“YOU'VE GOT NICE EYEBROWS”

On July 5, 1986, Ozzy was in Sacramento, California, during a long tour in support of his latest album The Ultimate Sin. This was a few weeks before he headlined the biggest UK event of the year for heavy metal fans - the Monsters Of Rock festival at Donington Park. As a writer for weekly music paper Sounds, I travelled to Sacramento with photographer Peter Anderson to write a cover story on Ozzy. Things did not go exactly to plan.

- Words: Paul Elliott

The show that Ozzy performed in Sacramento began with a joke. Before his big entrance, a roadie stood centre stage holding up a placard with the letter R on one side and the letter Z on the other. The letters were flashed in sequence and eventually the audience was shouting in unison: “Ar! Zee! Ar! Zee!”

In 1986, hair-metal was at its zenith, and not even the self-proclaimed Prince of Darkness was immune to this.

The man who had fronted Black Sabbath, the heaviest and darkest band of its time, was now sporting fluffy blond hair and a glittery outfit better suited to a cabaret singer. He was also carrying plenty of excess weight from all the booze he was sinking.

Within a few minutes of the show ending with a final encore of Paranoid, the Sounds duo joined him on his tour bus for a short ride to a five-star hotel, during which he insisted on listening to Peter Gabriel’s track Sledgehammer over and over, at deafening volume.

In the hotel bar we found a quiet corner in which to do the interview. As beers and shots were laid out on the table, Ozzy said: “I’ve had my first drink tonight in nineteen days.” This claim seemed to become less believable as the conversation developed.