Were your parents scared of OZZY (Osbourne)?

[Chip Z'Hoy]

My parents didn't give a shit. I think by the time I was interested, it was The Ultimate Sin and they did not see him as any kind of threat to our eternal souls. There was a video were he dressed up like J.R. from Dallas, was there not? See, we were already in Disneyland.

I remember circa 1991, I went to the mall with my friend and his dad, and I bought Speak of the Devil on cassette. Later, when we were having pizza, friend's dad asked me what I got. I said Ozzy and he said "Ozzy has genital warts." I think soda shot out of my nose.

[Chip Z'Hoy]

Is Speak of the Devil not available to stream? Was Michael Sweet right? HE'S NO FRIEND OF MINE??

[Chip Z'Hoy]

I think soda shot out of my nose.

"That wasn't soda."

TRY AGAIN, HOT SHOT.

[Chip Z'Hoy]

Did myself zero favors there.

[HueyRamone]

My parents didn't give a shit. I think by the time I was interested, it was The Ultimate Sin and they did not see him as any kind of threat to our eternal souls. There was a video were he dressed up like J.R. from Dallas, was there not? See, we were already in Disneyland.

I remember circa 1991, I went to the mall with my friend and his dad, and I bought Speak of the Devil on cassette. Later, when we were having pizza, friend's dad asked me what I got. I said Ozzy and he said "Ozzy has genital warts." I think soda shot out of my nose.

You just said you're 45 in another thread. You got into the Ultimate Sin when you were 5?

[Chip Z'Hoy]

You just said you're 45 in another thread. You got into the Ultimate Sin when you were 5?

Yep! I had older brothers that blasted that shit all day, so I naturally got into it too. I think I just like weird stuff and metal videos were the weirdest and the girls were the hottest.

I like to make myself out like a badass kid like the greasy kid from River's Edge but I was more like Opie with MTV (rural Wisconsin). I might've had a switchblade comb.

[Chip Z'Hoy]

It was wild, I had two older brothers, and the most exotic music they listened to was maybe Pink Floyd. They played me Led Zeppelin and I thought it was the weirdest shit! (They weren't even burnouts. This was just a Strangers Things type vibe. WHOLESOME.)

I liked the stuff with the nutso videos: Dio, Motley, Dokken, Quiet Riot, Twisted, Ratt, Def Lep, ESPECIALLY CINDERELLA, never forget The 'Rella.

I liked two songs that weren't metal: "Heaven is a Place on Earth" (couple years later, obvs) and Michael McDonald, the one that went "We'll kurp the spurut alurrrrrrve."

If a metal band had a keyboard player, that was a conversation I had to have with myself. Were they pussies? NO MACHINES.

[HueyRamone]

You just said you're 45 in another thread. You got into the Ultimate Sin when you were 5?

Yep! I had older brothers that blasted that shit all day, so I naturally got into it too. I think I just like weird stuff and metal videos were the weirdest and the girls were the hottest.

I like to make myself out like a badass kid like the greasy kid from River's Edge but I was more like Opie with MTV (rural Wisconsin). I might've had a switchblade comb.

It sounds implausible.

"Honey, Im worried about Chip. He's really getting into Ozzy Osbourne's Ultimate Sin, along with his Garbage Pail Kids and GI Joe."

"Dont you mean his older brothers are into that madman, Ozzy? Chips' in Kindergarten!"

"Nope, only Chip knows all the words to Thank God For the Bomb!"

[Chip Z'Hoy]

Garbage Pail Kids were a WAY bigger threat in my house than Ozzy.

[HueyRamone]

Something's not adding up. If I cared, I would get to the bottom of this

[LAglamrocker]

Good kid-good adult- not even aware I wear Rammstein shirts to the Baywatch life

Were probably litter nervous my first WWF hero was Iron Sheik and his buddy that sang Russian National Anthem
Told them best part of wrestling night was I stood up and sang with Volkoff

Never Ozzy fan that would be embarrassing so much better bands

Parents never scared I became Papa Shango fan- didn’t take his lifestyle until I moved to So Cal. Not to many people know but a few

[Chip Z'Hoy]

Wrestling was a WAYYYYYYYYYY bigger threat than Ozzy.

My dad had to explain to us that it was—he used a term we don’t use anymore. We say “scripted” now. “Predetermined.”

Anyway, we had a sitdown so we wouldn’t break our necks.

Ozzy was a puppy.

[VinnieVincentsVag]

My mom used to listen to my records when I was in high school
She commented many times on albums like The Wall, BOO, NOTB, Toys in the Attic etc….
She also used to come out and see my bands play if we were close.
Very supportive of my musical endeavors.
Still with us at 85

[Chip Z'Hoy]

Speaking of Ozzy, I know the news cycle is now 24/7 madness (which Ozzy technically allowed to begin) but why do I get the feeling that we are going to watch that man die on television? It’s not a concert, it’s a FUNERAL.

