OZZY OSBOURNE: 'I'm Not Going To End Up Like A F**king Pickle In A F**king Wheelchair'
July 25, 2005Ozzy Osbourne recently spoke to Revolver magazine about the possibility of a new BLACK SABBATH album surfacing at some point in the not-too-distant future and his health, among other topics. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:
Revolver: It's been rumored that you and the SABBATH guys have been writing material for a new BLACK SABBATH album.
Ozzy: "Yeah, I mean, Tony's [Iommi, guitar] been putting some riffs on tape and sending them to me, and I've tried to write some lyrics for them. But, I've said this before — it would be easy for us to just go in and record a load of crap and put it out as a BLACK SABBATH record. But we don't want to do it if it's not going to measure up to the work that we did before. The other thing is, when we used to make records, we did it by ourselves; we didn't have people from the record company telling us how something should sound. Back then, nobody would've dared to do something like that — we would have thrown them into the street."
Revolver: You've recently been diagnosed as having Parkin's Syndome. Can you tell our readers what that means?
Ozzy: "Right, let me make this clear, because eveerybody's saying, 'Oh, Ozzy has Parkinson's Disease.' I have not got Parkinson's Disease! I've got Parkin's Syndrome, which some people call a hereditary tremor. I've had it for ages, but I always thought it was from all the booze and the hangovers and whatever. But it was getting worse, my motor skills were getting affected; I remember going to the bathroom and I couldn't zip up my pants, so I knew something was up. I went for extensive tests, and when they told me I had Parkin's Syndrome, I freaked out. I asked the doctor, 'Will it shorten my life?' And he said, 'No, not at all. But you will have to be on medication the rest of your life.'"
Revolver: Did your years of taking massive amounts of booze and drugs have anything to do with it?
Ozzy: "I asked the doctor that very question — I said, 'Is it drugs and alcohol related?' And he said, 'No, you would have had a tremor, regardless. But saying that, the drugs and alcohol probably escalated it.' But I'm quite cleaned out right now. I exercise regularly, I haven't drunk any alcohol for 13 months, and I don't smoke anything, be it pot or anything else. The only thing is, if I get angry or excited or sad, and I don't take my medication at the right time, it'll come back at me. But it's not gonna kill me, and I've not got Parkinson's — and I'm not going to end up like a fucking pickle in a fucking wheelchair!"
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