Ozzy Osbourne and Ronnie James Dio are, two of the most important figures in the history of Heavy Metal, but, it’s safe to say, they didn’t always see eye to eye.
It all began after Ozzy was thrown out of Black Sabbath for, well, being Ozzy, and Dio stepped up to fill his shoes. Not happy at being replaced, it would take three years for Ozzy to properly sound off, but when Sabbath released Live Evil at almost the same time that he released Speak of the Devil, Ozzy Osbourne gave an interview to Hank Thompson and he didn’t hold back.
The Prince of Darkness said;
“Those ASSHOLES. They wait fifteen fuckin’ years to do a live album, and then they do one at the exact same time I do mine. On top of that, they’re still using some of my songs. I can’t believe that they had the balls to put ‘Paranoid‘ and ‘Iron Man‘ on their album. Black Sabbath performing those songs without me singing them is like four guys getting together today and calling themselves The Beatles. That’s just rubbish. I’m bigger than Sabbath ever was. It’s rather sad they still have to live off of songs that are ten years old. It’s a fuckin’ joke they don’t have more confidence in their newer material. Yeah, I do ‘Iron Man‘ too, but that’s MY SONG–people DEMAND I do it. I imagine Sabbath still does it because they don’t feel their new songs hold up very well.”
Before doubling down on how he felt about his former band;
“Sabbath is dead now. It’s not that I don’t like what they are doing. It’s great music what they are doing. It’s not Black Sabbath. It’s a new band. It’s a different band. It doesn’t even remotely sound like Sabbath apart from Tony Iommi’s thundering riffs. It wasn’t until I left that I realized how much of a part of Sabbath I was, you know? It’s not like losing a bass player or drummer.”
Ronnie James Dio was not having any of this and shot back with;
“Well, I think he’s right. I think he’s right in that he is talking about there is no more Black Sabbath with Ozzy Osbourne in it. He’s absolutely right. It’s not even remotely close as far as I’m concerned. I think you will find the riffs Tony is playing are probably more musical riffs. And the reason probably being that he now has someone who can compare musically to the riffs he is playing. I’ll make a derogatory statement for you that you can play to Ozzy if you like. He’s talking from the context of when he was in Black Sabbath. Granted a bass player or drummer leaving a band would not make much of an impression as a vocalist or a guitar player. He’s right about the drummer. This band is not the band that did ‘Iron Man‘ or ‘War Pigs‘. Because I don’t sound like Ozzy. At least I hope I don’t sound like Ozzy. I don’t try to. I don’t want to. This is a band that has progressed where Ozzy either refused to progress or was incapable of progression. I’d like to think he was incapable…To reply to the things Ozzy has said is like dueling with an unarmed man. I feel like someone who has a sword up against someone who has no clue what a weapon is. I find the man to be stupid. Totally devoid of intelligence. An animal.”
Before truly going for the throat by stating;
“I doubt very much that Ozzy could carry a tune if you put a radio in a suitcase and gave it to him in his hand. I sincerely doubt that, and I know it for a fact because I’ve heard this from the people who have worked with him for 12 years.”
The feud between the two would last until Dio’s untimely death in 2010, with both sides taking sporadic shots at each other through the years, but on the news of his passing Dio’s old rival, Ozzy Osbourne had this to say;
“You know, when anyone dies in this game, it’s sad. I first knew about Ronnie Dio’s sickness a few months back and I sent him a message, saying if there’s anything we can do to help, please don’t hesitate to call us. I wasn’t a really big friend of Ronnie Dio. I’ve met him a few times over the years. But he was a great, great singer. It’s a terrible loss. God bless you, Ronnie.”
