OZZY OSBOURNE Sues TONY IOMMI Over Ownership Of BLACK SABBATH Name

[yah]

Great post, Bueno Bob!

You documented the mud-slinging over the years well between Ozzy and Black Sabbath.
That would be hilarious if Tony takes it that far after winning the case, I'd love to hear studio Ronnie Dio versions of the old Sabbath songs released and that would really serve the Osbournes well for being so greedy and arrogant over the years.
I never really found out if Bob Daisley and Lee k. finally received more money after their long-term beef with the Sharon/Ozzy Camp.

[kwame k]

Wow, Bob! Excellent post.

[FORD]

reality though, is that I seem to remember Dio being fine with the "rebranding" as "Heaven & Hell" because he didn't really want to sing the Ozzy songs anyway.

[GAR]

He could sing the Oz era catalogue but it would be peppered with alot of "ooh, aye yeaah's" and "look outs"..

If Katie's correct that Bill and Geeze assigned their portion of the name rights in with Tony's, then Sharon is willing to bet alot of money she can split the alliance by offering to buy them off the defense of it.

That would be an awful position and from what I've read Bill Ward has ALWAYS been Ozzy's bud.

He'll be the first target of concilliatory endearment by Sharon to sign off this in advance, and if Bill gives in for a little money Geezer might be pursuaded.

And due to Bill's pulmonary condition off and on, he's of the age that the thought of a good retirement stipend from Sharon to side with the Oz docket could be tempting. If you think about it, that may very well be the carrot behind all this.

With sales of Black Sabbath continuing as a legacy the younger generation buy into as a new catalogue to them, it's concievably lucrative a notion that they wouldn't notice the rhythm section stripped - just like she screwed Lee Kerslake and Bob Daisley out of the OZZY recordings - effectively increasing the share of paidout royalties to the Osbornes.

You can say all you want against Gene Simmons in this regard, replacing band members. But to my knowledge, he has not re-recorded the classic recordings with unknown studio cats.. I believe this is what Sharon will aim to do.

There comes a point in a man's pride where he won't step over a certain guideline to poor quality in the work that he does, but women dont understand this.. they just see an extention to their shopping budget and if this is truly the case initiator behind it, Ozzy needs to put the foot down and fire her ass because no self-respecting guitarist is gonna want to write new material and give him another hit album if they know in advance he's a screw or his managing wife is gonna be a screw.

[chefcraig]

You can say all you want against Gene Simmons in this regard, replacing band members. But to my knowledge, he has not re-recorded the classic recordings with unknown studio cats.. I believe this is what Sharon will aim to do.

As usual, wrong yet again: KISS "Jigoku Retsuden - New Recordings Best"

JAPANESE EXCLUSIVE RELEASE!!

"KISSOLOGY, a new KISS Greatest Hits CD featuring all new recording of 15 KISS Classics! The tracks were recently recorded with their current 2008 lineup. The CD is scheduled to be released in Japan on August 27."

[FORD]

What the FUCK?? Is Sharon Osbourne managing KI$$ now?

Lame, Chaim Witz..... seriously lame.

[bueno bob]

This has to fail for Ozzy and Sharon and it MUST be decided in Tony's favor. Period. If Ozzy and Sharon get any more control over the name Black Sabbath than what they already do (and remember, they're asking for 50 FUCKING PERCENT), the market is going to be bastardized and saturated with "Black Sabbath Greatest Hits Vol. Eleventy" albums to no end. Any form of Black Sabbath merchandising is going to have Ozzy's face over everybody else, Tony, Geezer and Bill. And anything else from any other era, well, you may as well fucking forget it because it's going out of print and any merchandise will run you $50 and up on eBay...forget buying a T shirt in the store...

What's really going on here is what we all kinda suspected was going to happen eventually - Sharon Osbourne was going to demand her due payment for being married to Ozzy and she was going to attempt to legally sue Black Sabbath into being nothing more than HIS first solo band.

It's fucking bullshit and it's completely transparent, they aren't fooling anybody with that "Let's do it to keep the name in our families for equality!" crock of shit. Anybody who knows ANYTHING about the Osbournes knows full well that financial equality is of NO fucking concern to them at all. Sharon's wallet first and the rest of Ozzy's bandmates can squabble over the pennies that are left, and that's never been much.

[BITEYOASS]

I was in denial at first, but now it's all true! Ozzy is sharon's puppet! And not the kind with strings, I'm talking about the kind of puppet in which you have to shove your fist up its ass to make it move!

[bueno bob]

I was in denial at first, but now it's all true! Ozzy is sharon's puppet! And not the kind with strings, I'm talking about the kind of puppet in which you have to shove your fist up its ass to make it move!

Yeah. He wouldn't have done this of his own accord, that's for certain.

I think we can probably say for certain that this is it for an Ozzy Osbourne fronted Black Sabbath ever again. Unfortunate, too, because Scary Dreams showed quite a bit of potential...

[standin]

I know nothing of old Ozzy. Outside of him eating bats for a shtick. The single concert of his I attended, I arrived late and had to ask who was that on stage. Didn't seem much to me. But that might have been due to seats, the section was not away from the crowd and I spent more time concerned about my well-being.

It seems as if y'all would complain if he was down on his luck and pushing pennies to get by AND you complain of his profiting. From what I read shady business dealings is the real questionable part of Osborn association.

FACT IS-> to not have to schlep on the road, an artist must create streams of revenue outside the label and outside schelping on the road.

It is somewhat obvious they did not take on a 360 deal...
After reading a bit more, I reiterate the Osborn's (they do seem to be a package deal) business practices are questionable. If one was to work with them, better have checked and rechecked the contract and have behavioral clauses included or just accept their questionable practices, do what ya came to do and move on with it.

