Ozzy Osbourne – "I'm Still Here!"

The 'Godfather of heavy metal', Ozzy Osbourne candidly chats to Rolling Stone UK about his life and 50-year career and how his greatest dream is to perform just one more time

- By Nick Reilly. Photography by Danielle Levitt

‘If World War Three ever happens, and they start using the big shit, I’m going to put a big fucking target on my roof!” comes the defiant cackle emanating from a grand oak-panelled room in a palatial California mansion.

“I wanna be right under the fucking thing! I’ll just say, ‘You cunts! I bet you can’t hit our house.’ Even if they’ve got a 50-megaton bomb! Imagine if I crawled from the debris with half a body, shouting, ‘I’M STILL HERE!’”

Stop the press, please. You may have read numerous reports about Ozzy Osbourne’s health in recent years, but I can assure you that the man sitting in front of me is not, contrary to popular belief, being consigned to his darkened crypt just yet.

Instead, the vim and vigour that emerges from Ozzy Osbourne, 74, in the time I spend in his company leaves me convinced that, despite countless bouts of surgery and physical setbacks in recent years, only a fool would dare to write him off.

In a career spanning more than 50 years, Ozzy Osbourne has not so much become an enduring icon of heavy metal as much as he is the establishment-baiting, darkness-dwelling alchemist who was at the centre of the genre in the first place. It’s why he is the perfect choice for the first-ever Rolling Stone UK Icon Award, supported by Visit West Hollywood.

But on his icon status, Ozzy Osbourne is less sure.

“I wish I felt like a fucking icon!” comes the typically deadpan and sweary response, delivered in a warm and familiar Brummy brogue that hasn’t faded one bit. “I’ve had a long career, and I’ve raised a few fucking eyebrows along the way. I’ve met some amazing people. I’ve done some good gigs, and I’ve done some fucking bad gigs.”