OZZY OSBOURNE: 'My Wife Couldn't Push Me To Do Anything I Don't Want To Do If She Tried'

Chris Riemenschneider of StarTribune.com recently conducted an interview with Ozzy Osbourne. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

On performing at Minneapolis' Target Center on Halloween night:

"There's going to be a lot of [expletive] tricks and treats."

"I never really was into Halloween as a kid, you know, because in England, it's just starting to catch on now. But one year [indecipherable words], on tour with BLACK SABBATH in America, and I think it might have been Denver or wherever, it was a Halloween. And everybody just went [expletive] bananas. All the people were dressed up like witches and goblins or whatever, and I remember somebody [indecipherable] dressed as a dildo. We had such a good [expletive] time that night."

On Osbourne's tourmate, Rob Zombie, who was the director behind the recent remake/update of the horror movie "Halloween", a surprise hit at the box office when it opened over Labor Day weekend:

"I haven't seen it yet, but I'm sure it's [expletive] brilliant. The guy is very talented, and he's just really one of the absolute coolest, nicest guys in rock 'n' roll."

On being sober during the making of "Black Rain", his first all-new album since 2001:

"I didn't know if I could [expletive] do it. I thought maybe I needed the drugs and alcohol. I'd never made a record any other way.

"I came to an arrangement with myself. I thought, 'Well, if I can't do it on my own without any alcohol or drugs, I'll call it a day and carry on just doing live shows or whatever.' But then I spoke to a friend of mine who's been in the recovery program, and he's got a lot more years in it than I. He said to me, 'You know, there's nothing wrong in asking for help.'"

"My son's got more clean time than I have.

"I don't want people to think that I'm anti-drugs, or anti-alcohol. For me, I am [against it]. If you have a good time and you're not harming anybody, it's all good. But I just don't choose to do it right now. It's just amazing the whole transformation that me and my family have had from the [recovery] program."

On the first-of-its-kind reality TV show, "The Osbournes", which was a huge hit for MTV from 2002 to 2005;

"That was normal. What you saw was the way we lived. We never had any script or direction.

"They said to me, 'Do you wanna call it a day [when his wife/manager Sharon was diagnosed with colon cancer]?' They asked Sharon, and she said, 'Yeah. It's reality.' Immediately, she saw what good she could do.

"Me, I would've immediately said, 'Pack your bags and [expletive] off with your cameras!' She said, 'It's a terrible thing I'm going to go through, but I'm going to beat it, and people can see that it can be done.'"

On Sharon's go-getter attitude:

"I asked her when I was gonna play some arenas again, and the next thing I know, I've got this 40-city tour."

On whether his wife/manager is his "boss":

"People who say that, I think they gotta be stoned. My wife couldn't [expletive] push me to do anything I don't want to do if she tried."

On this year's free Ozzfest:

"[It] put the brakes on everybody raising ticket prices. Barbra Streisand is getting like $1,500 a ticket. That's just [expletive] crazy. And a lot of bands [indecipherable] started to ask for more, more, more, so Sharon just said, '[Expletive] it. We'll do it free.' It took a lot of guts."

On selling the house featured on the MTV series:

"It got to be too expensive having the security there — which was OK when MTV was footing the bill, but not us. It's got a lot of memories, that house. When the kids go, you're just left with photographs and memories and the [expletive] house. We had some fun. A lot of blood, sweat and tears in that house."

On his career:

"I'm probably fitter now at the age of 59 than I was at 29, because I don't drink and I don't smoke. I take care of myself better, and I used to not take care of myself at all."

On why he hasn't seriously considered retirement yet:

"All I do when I'm at home is sit and watch [expletive] war films all day. I just sit in my room. My room is always called the bunker because of that."