Most musicians are self-centred, it's their job... they'll always let you down

As he publishes a collection of his iconic Oasis images ahead of the Manchester band’s mega-reunion this summer, legendary music photographer Tom Sheehan on Ozzy's outrage, handcuffing Snoop Dogg and keeping his own feet firmly on the ground

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IT WAS an image that stayed under wraps for nearly two decades. But Tom Sheehan's shot became notorious nonetheless, depicting as it did the height of rock'n'roll excess... and the depths of debauchery: Ozzy Osbourne urinating on the Alamo. Sheehan, chief photographer of Melody Maker, had flown to San Antonio, Texas, with writer Allan "Jonesy" Jones in February 1982 to interview the hard-partying former Black Sabbath singer for the now-defunct weekly music paper when things took a turn for the weird.

In full view of busloads of tourists, while drunk and wearing women's clothes, Osbourne relieved himself on the former Spanish mission house - revered by Texans as the site of the famous siege during the state's 1836 armed secession from Mexico.

"Ozzy had been drinking all night and had fallen into a canal near his hotel," chuckles Sheehan, who has photographed everyone from Mick Jagger to Paul Weller, The Stone Roses to Kate Bush and Manic Street Preachers.

"He sits down, orders a double brandy and puts it by our glasses in case [his manager and later wife] Sharon shows up. After a couple of hours of Jonesy doing the interview, I asked if we could do some pics. Ozzy goes to get changed and comes back in a pair of leggings, a jumper that looks like a wingsuit and a straw Stetson from the hotel gift shop." Having arrived at the Alamo, which Sheehan had planned as the backdrop for a shoot, the by-now-very-drunk rock star began muttering about needing the toilet, before, oblivious to passers-by, relieving himself against the wall by the entrance.