Universe by Mick Wall, and Off the Rails by Rudy Sasso. British Candle is hosted by me, Matt Ford.
53:48 Alice Levine? And me, Alice Levine.
53:50 Matt Forde? Written by Chris Lockery. Additional writing by Alice Levine and Matt Ford. Our story editor was James Maniac. Sound design by Dan King. Our engineer was Jai Williams. For Samizdat, our producer is Chika Ayers. Our assistant producer is Louise Mason. Our senior producers are Joe Sykes and Dasha Lisitzina. Executive producers for Wondery are Theodora Leludis, Astel Doyle, and Marshall Luth.
54:22 Speaker 03 Journalist Tristan Redman goes where no son-in-law should ever go: deep into his wife's family history, digging up the cold case of who murdered her great-grandmother. Because, I should mention, he thinks the murderer might actually be the beloved family patriarch. For the best binge-watch series like Ghost Story, listen to the Audible True Crime Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
54:42 Speaker 04 For decades, two legendary brands fought for the hearts of American bikers: Indian Motorcycle and Harley-Davidson. The battle looked a lot like Coke versus Pepsi or Ford versus Chevy, but tastes changed and Indian didn't adapt fast enough. The icon all but died. Then came the con men, the dreamers, a string of spectacular failures that kept Indian in the grave, until one company finally got it right. This is the story of an improbable revival and the reignition of an old rivalry. Hey, I'm David Brown, the host of the podcast Business Wars, and every season, we bring you the true stories behind the companies that shape our world. Indian's new owners are going all in, but an existential crisis looms. Can Indian and Harley recruit enough younger riders to survive?
55:26 Speaker 04 Make sure to follow Business Wars wherever you get your podcasts. Audible subscribers can binge all episodes of Business Wars early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts.
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