Ozzy Osbourne: The Story of Diary Of A Madman | Classic Rock | Louder - video Dailymotion

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40+ years on, Diary Of A Madman still stands as a classic Ozzy Osbourne album from a band at its peak.

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00:00The story of Diary of a Madman is often overshadowed by what happened next.

00:08The years after Diary of a Madman were peak Ozzy Osbourne.

00:12These were the years that made him notorious, where his offstage behavior threatened to

00:16become more famous than his music.

00:19Take the time Ozzy bit the head off a dove at a record company meeting.

00:30Or the time he mistook a bat thrown on stage as a toy and bit its head off.

00:45The day he was arrested in Texas pissing on the Alamo.

00:57And the terrible moment when it all came crashing down, March 19, 1982, when guitarist Randy

01:03Rhodes was tragically killed in a plane crash.

01:07But all that came after.

01:10The story of Diary of a Madman really began back in April of 1979.

01:15Fired from Black Sabbath, his marriage falling apart, some people said Ozzy's career was

01:19over.

01:34He was just getting started.

01:42Sharon Arden, the daughter of Don Arden, Black Sabbath's manager, convinced him to put a

01:46band together and offer to become his manager.

01:50In London, Ozzy met Bob Daisley, the bass player for Rainbow.

01:55They auditioned drummers and settled on Uriah Heep's Lee Kerslake.

02:00Finally, they flew out a guitar player Ozzy had met in LA.

02:04He was a little guy who had a thing for polka dots and played in an upcoming band called

02:08Quiet Riot.

02:14He was called Randall William Rhodes, known to the world as Randy Rhodes, one of the greatest

02:19guitar players of all time.

02:22Ozzy had found his band.

02:27Debut album Blizzard of Oz was recorded at Ridge Farm Studios in England.

02:32The band clicked, with Ozzy particularly impressed by Randy Rhodes' guitar playing.

02:37Released in September of 1980 in the UK, it went to number 7 in the charts.

02:41Released in the States the following year, it went to 21 in the Billboard charts, while

02:45standout signal Crazy Train went to number 9.

02:49The band toured the US.

02:51By the time they'd finished, Blizzard of Oz had sold a million copies.

02:56Guitar Player Magazine voted Randy Rhodes Best New Talent of 1981.

03:14Less than a year after they recorded Blizzard, the band were back at Ridge Farm Studios to

03:18record the follow-up, Diary of a Madman.

03:22Ozzy had the Diary of a Madman idea in the back of his mind for years.

03:25A loose concept that came from the madness in his life, and a genuine fear that he was

03:30losing his mind.

03:46After months of touring, it was the band who were on fire, and all four members contributed

03:50to the songwriting.

03:56Ozzy was no longer in the shadow of Black Sabbath, but a solo star in his own right.

04:01The title of the first single from the album said it all.

04:05He was flying high again.

04:07On one hand, the song seemed like another of Ozzy's drug anthems, and throughout this

04:11time he was indeed being a bad, bad boy, but it could also be seen as a triumphant two

04:16fingers to everyone who had written him off.

04:19The guitar solo by Randy Rhoads was like a gauntlet being thrown down to the guitar

04:23players of the 1980s.

04:42Album opener and the second single from the album, Over the Mountain, sounded heavy, but

04:46it came with a positive message about finding the magic in yourself.

04:55Randy Rhoads applied a suitably mad guitar solo.

05:06If You Can't Kill Rock and Roll showed a softer side of the band.

05:09The lyrics were no less heavy as Ozzy and Bob Daisley took aim at what they saw as the

05:13lies of the music business.

05:24In between there was the menacing Believer, Power Ballad Tonight, the voodoo symbolism

05:28of Little Dolls, and the mysteriously riffy S.A.T.O.

05:34And then there was the album closer, Diary of a Madman, an ambitious six minute epic

05:39that ends the album in grand style.

05:47All this would be overshadowed by what happened next, but 40 years on, the music remains.

05:52Diary of a Madman is the sound of a time bomb ticking, the crazy train coming off the rails,

05:58and of a band at the peak of its powers.

06:01No two bands ever flew as high.

Ozzy Osbourne: The Story of Diary Of A Madman | Classic Rock | Louder

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