The Story Behind Ozzy’s Cocaine Duel With David Lee Roth

via Hail Ozzy / Youtube

Ozzy Osbourne is content to admit that he is a medical anomaly because he has no other option. His life is the epitome of what author Hunter S. Thompson meant when he wrote:

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming ‘Wow! What a Ride!’”

The journey of Ozzy Osbourne was as exhilarating as any. It appears that his skin has become thicker as a result of all the scrapes and brushes he has had with the dark side. Even though he may be the prince of darkness, Bill Ward, a former Black Sabbath bandmate who frequently came dangerously close to being killed by inside jokes, such as the moment Ozzy nearly tainted his drummer’s spam javelin with extremely toxic aerosol. Bill was lying on the ground beside the urinals and said, “I poisoned Bill through his dick.”

When peace and love were extinguished in a postlapsarian hellfire, these frantic periods ruled the rock era. At the end of the 1960s, the times had changed for the worst. Van Halen and Black Sabbath were two of the top rock bands in the world in November 1978. They were therefore two of the largest drug users in history, which was only normal considering the time period. The danger is on the horizon quicker than the race track rabbit when that idea becomes a conflict.

The fight between David Lee Roth and Ozzy looked to have the simple and absolutely dumb concept of “Let’s see who can snort the most cocaine without dying” one night while Van Halen was performing as Black Sabbath’s opening act in Alabama. According to reports, the amount was sufficient for a month’s worth of parties including the best Hollywood emoters. Ozzy would subsequently refer to these years as the “snowblind” years.

According to the legend, the battle starts with a manly handshake and some snorting. When Roth collapses the next morning at 9 a.m., he has deemed the loser. When the tour bus reaches Nashville, it is discovered that Ozzy has vanished. His whereabouts are reported to the police. Throughout the fruitless hunt, Ozzy was occasionally just assumed dead. The band begins to panic, but this is tempered by a feeling of certain doom.

A sleepy person, however, stumbled into the hotel lobby a few hours later. The ghostly beast, which was coated in filth and stank, was shunned by the guests. When the hooded man eventually showed his face, he was hailed with cries of “Ozzy’s alive.”

But before long, Black Sabbath would dismiss him because they could take no more of his dangerous stunts. That’s saying something since it indicates that you have descended to levels of degeneracy that even ancient rulers of old would find repugnant. Black Sabbath believes that you are pushing your luck. Strangely, though, considering Ozzy was one of the most successful frontmen in music at the time, it was a really difficult choice. Because of the peculiar nature of rock ‘n’ roll, the revenue generators in large corporations are frequently some of the least trustworthy individuals on the globe.