“It was like Spinal Tap, but worse”: Ozzy Osbourne’s ex-bassist says The Prince Of Darkness struggled to write lyrics with Randy Rhoads
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Ozzy Osbourne’s former bassist has remembered The Prince Of Darkness’ difficulty writing lyrics at the start of his solo career.
Bob Daisley, who was Osbourne’s first bassist and lyricist after the ex-Black Sabbath singer went solo, says that the vocalist struggled to drum up good lyric ideas with guitarist Randy Rhoads. Many of Osbourne’s Sabbath lyrics were penned by bassist Geezer Butler.
“Ozzy wasn’t a lyricist and neither was Randy,” Daisley tells Youtuber Johnny Beane (transcribed by Ultimate Guitar).
“It was only the three of us to start with. And we were auditioning drummers and writing songs at the time.”
Daisley remembers coming across Osbourne and Rhoads trying to come up with lyrics as the three were writing the singer’s solo debut, 1980’s Blizzard Of Ozz, in their rehearsal studio.
“And I thought, ‘God, this is awful,’” he laughs. “It was like Spinal Tap, but worse. So I thought, ‘I’m gonna have to wear the lyricist hat.’
“And I just thought – we want to be self-sufficient, we don’t want to get writers outside of the band and we want to keep it under our roof. So I took on the role of lyricist and lyrics for the songs.”
Daisley has a co-writing credit on every Blizzard Of Ozz song except Randy Rhoads guitar piece Dee. He’s also listed as a songwriter on every song on 1981 followup Diary Of A Madman, despite Diary… being released after the bassist’s initial departure from the band.
Daisley rejoined Osbourne’s band from 1983 to 1985 and co-wrote the title track of 1983’s Bark At The Moon. He also co-wrote every song on 1986’s The Ultimate Sin.
Daisley played with Osbourne once again as a session bassist for 1988’s No Rest For The Wicked, where he co-wrote every song, and 1991’s No More Tears.
Rhoads played on Blizzard Of Ozz and Diary Of A Madman before dying in a plane crash in 1982, aged only 25.
Osbourne released his latest solo album, Patient Number 9, in 2022. The Prince Of Darkness has retired from touring due to health issues, including Parkinson’s disease, but hopes to host two farewell shows in his hometown of Birmingham.
Osbourne – along with fellow founding members Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi and Bill Ward – has recently expressed his desire to reunite Black Sabbath for one last show. The heavy metal pioneers retired in 2017 following a farewell tour.
