By now, you've probably heard that Ozzy Osbourne's forthcoming LP, Patient Number 9, has a slew of guest appearances, including one by Hall of Fame guitarist Eric Clapton. However, the guest spot isn't the first time Ozzy and Slowhand have tangoed together. In fact, in an interview with Billy Morrison on the latest episode of Ozzy Speaks on SiriusXM's Ozzy's Boneyard station, Ozzy shared a story from back in the day that gave new meaning to the word paranoid.
"Many, many years ago, me and Sharon [Osbourne] were in New York and we had to go to an award show. Everybody was there. And I was still doing drugs and alcohol, and I was freaked out. So, we go to this award show and afterwards there's me, (singer) Grace Jones… and Grace Jones and I wanted a picture of Eric Clapton, me and Grace Jones together. And he'd just come out of [a rehab center]. So, he was freaked out [by the whole scene], which I didn't know. And I'd convinced myself that he was gonna stop this photograph from being [released]; I'd never seen it for the longest time.
"Then I went to an AA meeting in the valley many years later; it was like 10 years later," Ozzy continued. "I turn around in this AA meeting and there at the back was Eric Clapton sitting there. And I'm, like, 'Fucking hell…. He still remembers.' Not thinking of what he's done in the last 10 years, I'm thinking, 'All he's done, he's still thinking how much he hates me.' So I'm thinking, 'At the end of the meeting, I'm gonna go out that door. I'm fucking legging this.' I'm thinking, 'He hates me. He's gonna call me the biggest cunt he ever met.' So, I'm just going back to cross the road. I'll get in the car and drive off."
“A couple weeks later, I go again. There he is again. I'm thinking, 'This fucking guy… Yeah, I'm paranoid as fuck. So, I'm just about to cross the road and get in my car and drive off. He goes, 'Ozzy.' I go, 'Here we go.' And he goes, 'Good to see you in the room.' We had a chat and I thought, 'Wow, what a nice guy.' The fucking next week, I go to a music stand and that photograph [from the award show] was in the magazine, the first magazine I picked up."
Also during the show, Osbourne premiered a second single from Patient Number 9—"Degradation Rules," featuring his former Black Sabbath bandmate Tony Iommi. Osbourne previously said about the single "I only wish we had these songs for Black Sabbath's 13 album. The track is a great combination of Sabbath's usual doom alongside some of the band's earlier blues sound, and with a ripping guitar solo. You can listen to the track below.
