Although Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne have spawned hundreds, even thousands, of imitations, there have only been a handful of bands that can honestly say they are even playing the same sport, let alone in the same ballpark. Sadly, none of their members appear in this documentary, which was produced at a time when Ozzy Osbourne was seriously talking about throwing in the towel and retiring for good. While it is nice to see comments from genuinely good performers such as Lemmy Kilmister or Alice Cooper, the one thing I don't want is to hear crap from poseurs like members of all the Def Leppards and Metallicas. If you want to hear how much influence Ozzy has been, both with and without Sabbath, on great musicians over the years, listen to a Type O Negative album instead.
This is not to say that the documentary itself is bad once we get past those clowns. The insight we get into the notorious Suicide Solution trial, in which the fundies all but openly threatened to kill off freedom of expression as we knew it, is probably the best part of all. While the fundy slime who was doing the suing is spewing some of the most ignorant diatribes you're ever likely to hear, Ozzy is calmly and honestly talking about how not only can everyday listeners badly mishear what one is actually verbalising, but also how he wrote the song under inspiration from Bon Scott's unfortunate demise. The net result? Fundy is made to look even more of a tosser because he is basically trying to drag a man's name through the mud for paying tribute to a friend who died in very tragic circumstances. Anyone who is labouring under any sort of belief that Ozzy is some kind of lunatic or idiotic simpleton would do well to watch just this part of the documentary.
On top of this, we also get insights into how Ozzy really related to the common man (Randy's mother mistook him for a roadie when she first met him), or just how squalid his upbringing in Birmingham really was (by contrast, the Hitler wannabe I mentioned before really looks like he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth during this documentary). But the most interesting question raised during this documentary is that of how the most vilified, feared/hated (in the Hilter-wannabe fundy community, anyway), or loved man in the world of real music somehow manages to raise a family and lead a vaguely normal life. The more interesting question is, with all these people wanting to vilify, attack, and even destroy Ozzy Osbourne, how do his children cope with all the unwanted attention? Fundie morons would go on to say how Ozzy inflicts this lifestyle upon them, but this is laughable when you ask: would you rather grow up in an industrial dump like Birmingham, or as one of the heirs to a man whose musical legacy still touches people all over the world? Gee, some choice.
So as I sit here, typing this up while listening to one of Satyricon's fine albums, one that arguably could have not existed if not for men like Ozzy, Tony, Geezer, and Bill, I am in no state of conflict as to which people I'd rather have in my world. To put it the same way I will put it to the fundies like the one who appears in this documentary, and to those who support them, if your fight is with Ozzy Osbourne, it is with me, too.
This is not to say that the documentary itself is bad once we get past those clowns. The insight we get into the notorious Suicide Solution trial, in which the fundies all but openly threatened to kill off freedom of expression as we knew it, is probably the best part of all. While the fundy slime who was doing the suing is spewing some of the most ignorant diatribes you're ever likely to hear, Ozzy is calmly and honestly talking about how not only can everyday listeners badly mishear what one is actually verbalising, but also how he wrote the song under inspiration from Bon Scott's unfortunate demise. The net result? Fundy is made to look even more of a tosser because he is basically trying to drag a man's name through the mud for paying tribute to a friend who died in very tragic circumstances. Anyone who is labouring under any sort of belief that Ozzy is some kind of lunatic or idiotic simpleton would do well to watch just this part of the documentary.
On top of this, we also get insights into how Ozzy really related to the common man (Randy's mother mistook him for a roadie when she first met him), or just how squalid his upbringing in Birmingham really was (by contrast, the Hitler wannabe I mentioned before really looks like he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth during this documentary). But the most interesting question raised during this documentary is that of how the most vilified, feared/hated (in the Hilter-wannabe fundy community, anyway), or loved man in the world of real music somehow manages to raise a family and lead a vaguely normal life. The more interesting question is, with all these people wanting to vilify, attack, and even destroy Ozzy Osbourne, how do his children cope with all the unwanted attention? Fundie morons would go on to say how Ozzy inflicts this lifestyle upon them, but this is laughable when you ask: would you rather grow up in an industrial dump like Birmingham, or as one of the heirs to a man whose musical legacy still touches people all over the world? Gee, some choice.
So as I sit here, typing this up while listening to one of Satyricon's fine albums, one that arguably could have not existed if not for men like Ozzy, Tony, Geezer, and Bill, I am in no state of conflict as to which people I'd rather have in my world. To put it the same way I will put it to the fundies like the one who appears in this documentary, and to those who support them, if your fight is with Ozzy Osbourne, it is with me, too.
