OZZY OSBOURNE: "I'm Flavor Of The Month"

OZZY OSBOURNE has no problems with people laughing at him while watching The Osbournes, the reality sitcom about Osbourne and his colorful family life, and he is completely aware of the fact that his popularity is likely to wane as the show loses its popularity in the months to come, the singer told Rolling Stone in a cover story that has just hit the stands.

"I'm the flavor of the month," Ozzy told the magazine. "I know I'm this year's version of Roseanne Barr. I know the bubble will burst, and I'm going to be yesterday's news. But I'm not letting any of this get in the way of my music. I can still rock like a son of a bitch.

"My son, Jack, gets pissed off sometimes. He said to me one day, 'Dad, the difference is whether people are laughing with you or at you [while watching the show].' I said, 'As long as they're laughing, it doesn't matter.' "

In the same interview, Ozzy spoke about former guitarist Randy Rhoads, who died in a tragic plane crash near Leesburg, Florida on March 19th, 1982.

"He gave me such a lift. He was not only a fantastic guitar player, Randy worked with me: 'Sing that, but try it in this key.' In SABBATH, whatever they laid down, I had to put a vocal on it.

"He was very quiet, and dedicated to his instrument. Every day, on tour, he would get up, look in the Yellow Pages for a classical-guitar teacher and have a lesson. On that last fateful tour, he said to me on the bus, 'I want to quit the band.' I'm like, 'What's up with you? We've got another album in the charts.' He said, 'I've tasted what it's like to be a rock star. I want to get a degree in classical guitar.' I said, 'Make some fucking dough first.' He was always up for a higher challenge.

"As we speak here, my head instantly goes back to that field where the airplane crashed into the fucking house. It never leaves me. I remember getting off the tour bus. The bus was bent from where the plane had hit it. The keyboard player was out there, holding his face. There were diamonds of glass, where the windows were broken. There was this incredible smell of fuel. I had my Jockey shorts on. And I'm standing in this field, going, 'Where the fuck is Randy? Where's Rachel?' [Rachel Youngblood, a wardrobe assistant and close friend of the Osbournes, also died in the crash] The tour manager points to this house. 'How can he be in that house? It's on fire.'

"I said to [wife/manager] Sharon, 'It's over. I don't want this kind of life anymore.' Sharon got really pissed. She says, 'You're not quitting, because Randy and Rachel would not want us to quit.' I vowed to Randy's mom — by playing the songs we wrote together, it's going to keep his memory alive. Randy was too young and too nice a guy to die. It's always the assholes in the world who live to 199."