Feb
08
2010
I Am Ozzy
Ozzy Osbourne marvels at his own success. When he was a child no one (but no one!) would have predicted that of all the kids in his class, of all the kids on his street, he is the one who would go on to worldwide fame and acclaim. Of course we know now that he would go on to build himself into one of the original heavy metal stars, one of the first of a whole new breed of bad-boy rock stars who would be much-imitated and much-idolized. Both with Black Sabbath and as a solo artist, Osbourne will always have his place in the rock pantheon.
But that was only a portent of things to come. At the peak of his storied rock and roll career, no one (but no one!) would have predicted that greater popularity would follow. Always a fringe success, popular in the world of hard rock but not much beyond, suddenly Osbourne was loved, laughed with and laughed at by men, women, boys and girls as they enjoyed his antics and the inner workings of his almost unbelievably bizarre family. The Osbournes is undoubtedly one of the strangest cultural phenomena this side of Survivor. Season after season, countless millions tuned in.
Osbourne’s lifelong commitment to the epitome of all it means to be a rock star is well-known. Year after year, he pursued the desires of the flesh, the allure of wine, women and song. He hoovered up unimaginable quantities of every conceivable narcotic and chased it with never-ending rivers of alcohol. He pursued endless lines of women or, as often as not, enjoyed their pursuit of him. He had all he had ever wanted when he set out to make a name for himself as a rock ‘n roller.
So here he is, on the far side of sixty, reminiscing about his life, his career as a rock star and his shorter career as a television star. There is little regret expressed here; mostly just fond memories of days gone by, though those days were given over to every kind of vice. There is no redemption since redemption would depend upon an admission of wrong. Sure he says he’s gotten off and stayed off drugs and he says he’s mostly gotten away from the booze. But that is far different than expressing true regret. Even after all these years, he’s just the same old guy. It doesn’t seem that he has learned a whole lot along the way.
If you have ever spent a few minutes watching The Osbournes you will know that Ozzy shows the effects of all of those years of partying, not to mention the effects of dyslexia and a strange Parkinsons-like chromosomal defect. In I Am Ozzy he says that he has barely ever been able to read through a book; and yet here he has managed to write one that is well-written and clear in its prose; he says his memory is shot and yet he seems to be able to recall in detail so many events that took place many years ago. Obviously the book was written by or with a ghost-writer; that will come as no surprise. But does he really remember all of these days, all of these events that happened forty years ago? Or is this just a compendium of could-be-true tales drawn from dim memories? I find it hard to believe this book could be consistently factual.
I can’t help but feel that in this book Ozzy is being presented in a very strategic, very careful way. It’s like he is a product just as much as his albums are. And really, it seems that much of his career was a show, a shell. Ozzy was known as a force for the dark side, an outright Satanist who bit the heads off bats and drove countless impressionable young people to the occult. But he never bought into any of the Satanism. It was all just a ruse, a way of making people sit up and take notice. It was all part of his mystique, his carefully-constructed persona. Satanism was just a handy prop that drew legions of fans to his side–fans who were eager to try something, anything, that would be rebellious, that would be an outright show of defiance against God, against parents, against everything.
In one telling moment he writes “Y’know, I used to get upset by people not understanding me, but I’ve made a career out of it now. I even ham it up a bit, ‘cos it’s what people expect of me.” And even in this book I think he is giving people what they expect of him. Whether it’s the honest truth or not seems beside the point. He wants to tell a good story and to entertain people. The book is entertaining in its own way, I suppose, thought the reader’s enjoyment may well be tempered by the profanity of his mouth and of his life. The book is as crass, as given over to vice, as his life has been.
Osbourne says that “whatever I do, I do to excess.” And ain’t that the truth. His life has been one of constant excess. The only thing he seems not to have found in exceeding measure is joy. As he enters his seventh decade, he offers little reason to think that he is really enjoying life, that he has found true joy and happiness. His best days are behind him and there doesn’t seem to be much ahead. He has been an idol to millions, an influence upon a whole generation. And yet the only way he has to measure his life is in things–fat bank accounts, album sales, popularity. As he revels in his years of partying, of desperately seeking life in the arms and adulation of others, you can’t help but detect the emptiness, the gaping void at the heart of it all.
Verdict: Read it if… Honestly, who am I trying to fool? I can’t think of a single good reason.
15 Comments
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I’m loving this Blog Tim. Just one year ago “no one (but no one!) would have predicted that” our mild mannered Canadian Christian blogger would be reading Ozzy Osbournes biography…!
“Read it if…” you made a slightly unwise vow to read everything on the bestseller list.
All the best to you Tim, but I wonder if at the end of the year you’ll find any benefit you derived from this project could have been picked up in a fraction of the time by other means…
Matt,
Yes! That’s exactly what I should have written. “Read it if you made a vow to read everything on the bestseller list.”
So far I’m enjoying the project and am finding it beneficial, even when reading Ozzy. I guess we’ll see what benefit there is at the end. But so far, I’m finding that it is getting me thinking in all kinds of interesting directions.
