40+ years on, Diary Of A Madman still stands as a classic Ozzy Osbourne album from a band at its peak.
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00:00The story of Diary of a Madman is often overshadowed by what happened next.
00:07The years after Diary of a Madman were peak Ozzy Osbourne. These were the years
00:13that made him notorious, where his offstage behavior threatened to become
00:16more famous than his music. Like the time Ozzy bit the head off a dove at a
00:21record company meeting.
00:22You, you've actually, you bit the head off a, was it a pigeon?
00:26Well, it's my hubby, you know.
00:29Or the time he must took a bat thrown on stage as a toy and bit its head off.
00:34I am trying to play it down somewhat because we're getting a lot of hassle from the animal society because
00:40there's a rumor going on that I'm blowing up goats and I don't know where that comes from, you know.
00:45The day he was arrested in Texas, pissing on the Alamo.
00:48Singer Ozzy Osbourne thinks it's fun to defile public shrines. He says his
00:53greatest ambition is to turn the steps of the White House into a public restroom.
00:56And the terrible moment when it all came crashing down. March the 19th, 1982, when
01:02guitarist Randy Rhodes was tragically killed in a plane crash.
01:06But all that came after.
01:09The story of Diary of a Madman really began back in April of 1979. Fired from Black Sabbath,
01:16his marriage falling apart. Some people said Ozzy's career was over.
01:32He was just getting started.
01:36Sharon Arden, the daughter of Don Arden, Black Sabbath's manager, convinced him to put a
01:46band together and offered to become his manager.
01:50In London, Ozzy met Bob Daisley, the bass player for Rainbow.
01:55They auditioned drummers and settled on Uriah Heap's Lee Kerslake.
02:00Finally, they flew out a guitar player Ozzy had met in LA.
02:04He was a little guy who had a thing for polka dots and played in an upcoming band called
02:08Quiet Riot.
02:14He was called Randall William Rhodes, known to the world as Randy Rhodes, one of the greatest
02:19guitar players of all time.
02:22Ozzy had found his band.
02:27Debut album Blizzard of Oz was recorded at Ridge Farm Studios in England.
02:32The band clicked, with Ozzy particularly impressed by Randy Rhodes' guitar playing.
02:37Released in September of 1980 in the UK, it went to number 7 in the charts.
02:41Released in the States the following year, it went to 21 in the Billboard charts, while
02:45standout Signal Crazy Train went to number 9.
02:49The band toured the US.
02:51By the time they'd finished, Blizzard of Oz had sold a million copies.
02:56Guitar Player Magazine voted Randy Rhodes Best New Talent of 1981.
03:14Less than a year after they recorded Blizzard, the band were back at Ridge Farm Studios to
03:18record the follow-up, Diary of a Madman.
03:22Ozzy'd had the Diary of a Madman idea in the back of his mind for years.
03:25A loose concept that came from the madness in his life, and a genuine fear that he was
03:30losing his mind.
03:31This Diary of a Madman isn't just a thing that I've thought of now, it's just an idea
03:34where I've moulded it round in my head for ages.
03:36In actual fact, when I put it to my management, I thought I was totally insane.
03:40Where would you like us to go?
03:41Would you like us to go over to the fireplace?
03:43We set fire to each other.
03:45After months of touring, it was the band who were on fire, and all four members contributed
03:50to the songwriting.
03:51Ozzy was no longer in the shadow of Black Sabbath, but a solo star in his own right.
04:01The title of the first single from the album said it all.
04:04He was flying high again.
04:06On one hand, the song seemed like another of Ozzy's drug anthems, and throughout this
04:11time he was indeed being a bad, bad boy.
04:14But it could also be seen as a triumphant two fingers to everyone who had written him
04:18off.
04:19The guitar solo by Randy Rhodes was like a gauntlet being thrown down to the guitar players
04:23of the 1980s.
04:42Album opener and the second single from the album, Over the Mountain, sounded heavy, but
04:46came with a positive message about finding the magic in yourself.
04:49Everyone has got a certain amount of craziness in them, and I'm going to unleash it for you
04:53if you like.
04:54Randy Rhodes supplied a suitably mad guitar solo.
04:57If You Can't Kill Rock and Roll showed a softer side of the band.
05:08The lyrics were no less heavy, as Ozzy and Bob Daisley took aim at what they saw as the
05:13lies of the music business.
05:14In between, there was the Menacing Believer, Power Ballad Tonight, the voodoo symbolism of
05:28Little Dolls, and the mysteriously riffy S.A.T.O.
05:32And then there was the album closer, Diary of a Madman, an ambitious six-minute epic that
05:39ends the album in grand style.
05:41All this would be overshadowed by what happened next, but forty years on, the music remains.
05:51Diary of a Madman is the sound of a time bomb ticking, the crazy train coming off the rails,
05:57and of a band at the peak of its powers.
06:00Few bands ever flew as high.
06:02The Bells
06:24Phil