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.
00:07The years after Diary of a Madman were peak Ozzy Osbourne. These were the years
00:13that made him notorious, where his offstage behavior threatened to become
00:16more famous than his music. Like the time Ozzy bit the head off a dove at a
00:21record company meeting.
00:22You, you've actually, you bit the head off a, was it a pigeon?
00:26Well, it's my hubby, you know.
00:29Or the time he must took a bat thrown on stage as a toy and bit its head off.
00:34I am trying to play it down somewhat because we're getting a lot of hassle from the animal society because
00:40there's a rumor going on that I'm blowing up goats and I don't know where that comes from, you know.
00:45The day he was arrested in Texas, pissing on the Alamo.
00:48Singer Ozzy Osbourne thinks it's fun to defile public shrines. He says his
00:53greatest ambition is to turn the steps of the White House into a public restroom.
00:56And the terrible moment when it all came crashing down. March the 19th, 1982, when
01:02guitarist Randy Rhodes was tragically killed in a plane crash.
01:06But all that came after.
01:09The story of Diary of a Madman really began back in April of 1979. Fired from Black Sabbath,
01:16his marriage falling apart, some people said Ozzy's career was over.
01:23Alibad!
01:25Alibad!
01:27Alibad!
01:29Alibad!
01:34He was just getting started.
01:42Sharon Arden, the daughter of Dawn Arden, Black Sabbath's manager, convinced him to
01:46put a band together and offered to become his manager.
01:50In London, Ozzy met Bob Daisley, the bass player for Rainbow.
01:55They auditioned drummers and settled on Uriah Heap'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.
02:55Guitar Player Magazine voted Randy Rhodes Best New Talent of 1981.
03:00Randy, on behalf of the over half a million readers of Guitar Player Magazine in the US
03:06and in 70 countries throughout the world, I'd like to present you with the 1981 Best New
03:11Talent Award.
03:12Congratulations.
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.
03:21Ozzy had 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 losing his mind.
03:31This story of a Madman isn't just a thing that I've thought of now.
03:34It's just an idea where I've moulded around in my head for ages.
03:36And in actual fact, when I put it to my management, I thought I was totally insane.
03:40Where would you like us to go?
03:42Would you like us to go over to the fireplace?
03:44And set fire to each other.
03:46After months of touring, it was the band who were on fire, and all four members contributed
03:50to the songwriting.
03:52Ozzy 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.
04:04He was flying high again.
04:07On one hand, the song seemed like another of Ozzy's drug anthems,
04:10and throughout this time he was indeed being a bad, bad boy.
04:14But it could also be seen as a triumphant two fingers to everyone who had written him off.
04:19The guitar solo by Randy Rhodes was like a gauntlet being thrown down to the guitar players of the 1980s.
04:42Album opener and the second single from the album, Over the Mountain, sounded heavy,
04:46but came with a positive message about finding the magic in yourself.
04:50Everyone has got a certain amount of craziness in them, and I'm the guy to unleash it for you if you like.
04:55Randy Rhodes supplied a suitably mad guitar solo.
05:05If 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 lies of the music business.
05:16In between, there was the Menacing Believer, Power Ballad Tonight,
05:27the voodoo symbolism of Little Dolls, and the mysteriously riffy S.A.T.O.
05:33And then there was the album closer, Diary of a Madman,
05:37an ambitious six-minute epic that ends the album in grand style.
05:41All this would be overshadowed by what happened next, but 40 years on, the music remains.
05:51Diary of a Madman is the sound of a time bomb ticking,
05:55the crazy train coming off the rails, and of a band at the peak of its powers.
06:00Few bands ever flew as high.
06:12Many denominations under the cast from Natasha 19 rather were in her voice,
06:16And the zurück dunno with theanka stuff from the US.
06:17Of the
06:20other
06:26There's so much
06:33how