The 9th Life of Ozzy Osbourne: Unapologetically Osbourne

 (PS added) 

... ended yesterday, very sad news.

I wasn't a fan until I was much older (likely because I wasn't allowed to listen to him as a kid!) 

Plus the whole biting-the-heads-off-bats/birds thing made me skittish.

(By the way, the bat was an accident - he thought it was fake prop for the show. However, the bird was real -  he was of course high/drunk.)

In fact, it wasn't until I saw The Osbournes in 2002 on MTV that I started listening to his music - after I saw what a goof and a clawless kitten he really was, behind that scary makeup and image and former drug use - how much he actually loved animals and his family - and I realized it was just a gimmick to sell music.

Yes, he had been an alcoholic/drug addict and likely had mental illness - but having given up most of it (falling off the alcohol  wagon at the time of filming the show) -  he was basically a sweet, funny, family man that liked the F word too much 😂

No satan worshipping - they actually believed in/respected God (Ozzy is Anglican, Sharon is Jewish/Catholic) - no cult worship, no biting heads of live animals - just normal family stuff, with a dose of their signature crazy (in both the best and worst sense of the word).

Also, they were surprisingly British Conservatives (which is like a moderate Democrat in America). I didn't always agree with their politics, but back then, conservatives weren't as rabid as they are now!

He was very funny, very loving, very affectionate, very supportive of his children.  

In fact, he was very good with children and children loved Ozzy, like a big clown - maybe because he was a big kid himself. 

Ozzy and Sharon were both funny, but Ozzy in particular was very quick-witted (when you could understand him 😂 )

Yes, his relationship with Sharon was frightfully codependent and his family somewhat dysfunctional.

But at the same time, they were affectionate and spent most of their time laughing with each other - because they were (effing) hilarious!

Jack and Kelly bickered incessantly, and still do somewhat today, but you realize that's their love language - nobody else better bicker with their brother or sister!

In fact, that's the entire family's love language - giving each other sh*t, sometimes loudly with the F bomb, and sometimes age-inappropriate - but it's all to make each other laugh. 

(When the teasing goes too far/gets too mean, Ozzy and Sharon corrected them, too be sure, with a stern "Kelllly! No." or "Jacccck. No.")

Yes, it was reality TV, which we all know is contrived - but in the case of the Osbournes, they may have set up situations for them to react to, but they really were just being themselves.

Unapologetically Osbourne - for better or for worse 😂

 

I think the first episode I saw was when all the dogs and cats - they had about 10 of them - were using the rugs as a toilet, which irked Ozzy to no end.

Just after 9/11, he complained to Sharon they were terrorists - "There's the al-Qaeda gang, right there, we found them. They're effing terrorists, Sharon!" 😂

This show aired literally just months after 9/11, when we needed to laugh - and we did - laughing and almost feeling guilty for laughing at the same time!

Always looking for his favorite cat, cursing every step of the way, but cuddling her when he found her, terrified the coyotes would get her! 😂

Always yelling "Sharonnnn!" for her to come fix everything so much she said she was going to change her name 😂

Then the episode where their neighbors were literally singing "Kumbaya" at 2 a.m. and Sharon and the kids asking them to be quiet, and when they wouldn't, they started throwing cheese, ham and then finally bagels over the fence! 😂

Then Ozzy wakes up - likely after drinking - and grabs a piece of wood, with Sharon screaming "Ozzy, not wood! No, Ozzy!" *Glass breaking*

Whups!

That could've been contrived by the show and not real, but considering how mad Jack got - who at the time, loved his sleep - who knows?

Sharon, of course, just found it all hilarious.

Or the episode where Sharon and his stage manager show him what the show is going to look like, including bubbles being released, and he says "Bubbles?!" Oh, come on, Sharon, I'm (effing) Ozzy Osbourne, the the Prince of  Effing Darkness! Evil, evil, what's evil about bubbles? When do the male models come out and start stroking?" 😂

I couldn't find the above-mentioned other moments in a clip, but that's the very first clip in this montage ...

This family has stuck together despite all of life's ups and downs, illnesses, cancer and Parkinson diagnosis, addictions, cheating, and major mistakes - and I'm sure they will continue to do so despite his loss - though it will be difficult.

Best to the Osbourne family and Rest In Peace, Ozzy - and thank you for making us all laugh at time we really needed to, just after 9/11 - especially considering the toll I understand it took on your family to do. 

And thank you for your haunting music as well as your fun stuff, which I didn't fully appreciate until I got older. 

Much love,

America 

______________________

PS - I thought I knew the story of how Ozzy and Sharon met, but there were some details in this interview that I didn't know ....