Electric funeral. Nice.

[Chip Z'Hoy]

My mom used to listen to my records when I was in high school
She commented many times on albums like The Wall, BOO, NOTB, Toys in the Attic etc….
She also used to come out and see my bands play if we were close.
Very supportive of my musical endeavors.
Still with us at 85

Nice! She sounds awesome.

My mom only hated Faith No More. She said they were “on drugs.” No idea why she singled them out.

[Chip Z'Hoy]

I was born in 1979 so this would’ve been like if I was concerned my kid was listening to Slipknot. You understand. And things of this nature.

[Chip Z'Hoy]

Oh, and I was obsessed with David Lee Roth.

I think I might’ve been the Good HMZ—or he’s the Good Me.

[Van Ailin']

No. I'm pretty sure they were unaware of his existence.

[Metal Sludge]

No.
My dad had Paranoid on 8-Track. I guess I was in 5th or 6th grade when I really listened to it. This would have been the mid 70's
My dad was soooo proud of his 8-Track player!
To be fair, he hooked it up to the TV/Stereo/Radio/Turn Table thing that was like furniture, and he did have big extra speakers all around it, so it did sound pretty good for the time.

He had tons of music, not just 8-Tracks, but albums too. A really wide variety.
Lot's of Beatles, David Bowie, some 50's stuff like The Platters, lot's of 60's Motown, early 70's like The Eagles.
He also had Glen Campbell's Greatest Hits. Back in 2021, GNR played Wichita Lineman in their set. My daughter and all the kids around us just sat down. To tell the truth, I probably wouldn't have known that song either if it wasn't for dad's 8-Track.

[HottKarl777]

No. I'm pretty sure they were unaware of his existence.

This. My parents had graduated college by the early 60s. My dad liked Frank Sinatra and domestic violence.

[Van Ailin']

No. I'm pretty sure they were unaware of his existence.

This. My parents had graduated college by the early 60s. My dad liked Frank Sinatra and domestic violence.

Mine by the late 60s. But they were really against the Summer of Love stuff (especially Mom). The both thought drugs would be the ruination of many of their friends. They were right. In their college years, they liked the nascent folk movement and liked The Beach Boys and Beatles a little. They didn't go with The Byrds or psychedelic music. The were more into Joan Baez, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and even Peter Paul & Mary. In 70s, it was all classical music (mostly baroque) and Seals & Crofts. I didn't really discover liking electric guitar sounds until Boston, and that yanked me right into it. Then Survivor was the gateway into Quiet Riot, which led back to Van Halen, Def Leppard and Judas Priest. That led to Ratt, Ozzy solo (with Jake and Randy), Dokken, and backwards into Led Zeppelin, Gary Moore, Thin Lizzy, UFO, Scorpions, MSG, etc. Guitar FTPracMus led to Dio, Steely Dan, Yngwie, Tony MacAlpine, Steve Vai, Steve Stevens, and even Toto/Steve Lukather. And Whitesnake/Tesla. Was kind of off the "new guitar hero" bandwagon once the LA scene got to late-generation stuff like Slaughter and Warrant. Found that pretty lame and was instead working backwards through prog rock during my early 20s. That was the discovery of Yes, Genesis, Rush, King Crimson, Kansas, Van Der Graaf Generator, Marillion, etc. Then that led to fusion. First Jeff Beck and Allan Holdsworth and then Pat Metheny, Terje Rypdal, Eric Johnson, Flecktones. They led to newer bluegrass such as New Grass Revival, Mark O'Connor, David Grisman, Tony Rice, etc. That then linked to wilder new acoustic music like Michael Hedges, Pierre Bensusan, etc. In the middle of all that, found he better 90s bands where Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, Screaming Trees/Lanegan and Mother Love Bone were favorites. Those pushed back into pop music where Jellyfish, Kevin Gilbert, Jeff Buckley, Jon Brion, etc. were discovered. The artsy side of that led to David Sylvian, Japan, Ryuichi Sakamoto, late-period Talk Talk and all that. A move to Latin America in the mid-90s led to adding some GREAT Spanish-language groups like Soda Stereo, Spinetta Jade, Gustavo Cerati, Santa Sabina, La Barranca, Jaguares, Caifanes and more. Later work in Brasil led back more of an art-rock space with Caetano Veloso, Ed Motta (tickles the Steely Dan vibe), Kassin, Elis Regina so on. Somewhere in the middle of that, re-discovered Black Sabbath, especially loving Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. What an album.

This was too long, wasn't it . . .

[aznsquirt]

You just said you're 45 in another thread. You got into the Ultimate Sin when you were 5?

Haha, I saw the same (45) and thought something similar when I read this.

I'm the same age and was kinda too young to get into Ozzy while I was also young enough to ever find out if my parents cared.

