I bought all of their albums back in the day and wore them out. Tony's signature riffage was a big influence on me when I was learning how to play. At first I couldn't figure out why Master Of Reality through Sabotage sounded so heavy, even compared to their own first two albums, the debut album and Paranoid, when Master Of Reality came out the sound just floored me, and later on I figured out why. The first two are recorded in standard tuning (EADGBE), and Master Of Reality, Volume 4, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, and Sabotage were tuned a step and a half down (C#) which just gives it this bad ass heavy vibe, like sludge you could cut with a knife, or gunk you could degrease your engine block with. If anything could be considered the birth of metal, I'd say it was Master Of Reality, although the band always rejected the Metal label and always considered themselves a rock band. Bill Ward was a monster drummer, I don't think people realize how great he was, they always sounded the best when he was drumming, but later when they were doing their reunion tours he didn't always tour with them.
Now I always keep an extra guitar tuned down for playing a few of those songs and I still get chills playing Into The Void with that tuning. It's just extreme bad assery, and it doesn't work in standard tuning.
They were back in standard tuning for Never Say Die, but that album has some pretty heavy riffage on it too, along with keyboards and even horns on some stuff (lol). Ozzy hated the NSD album, I think he hated it because they recorded it at a studio in Canada in the middle of January and he froze his ass off up there, but musically it's good, the title track is probably the worst song, very commercial sounding, almost like The Boys Are Back In Town but sped up a little. Johnny Blade is heavy duty though, and the rest of it has some great moments sprinkled in here and there.
When Ozzy used to do interviews back in the 80's he used to say he needed to keep making music because he hadn't done his Sgt. Pepper's album yet. As far as I was concerned Diary Of A Madman was his Sgt. Pepper's album, and that stinking CUNT he's married to should have been shot when she had it remastered with a different drummer and bass player playing the Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake parts when they released it on CD so she could get out of paying Bob and Lee royalties, and they had not only played the parts but wrote some of the lyrics and music as well. Sharon is a fucking CUNT and I can't stand that Jewess whore. I bought that piece of shit CD and could immediately tell that they had taken a master piece and destroyed it with some yahoo's that they paid a 10 grand lump sum to go into a studio and re-record the drum and bass tracks. It was utter rubbish. Eventually they made it available with the original drum and bass tracks and gave Lee Kerslake his platinum album before he passed away from cancer. I wish it had been that CUNT Sharon that passed away from cancer. I hate that bitch. Can't fucking stand her sorry Jewess ass. They should have offered to give the original recorded version (the right one) of it to anyone who bought that fraudulent piece of garbage that CUNT tried to foist on the unassuming masses.
The 2002 re-issue controversy
The 2002 Diary of a Madman reissue was derided by fans due to the removal of Daisley and Kerslake's original bass and drum tracks. The re-issue featured re-recorded bass and drum tracks contributed by Osbourne's then-bassist and drummer Robert Trujillo and Mike Bordin, respectively. The move was suspected of being retaliatory in nature, as Daisley and Kerslake had successfully sued Osbourne and his wife/manager Sharon in court, winning songwriting credits and royalties for their contributions to Diary of a Madman.
Sharon later stated that Ozzy and not herself was responsible for the decision to re-record the parts, stating "because of Daisley and Kerslake's abusive and unjust behavior, Ozzy wanted to remove them from these recordings. We turned a negative into a positive by adding a fresh sound to the original albums."[17] However, Osbourne contradicted this claim in his 2009 autobiography, stating that the decision to re-record the original bass and drum parts was strictly Sharon's decision, and that "I didn't have anything to do with that decision."[18] He said his wife "just snapped" and had it done without his knowledge.[18] He also stated that "a sticker was put on the covers telling everyone about it",[18] though in fact the sticker was not initially placed on the re-issue and was only placed on the covers at a later date due to fan outcry over the altered recordings.
Deluxe 30th Anniversary Edition
In May 2011, Sony Legacy released its Deluxe 30th Anniversary Editions of Diary of a Madman and Blizzard of Ozz with the original bass and drum tracks restored. These releases also featured bonus tracks and previously unreleased live material featuring guitarist Rhoads β Diary of a Madman features a second CD entitled Ozzy Live, featuring previously-unreleased concert performances from the Blizzard of Ozz 1981 US tour.[19] A box set was also released which included the remastered editions of both albums on CD as well as vinyl, and a DVD documentary entitled Thirty Years After The Blizzard. Ozzy Live was also separately released as a double 180g vinyl exclusively on Record Store Day 2012.
Tony did some real good stuff in the 80's and 90's with Glenn Hughes as well.
Music is so subjective, but to me, nothing today compares to what these guys and others were doing back in the 1970's. It was a great time to be a kid growing up. I feel bad for those who never got to experience it, and am thankful that I did.