[jackassrock]

This is all true. A money grubbing scheme to be sure, BUT...

Everybody is talking about how Sabbath went on after Ozzy left to pursue his career yet I'll wager that no post-Ozzy album sold as many copies as any of the OG Sabbath ones. I'll go out on a limb (without checking the facts) and say that all of the post-Ozzy albums together wouldn't equal anywhere near the OG lineup in sales , that includes the ever so awesome (?) Dehumanizer, which I don't ever recall being that popular or even good for that matter. We are talking about a band that literally (with some others) defines what we know as modern hard rock music, but only with the original lineup. Sab's popularity and commercial viability went severely downhill with the departure of Ozzy, and, in fact, they were a fucking joke in the 80s and every one of you knows it. They only became popular again when the OG members got back together in the 90s. I'll go even further and say that it a huge portion of the albums they sold post-Ozzy were due to the name that they had already made for themselves with him.

Now I'm not saying that it's right for Ozz to sign off on the name and then try to get back in just because of the money, but you gotta face facts. Sabbath without Ozzy will NEVER EVER equal the cash cow that it is with him. And we're not talking about pennies here, this is a multi million dollar franchise built on the backs of Iommi, Ward, Butler, and Osbourne. I defy anybody to tell me that anything else is true. It NEVER would have happened without those 4. Yet every day, only one of those members gets paid for all the merchandise that gets sold (how many Headless Cross shirts get sold in any given day? I'd say right about none), Every time Iron Man gets played on the radio (when's the last time you heard No Stranger To Love on the radio), or every time Someone buys a copy of Their self titled Debut.

Ozzy, Bill, and Geezer legitimize Black Sabbath and Iommi. Without them the band was mediocre at best, and without the reunion they would still be known as the band that was WAAAAAAY better back then than they are now. Don't you think that the reunion was a huge part of getting the band back in the public eye ? Thus resulting in major, major monies that Tony never would have received without it ?

C'mon now, regardless of the degree of difficulty they had working with him, Sabbath just ain't Sabbath without those 4 guys, period.

[lesfunk]

Dear Ozzy and Sharon, I hope you both die soon.

[FORD]

Yeah. He wouldn't have done this of his own accord, that's for certain.

I think we can probably say for certain that this is it for an Ozzy Osbourne fronted Black Sabbath ever again. Unfortunate, too, because Scary Dreams showed quite a bit of potential...

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[Mr. Vengeance]

This is all true. A money grubbing scheme to be sure, BUT...

Everybody is talking about how Sabbath went on after Ozzy left to pursue his career yet I'll wager that no post-Ozzy album sold as many copies as any of the OG Sabbath ones. I'll go out on a limb (without checking the facts) and say that all of the post-Ozzy albums together wouldn't equal anywhere near the OG lineup in sales , that includes the ever so awesome (?) Dehumanizer, which I don't ever recall being that popular or even good for that matter. We are talking about a band that literally (with some others) defines what we know as modern hard rock music, but only with the original lineup. Sab's popularity and commercial viability went severely downhill with the departure of Ozzy, and, in fact, they were a fucking joke in the 80s and every one of you knows it. They only became popular again when the OG members got back together in the 90s. I'll go even further and say that it a huge portion of the albums they sold post-Ozzy were due to the name that they had already made for themselves with him.

Now I'm not saying that it's right for Ozz to sign off on the name and then try to get back in just because of the money, but you gotta face facts. Sabbath without Ozzy will NEVER EVER equal the cash cow that it is with him. And we're not talking about pennies here, this is a multi million dollar franchise built on the backs of Iommi, Ward, Butler, and Osbourne. I defy anybody to tell me that anything else is true. It NEVER would have happened without those 4. Yet every day, only one of those members gets paid for all the merchandise that gets sold (how many Headless Cross shirts get sold in any given day? I'd say right about none), Every time Iron Man gets played on the radio (when's the last time you heard No Stranger To Love on the radio), or every time Someone buys a copy of Their self titled Debut.

Ozzy, Bill, and Geezer legitimize Black Sabbath and Iommi. Without them the band was mediocre at best, and without the reunion they would still be known as the band that was WAAAAAAY better back then than they are now. Don't you think that the reunion was a huge part of getting the band back in the public eye ? Thus resulting in major, major monies that Tony never would have received without it ?

C'mon now, regardless of the degree of difficulty they had working with him, Sabbath just ain't Sabbath without those 4 guys, period.

Why don't you miss the point a little more? Very few will argue that Sabbath with Ozzy was not the best. In fact, when I was a kid, I didn't even want to hear the Dio stuff. Then I got older and realized how killer Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules are. Not to mention the very underrated Born Again with Ian Gillan on vocals. An album I loved right off the bat, since my grandmother bought it for me for Christmas in 1983.

The point is that this is unnecessary. It's Sharon trying to get more $$$ so she can go shopping some more. Sales of Sab albums before and after Ozzy are irrelevant. This is a fat cunt trying to get money. If Sab were still touring using the Sabbath name I could see the issue, but they stopped, as per the agreement that led to the original lineup reunion.

By the way, take a listen to the "new" songs that lineup did and listen to Heaven and Hell's album and tell me that Dio isn't the direction Iommi & co. need to stay with....

[GAR]

Whatever direction Iommi takes, I can see him more productive without the daughter of his former manager curtailing his creativity.

I'd like to think more than a financial reason instigated this attack - jealousy? I think it is jealousy on Sharon's egg-throwin' part.