My first cassette was Thriller and my second cassette was CCR - Cosmo's Factory.

And then I was into whatever was on MTV in the late 80s, I don't remember Ozzy showing up much there.

By the time I was old enough to discover much beyond that, my parents wouldn't have cared much, I think.

The only thing remotely close to that was when my dad found that Marilyn Manson album where he's got his dick hooked up to his band members' mouths with tubes and my dad saw it and said "throw this away before your mom sees it and has a fit".

And then one time randomly when I was blasting MTV and Cult of Personality was playing my mom came in all angry and ranting about it.

So I suppose if I had been blasting Ultimate Sin when it came out my mom may have had issues with it.

[HueyRamone]

And then one time randomly when I was blasting MTV and Cult of Personality was playing my mom came in all angry and ranting about it.

What was she angry about? That you were learning the names of historical figures?

[Tommy2Tone84]

My parents didn't give a shit. I think by the time I was interested, it was The Ultimate Sin and they did not see him as any kind of threat to our eternal souls. There was a video were he dressed up like J.R. from Dallas, was there not? See, we were already in Disneyland.

I remember circa 1991, I went to the mall with my friend and his dad, and I bought Speak of the Devil on cassette. Later, when we were having pizza, friend's dad asked me what I got. I said Ozzy and he said "Ozzy has genital warts." I think soda shot out of my nose.

Yes, it was the title track to Ultimate Sin where he parodied JR Ewing.


Yes, at first. Speak of the Devil was my first Ozzy cassette and my mom wasn’t amused that her ten year old son actually liked that kind of crap. It was only a couple years before where he bit the head head off the dove in the meeting with the suits from Jet Records and then later ate the bat’s head onstage. The rumors, truths and half truths surrounding him in the early 80s were crazy, The cover and music of Diary wasn’t exactly heartwarming at the time. As I got older, she realized I wasn’t going to become a loser alcoholic and cocaine addict or worship the devil, and she saw Ozzy what I saw him for: an entertaining, attention-whoring clown who surrounded himself with much better musicians than himself.

Later, I think Ozzy and Sharon’s dynamic interested and fascinated her. Love her or hate her, Sharon was the real badass in that relationship. My mom wouldn’t condone or agree with much of the underhanded shit we all know Sharon has done over the years. But the fact that Sharon was the brains and the balls behind Ozzy fascinated my mom and women of her generation. Sharon and Wendy Dio were both anomalies of their generation.

My mom also liked Randy Rhoads and his story ie that he was a good student in school, studied classical guitar and had a good relationship with his mom. That impressed her. My mom was the one who told me of Randy’s death. She knew I was a fan and had heard on the radio that Randy had died in the plane crash. I remember being in the car when she asked me about it but I hadn’t heard the news yet.

[CrankerBait]

My parents were rock fans from when they were kids, so they weren't too worried about Ozzy or other rock artists that may have shocked some other parents. (I grew up listening to the Beatles, Stones, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, CSN, the Band and Stevie Wonder, and I have my parents to thank for that.) They liked some Black Sabbath and Ozzy songs, but I think they saw Ozzy's album covers and antics as being kind of stupid and unnecessary.

[Hatchets Molly]

My parents weren't into rock in their 30s. More like Harry Chapin and Neil Diamond. The only time I remember my Mom doing something with my music was in high school, my Prince 1999 cassette disappeared. I came to find out she ditched it because of all the bold sexual lyrics.

In my younger years, when I got into KISS, they were smart enough to figure out it was a kids' band. I didn't get into Ozzy until high school. No problem with the parents.

[pieceofme]

No. My Mum and Dad saw Ozzy live in his Earth days and early Black Sabbath days.

[veritas]

My mom was a little repulsed by the cover of Speak of the Devil when I purchased it.

For those old enough to recall, there WAS a brief time circa early 1982 when Ozzy (like Cooper in the 1970s) did carry a little bit of spooky vibe to him with the Bat Incident and magazines going along with his schtick.
It lasted about a year before he became a caricature with Bark at the Moon, but he had an aura of a little mystique when I saw him live in 1982....

[FreddyFender]

My dad's had an issue with me listening to Ozzy, but the issue was that he though Ozzy, specifically, really sucked.

It confused me because Sabbath was old people music from my Dad's generation - I thought if he liked ANY of my music, it would be Ozzy. But he put Black Sabbath in the same category as the Sex Pistols - drug addicts who "couldn't play."

[aznsquirt]

And then one time randomly when I was blasting MTV and Cult of Personality was playing my mom came in all angry and ranting about it.

What was she angry about? That you were learning the names of historical figures?

I don't remember much, but I do remember her saying something like "what is this trash?" and I said "It's Cult of Personality".

I'm sure the fact that the word "Cult" was involved in my answer was music to her ears.