Best metal Videos of All Time
Honourable Mention 4: No More Tears—Ozzy Osbourne
The madness continues, because nobody’s trying to stop me…;-)
Honourable mention 4: No More Tears—Ozzy Osbourne Total Score = 9 points
Score justification: 9 points for the song, ½ point for cheesiness, -½ point for story = 9 points;
Ozzy at his darkest and craziest, right? Supposedly, he was sober during the recording of the No More Tears album and—according to rumours—sometimes even exercised[1]. So maybe you’d rather have him drunk and/or stoned.
It’s about a serial killer in a red-light district, if I understand the lyrics correctly. Which is not particularly clear in the video, as on the one hand, Ozzy tries to prowl threateningly while on the other hand, the woman in the red dress crying so much that she literally drowns in her own tears make this more of a comedy[2].
Hard to believe that madman Ozzy can be threatening, innit? While he likes to call himself the ‘Prince of Darkness’, his stage act is more clownish, mostly jumping happily like—and now I’m quoting good old Aardschok magazine—a little kid who just got a crate of Fanta. On the other hand, he did bite off the head of both a dove[3]and an actual bat.
Anyway, those lyrics are quite dark. And most likely not written by Ozzy. In Black Sabbath, the lyrics were written by Terry ‘Geezer’ Butler, and on the previous five Ozzy albums by Bob Daisly[4]. Lemmy wrote lyrics on four songs from No More Tears, and while five people are credited for the song “No More Tears”, I’d wager that producer John Purdell most probably wrote the lyrics.
What, Ozzy writes no lyrics? Then he only sings? He can’t write lyrics because he’s dyslexic. But he does hum—or sing with nonsense words—the melodies of most Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne[5] songs, which are his major songwriting credits.
You must have something to complain about the music, as well. Actually no. The song’s great—nice bass line, tight drums, fine guitar chops and a blistering guitar solo. At that point, Ozzy had a—well-deserved—reputation for finding highly talented guitar players. Who else has discovered guitarists like Randy Rhoads, Jake E. Lee and Zakk Wylde?
Maybe Graham Bonnet’s Alcatrazz? With Yngwie J. Malmsteen and Steve Vai? Close, but Steve Vai was actually discovered by nobody less than Frank Zappa.
Don’t say: Please feed Ozzy properly before he decapitates some other poor flying animal.
Do say: Let’s go crazy[6]!
🤘🤘🤘🤘
[1] Not excorcised his demons—you want to read this wrongly—but actual physical exercise. I know, very scary…😉
[2] Although Ozzy sitting on (probably a copy of) Salvador Dali’s Mae West Lips Sofa is a nice touch;
[3] The bird was supposedly already dead. The dead bird, Ozzy added, “tasted like tomato sauce.”;
[4] Not credited on the fourth album as Ozzy and (manager and wife) Sharon Osbourne changed the contract;
[5] Who were originally a band called “Blizzard of Oz” in the Randy Rhoads days, until the management—Ozzy’s wife Sharon—decided it was better to act as if it were Ozzy’s solo albums;
[6] At the 40th Anniversary of the bat bite, Ozzy released Bat NFTs called ‘Cryptobatz’. You can’t make this shit up;