Black Sabbath’s Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler Talk ‘Bittersweet’ Finale
The band and Ward have shared a war of words ever since. The singer claimed in 2013 that Ward was “incredibly overweight” and unfit to play. In a lengthy interview with Rolling Stone last April, Ward refuted that claim, said he still wanted a worthy contract and lamented the end of his friendship with Osbourne. “I actually grieved the loss of his life in my life,” he said. “It was fucking terrible. I cried.” The singer replied with a statement: “I cannot apologize for comments or opinions I may have made about you in the press during Sabbath’s 13 album and tour. Physically, you knew you were fucked. Tony, Geezer and myself didn’t think you could have done a two-hour set with a drum solo every night, so we made the decision to move on.”
Now, when the topic of Ward comes up, Osbourne changes the subject. “I’d rather not talk about it, actually,” he says. “As soon as I start talking about Bill Ward, I get about 500 fucking slaggings in the post.”
“It’s really sad that it’s not the original lineup,” Butler says. “I would have loved for Bill to be in the band.”
“We overcame a lot of negative stuff and stuck to our music and never sold out.” —Geezer Butler
The bassist saw Ward shortly after the online feud when the two of them, along with Iommi, accepted lifetime achievement honors at the Ivor Novello Awards in London last May. Osbourne was not present, due to a medical appointment. “We still get on great,” Butler says of his relationship with Ward. “We still can talk to each other. It’s just that I have no idea what went on in the background. Ozzy says he wasn’t fit or he was too fat, and Bill says he wasn’t offered a contract. I stayed out of it. I don’t know who to believe and I don’t really delve into it.” As for the recent tours without Ward and the upcoming trek, Butler says, “Tommy’s a great drummer.”
As the band stares down its last run of dates, Osbourne is adamant this will be it for Black Sabbath. “You could put money on it,” he says. But part of the reason he feels that way is that he’s happy with Black Sabbath’s legacy. “The very fact that people remember us today is enough for me,” he says. “There ain’t many bands that I know that have lasted as long as Black Sabbath have and are still considered somewhat relevant.”
“We stuck to what we wanted to do instead of listening to other people, all the press slagging us and the record companies that wouldn’t sign us — that’s what I’m most proud of,” Butler says. “We overcame a lot of negative stuff and stuck to our music and never sold out.” These days, he says it’s worth it for what he shares with his bandmates. “It’s like three brothers getting together,” he says. “It’s old friends coming together and getting the set list together … and it’s a lot more professional these days.” He laughs.
“When I think about that first tour, it was just everything I ever dreamed of and more,” Osbourne says. “I was always the guy who’d go, ‘Wonder how long this is going to last.’ When the first album took off, I was thinking, ‘Oh, well, this will be fun for a few years, then it’s back to the fucking factory.’ None of us were expecting this.”