Feel free to use that line on the next unredeemable book!
I’ll do that. Thanks, Matt!
Hard to read anything about any “Rockstar” and not shake ones head. I grew up listening to Black Sabbath and the funny thing about most of the early music was , the Devil is bad , evil is the wrong path . Ozzy is indeed a unique icon of popular culture and its sad to see he has not grown up yet.
Matt,
Ozzy is an Englishman, and they do love theatre. He lived through the period of glam-rock and the big production of the stadium-sized, theatrical rock show.
It would be interesting to hear you go beyond the simple morality-tales approach you are taking with the biographical material you are reading. It is an easy out in my opinion. There is a larger story that you are not touching upon, and that is the hymnology of an age expressed in pop-music. Regardless of your personal taste, there is something to be learned from the artistic expressions that are immensely popular at any given time.
Black Sabbath’s music was — for better or for worse — a defining moment in rock history, and there are so many Christian bands who are in fact indebted to and copying their grooves (I am sure inadvertently) that it seems strange to simply shunt him off as a useless “rock-star”. His influence is deeper than you give on here.
Ozzy may be a nut, but he is a lasting nut. This might sound too close to praise for Spinal Tap-ishness, but War Pigs seems more relevant today than when it was written.
Chris
thanks for the comment – I think. I’m not sure if you’re talking to me or Tim, who read the book and wrote the review.
For the record I am an Englishman, a heavy metal musician who understands Ozzy’s role in the hymnody of an age and at least up to about 1985 owned every album Ozzy had ever released. soooo…
What I was questioning is the depth insight that Tim is going to derive from popular culture from reading a ghost written book about Ozzy that as he says is “hard to believe…could be consistently factual” and may be “a compendium of could-be-true tales drawn from dim memories”.
And even this was a useful book to read on that subject, whether the overall goal is worth the time he’s devoting to reading 10 million words…
Matt (the Englishman) if I had written to you I would have hit respond, but I was writing to Challies, so sorry about the confusion. I had a brain f–t and spelled out your name, thinking it was Matt Challies I was writing to. This kind of name-conflation happens to me all the time. Forgive me.
Any way, it seems my main point is still floating around up there. I am wondering if Tim can move beyond the simple morality-tale stuff and dig a bit deeper. The point of this whole 10m thing was to understand culture and people better, not just to complete a marathon. Unless I am wrong.
That is why I am asking the question.
Just what are the “worldview” points we are to get out of this review?
@Chris
I forgive you for f-ting!
I guess we’re more on the same page than seemed at first
“I am wondering if Tim can move beyond the simple morality-tale stuff and dig a bit deeper. The point of this whole 10m thing was to understand culture and people better, not just to complete a marathon…Just what are the “worldview” points we are to get out of this review?
Cos if you (Tim) just reads alot of books most evangelical Christians won’t want to read and then says ‘Don’t bother reading this book’ I think your would be better spent reading (or doing) something else. Unless we are going to get some worldview points along the way (and not just in your upcoming NY bestseller paperback “How I Read Lots of Bad books in one year” – c’mon Tim, fess up – is that the plan?)
Hi Tim,
I’m really enjoying your blog… I am serving overseas and enjoy this glimpse into what’s going on in the States.
I’m wondering if Ozzy wrote anything about marriage in his book. He seems pretty devoted to his wife… any thoughts on that?
Thanks,
Lorina
Thanks for the comments and questions.
I am definitely open to suggestions about what you’d like to see more and less of in the project. At this point I feel like I’m still just getting my bearings, getting a sense of the different kinds of books out there. I feel like as time goes on I’ll be able to bring a lot more to bear on my reflections on them. Really I’m only 1/12 into this thing and am still just getting a sense of what the project will be.
So please, tell me what it should be!
I agree with Chris. Although it’s very tempting to take a moral approach to stories like this one and view it only through those lenses, surely there would be a great benefit in asking the worldview question. Why was Ozzy so popular with kids in the 60s, 70s and then again, bizzarely, in the late 90s and 00s? What does that tell us about our culture? What can the church learn from these phenomena?
Just focussing on the moral, without asking the ‘why’ question seems to be the perenial error of Christian fundementalism (i write as one) always judging the morality, but never asking why this lifestyle was viable to Ozzy, and attractive to others. can we learn about our culture from these books?
Anyway, i hate that my first comment on either of your blogs is slightly negative. Especially as i’m asking you to do something i couldn’t do! Your book was one of my reading highlights of the last year, and your recent articles on Challies.com have made me seriously think about how i use social media, and how it uses me. Your voice fills an empty niche. Thank you.
I saw the Ozzy book on our bookshelves at work and thought, “Hmm, I wonder what Tim Challies’ review will be…”
[...] as popular as stories of explosion. We love to read of the regular guy who becomes the hero (see I Am Ozzy); and we love to hear of how the former hero loses his luster (see The Politician). In Staying True [...]