33 years ago today....

An incredible album I got some time not long after Randy was gone. I wore the groves out and bought a second copy alone with the cassette. I didn't get a CD copy until recently.

I don't believe Ozzy ever over stated his involvement in this album and has always been gracious about Bob, Lee and Randy. It's hardly news that Ozzy had a problem with the bottle, which affected him in many ways both professionally and personally. Bob, Randy and Lee were given great opportunities they didn't previously have and shined as a result. None of the musicians were taken advantage of and could have declined participation with a drunk. Maybe they should have achieved more notoriety as a result of Blizzard, and who knows if they had, maybe they would have been as big as Ozzy with their own projects.

I had to sneak the cassette of this under my mattress so my mum wouldn't know about it.

journeyman wrote:

I don't believe Ozzy ever over stated his involvement in this album and has always been gracious about Bob, Lee and Randy.

Sorry, but they made that record as a band, then Ozzy stamped his name on it, his management did not recognised Lee & Bob's involvement to an extent that they thought was fair, so they sued him. Ozzy has since had their parts re-recorded in an attempt to completely erase evidence of their input.

Very gracious!

Ozzy was a huge hero to me growing up and I wore this cassette out, I wouldn't deny that he has a fantastic (on record) voice that is unique, but as an artist he has always been a bit of a passenger, whether that's with Tony & Geezer, Lee, Bob & Randy, Jake or Zakk, he has always let others do the heavy lifting. Fair enough maybe as he gave these guys a platform to showcase their talents, but a bit more recognition would be more 'gracious'.

Boris2008 wrote:

journeyman wrote:

I don't believe Ozzy ever over stated his involvement in this album and has always been gracious about Bob, Lee and Randy.

Sorry, but they made that record as a band, then Ozzy stamped his name on it, his management did not recognised Lee & Bob's involvement to an extent that they thought was fair, so they sued him. Ozzy has since had their parts re-recorded in an attempt to completely erase evidence of their input.

Very gracious!

Ozzy was a huge hero to me growing up and I wore this cassette out, I wouldn't deny that he has a fantastic (on record) voice that is unique, but as an artist he has always been a bit of a passenger, whether that's with Tony & Geezer, Lee, Bob & Randy, Jake or Zakk, he has always let others do the heavy lifting. Fair enough maybe as he gave these guys a platform to showcase their talents, but a bit more recognition would be more 'gracious'.

Well said.

Sharon is the reason for the revision of history. Ozzy was oblivious to it. If ya ever hung out with somebody who was a drunk and a dope feind, You'd get where I am coming from.

My point had nothing to do with what management did. I was pointing out that Ozzy never claimed to be the guy who wrote the songs or played the instruments and pointed instead to the guys in the band. I do not agree with the decisions of management at all, then or now. From my understanding the band was called Blizzard of Oz and wasn't the original pressing of the album as such. I thought it changed once Diary was released. Regardless, I was merely pointing out that Blizzard was a fantastic opportunity for all of them and they all wanted to do it. Ozzy was gracious, management was not.

journeyman wrote:

My point had nothing to do with what management did. I was pointing out that Ozzy never claimed to be the guy who wrote the songs or played the instruments and pointed instead to the guys in the band. I do not agree with the decisions of management at all, then or now. From my understanding the band was called Blizzard of Oz and wasn't the original pressing of the album as such. I thought it changed once Diary was released. Regardless, I was merely pointing out that Blizzard was a fantastic opportunity for all of them and they all wanted to do it. Ozzy was gracious, management was not.

Actually he did claim to write the songs. Even in court when he was being sued by the parents of the kid that committed suicide to the song "Suicide Solution" Ozzy claimed he wrote the song about Bon Scott, when in fact the song was written by Bob Daisley about Ozzy.

And as far as Bob and Lee being "given opportunities they didn't already have", are you kidding me? Lee Kerslake was from the hugely popular band Uriah Heep and was a well known celebrity at the time as well. He's stated time and time again that he was to be part of the band Blizzard of Ozz. Bob had spent the previous two years as a part of Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow and left the band to do this new venture.

I do agree however, that Don Arden was the culprit and the one who made the decisions regarding the album release and such. It wasn't even his daughter Sharon at that point. Don owned the record label and was also the band's management.