Last week, Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne made some shocking comments about founding Sabbath drummer, Bill Ward, stating Ward was too fat for Black Sabbath. In a new interview, Ozzy elaborated on his claims as to why he felt that way.
In an interview with the UK Magazine Classic Rock, Blabbermouth found some interesting tidbits of information that Ozzy apparently left out when he flat out said that Bill Ward was too fat for the band and his out-of-shapeness would be detrimental, such as:
"Here's the bottom line: being a drummer is the most physical part of any band. And when Bill turned up, he looked like an old guy. I don't think he had the stamina to play for an hour or so on stage. If I'd had a heart attack like Bill had, I'd go, 'Fuck, I'm going to lose some weight.' I train — I work my arse off. So you can't expect someone who's been sitting on their fucking arse, eating shit, to come along and go, 'Equal split.' It's insane. I honestly don't know what went down with that deal, but I suppose it's something along those lines. There wasn't any other reason. We didn't gang up on him. And it wasn't like, 'Bill's just the drummer.' I didn't go, 'Oh, if Bill's not here, I get more money.' I don't fucking need any more money, man."
Fair enough I guess? I mean, sources are saying that Ozzy isn't exactly in the greatest vocal shape of his life for this tour either, so those in glasses houses to an extent barring the fact that they're all older guys now and stuff like this is bound to happen. Nice to know that Ozzy didn't give Ward the boot for the money, and even goes on in the interview to praise Ward for his drumming and his key role in Sabbath's huge success over the years. Hell, Ozzy even calls Ward "his best friend" and says:
"If he gets his shit together. I'm not going to slag Bill off. But it's not our fault. For some reason, getting us all on the same page is the hardest thing in the world."
So Bill Ward, if you're reading this (which I doubt); apparently you have your work cut out for you! Ozzy is so worried about you that he won't let you go on tour! I think… it's like, 50% that and 50% because you look old. Which you can't fix. So sorry about that or something.
Ozzy, what the hell are you telling us?
