Maddness

While the incident with the bat would continue to haunt Ozzy throughout his career and can be legitimately called an accident, the infamous dove incident was definitely not accidental. It seems it was a publicity stunt planned by Sharon and Ozzy. Ozzy had just signed with a new record label, CBS, and he and Sharon were being introduced to the head executives of the company in Los Angeles. CBS was not overly interested in Ozzy, having just signed Adam Ant, and to them he was just another album. In an attempt to gain their attention, and publicity, it was arranged that Ozzy would enter the office and then throw two doves into the air. It is unclear if the rest was intended or simply a spur of the moment decision on Ozzy's part, but instead of two doves flying into the air, Ozzy took one out of his pocket and bit the head off of it. Ozzy admits to being drunk at the time of the incident, but regardless of what the initial plan was, the end result was plenty of publicity, and most of it not at all pleasant. The man who was already referred to as the Mad Man was now condemned and attacked by more people and groups than he would ever had imagined.

Suicide Solution, from Blizzard of Ozz, was written after Bon Scott of AC/DC died, having been drinking heavily one winter night and passing out in his car. Scott died of hypothermia. Thought the songs title could be misleading, the song itself was meant to talk about alcohol as being a deadly liquid (solution meaning mixture) but the word solution was immediately seen as meaning 'an answer'. The lyrics of this much debated song are here.

In October 1984, a nineteen-year-old teenager named John M. shot himself in the head, while listening to Ozzy Osbourne's "Suicide Solution". When the coroner entered the room, he found the headphones still on John's head. This would be one of the tragedies that caused Ozzy immeasurable grief.

In 1986, Ozzy had just gotten off a plane at LAX airport when people began asking him about the "lawsuits". Ozzy knew nothing about any lawsuit but the details quickly emerged. Three lawsuits had been launched against Ozzy, claiming that his lyrics had caused youths to commit suicide. The family of John hired attorney Thomas Anderson in a lawsuit against Ozzy. Mr. Anderson claimed on the "Don't Blame Me" Ozzy video, that the song contained tones known as 'hemisync' and would cause a person to be unable to resist what was being said in the song.

The Institute for Bio-Acoustics Research, Inc. (IBAR) was hired to evaluate the song. They claim to have found subliminal lyrics that weren't included in the lyrics sheet. These subliminal lyrics were sung at one and one-half times the normal rate of speech and are not recognized by a first time listener. The IBAR institute claimed the subliminal lyrics, "are audible enough that their meaning and true intent becomes clear after being listened to over and over again." The subliminal lyrics in question were "Why try, why try? Get the gun and try it! Shoot, Shoot, Shoot", followed by a hideous laughter.

Further analysis by IBAR revealed the hemisync tones, which result from a patented process that uses sound waves to influence an individual's mental state. The tones have been found to increase the rate at which the human brain assimilates and processes information. IBAR claimed these tones made John vulnerable to the suggestive lyrics which Ozzy sang.

Ozzy's lawyer claimed that this was nonsense and relied upon the First Amendment of the Constitution to argue that Ozzy could write about anything he wanted. Three people had now taken their lives, and in each case it was Ozzy's 'Suicide Solution' song which was the focus as the cause of the deaths. Mr. Anderson claimed that the words, "shoot shoot, get the gun, get the gun" were audible in the song. There is an effect which can be heard on the song, that could be interpreted as that if one tried hard enough. The sounds were just Ozzy messing around with the soundboard.

Throughout the world this problem would only occur in America. People would be forced to look at the family life instead of the actual music. Blaming the music is an understandable reaction when a tragedy that is otherwise unexplainable occurs, but once the lyrics are examined, it is clear that one would have to put their own interpratation on the song in order to see anything remotely close to promoting suicide within it. In all cases, Ozzy was found not at fault and has sworn that this was never the true meaning behind the song. Heavy metal often seems to be a scape goat in which to blame teenagers problems such as drug abuse on. Yet teenagers who may listen to punk, jazz, or blues music may also suffer from substance abuse or commit suicide.

The song, Bark at the Moon,was also blamed of affecting listeners in negative ways. A religious group even went so far as to hold a record burning ceremony to protest the evil of rock and roll. "One of the albums we're going to be burning tonight is Ozzy Osbourne's Speak of the Devil", said a priest at the ceremony when being interviewed.

No matter how much Ozzy defended himself or was found not to be at fault, his reputation of being the Mad Man of rock, and various incidents throughout his career that support that reputation, he would be haunted and accused of evoking irrational behavior in teens. Again, this issue has only caused problems in North America, where many stilll view his music as satanic and evil. The lyrics themselves have never supported this view, but people are able to interpret music in any way they choose, a problem that Rock and Roll was faced with in it's early days.