Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/01/21/ozzy-osbourne-reveals-he-has-p.html
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He’s been releasing new videos, and one of the latest he does not stand up at all during the whole thing. I guess this might be a reason why. It’s a tough disease and I’m really sorry to hear that he has it.
Also… am I misremembering or had Ozzy and Sharon split a while back? Is that not the case and it was an unfounded rumor? Because they seem very much together still…
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Given he seems to have displaced Parkinson’s like symptoms for a while, I am not surprised.
I thought the issue was if his lifestyle had an influence on it or not.
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I note the phrase “a type of Parkinson’s.”
My father died of Parkinson’s, and he had a very quickly advancing form of the disease, for which drugs provided no alleviation of symptoms. His final year was a nightmare for both him and the family: uncontrollable tremors, drifting in and out of consciousness, loss of nearly all motor control and bodily functions. I hope Ozzy does not have what my father had, I would not wish that on anyone.
I too wonder if his years of drug use contributed to his illness. My father willingly let himself be exposed to a banned pesticide (he kept it in our garage, and I don’t know how much exposure the rest of the family might have had.)
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Yeah, I was confused as I thought he had already been diagnosed with it.
I’m so sorry, that really sounds hellish.
Yeah, there is that link between certain pesticides and Parkinson’s, particularly with childhood exposure. (E.g. having it sprayed around the home) The whole culture has been so weirdly relaxed about exposing people to dangerous neurotoxins because the chemicals also kill insects. It’s horrifying.
They did and apparently got back together shortly thereafter.
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Be well Dark Lord, we love you.
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Okay, thanks, I thought I remembered them splitting up… glad I’m not crazy, at least…
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I love Ozzy, both as the singer of Black Sabbath and in his solo career. Hate that he’s sick, especially with such a tough disease.
But since the topic is up, I’ve never fully understood why he ended up with the “Prince of Darkness” rep. I know that he’s since cultivated it, but his and Black Sabbath’s lyrics always started out from an anti-war, peace and love point of view. They were darker, of course, but frequently more Christain than anything resembling Satanic.
When Satan is encountered, as in the song “Black Sabbath,” Ozzy begs for God to help him, hardly the plea of a minion of the devil.
I wish I could say “get well soon, Ozzy.” But all I can say is, “be strong.”
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I think it’s the mischaracterization of his lyrics and music from the get go that got him that reputation, people unable to do more than look past the very surface of things and understand what someone is trying to do. When he’s in a band called Black Sabbath, writing songs like “Black Sabbath” the average bible beater is not going to dig deeper and will take that on it’s face as a reference and endorsement of Satanism. And then the recording industry digs in on the image, because it does bring in the socially disaffected who want to align themselves with countercultural images.
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He definitely encouraged controversy - in some cases deserved (like when he bit the head off of a live dove at a presser which was cruel and awful), or in just maintaining a certain image to those not willing to scratch the surface of his creative output. The infamous controversy behind Suicide Solution for example completely missed the point that the song was very much not encouraging suicide, but you better believe this was capitalized upon to drive record sales.
From what I remember of him on The Osbornes, he came off as weird and eccentric, but also as a loving parent and decent human. I would have loved to have hung out with him and his family.
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He’s partied real hard at times but he’s always struck me as a nice guy underneath it all. His peers respect him and his kids love him, that counts for a lot.
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Agreed. I first saw this when I heard someone arguing to ban “Suicide Solution” on the basis that it glorified suicide, when in fact it is very much a warning about alcohol. His lyrics bent far more toward Christian (See “After Forever”) and anti drug ("Hand of Doom) and anti-war (“War Pigs”) and even tolerance (“Fairies Wear Boots”) than Satanic. But they did kinda cultivate that image I think.
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I had the same confusion. There was talk of a separation because of many mistresses, but he I guess sought treatment for sex addiction?
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Tolerance of what? Other than his high tolerance of psychoactive components.
Well, might be apocryphal, but as I heard the story some asshole saw him on the streets and referred to him as “fairy” after which he kicked the living shit out of him and wrote the song. Debatable, I know. I choose to view it as early LGBT defense. As for the psychoactive compounds, oh my Lord yes, he did some in mass quantities. Which I have to wonder if that has a role in his current situation.
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Yeah – it’s actually not really much of a song of tolerance. The word “fairy” is specifically chosen as a homsexual slur, and the titular “faries with boots” are skinheads that the band had an altercation with.
(Note: UK post-punk skinheads of the time were quite different than US White Power skinheads although eventually developed an ideological overlap going into the 1980s as extreme right-wing factions split off.)
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I wish I could find one of those live clips of Sabbath where Ozzy screams “we love you all!” at the crowd.
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Try the Tribute album for Randy Rhoads.
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I mean i could’ve told him he had some degenerative disease 10-15 years ago. I am surprised to hear that his wife is still sticking by him, last i had read they had a falling out. Friend of mine got to meet her ages ago and said that she was the sweetest.
I’m not certain he wrote many lyrics himself. In the Sabbath days, it was mostly Bill Ward. Maybe he wrote some once he was solo, but a lot of credit stealing has been alleged.
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