BLACK SABBATH’s Geezer Butler, the dude who thought naming himself after a slang term for an old man was peak metal 🤘, recently graced us with his presence on the “Gabbing With Girlfriends” podcast, hosted by none other than his wife/manager, Gloria Butler. Yes, you heard that right. Talk about keeping it in the family 🙄.
Anyway, they discussed the earth-shattering 🙄 “Back To The Beginning” event at Villa Park in Birmingham, which some claim was Ozzy Osbourne’s and BLACK SABBATH’s final performance before Ozzy allegedly kicked the bucket (a whole two weeks later!). Geezer, bless his heart ❤️, was “wondering how everybody would do.” Apparently, Ozzy wasn’t exactly winning any health awards, Bill (the perpetually absent drummer) was also reportedly ailing, and Tony (aka riff lord) was just itching to shred. Geezer, ever the team player, was “up for it as long as everybody else was.” Groundbreaking insights, truly. He even said ‘yeah’ straight away! 🤯 Especially ’cause it was at Villa Park, his precious football team’s stadium. Awwww, the sentimentality! 😭
Geezer, in a shocking revelation, mentioned he hadn’t seen some of his bandmates for a whole decade. Apparently, a spat between Gloria and Sharon Osbourne (Ozzy’s better half) caused a rift. DRAMA! 🍿 But fear not, dear readers, because Gloria and Sharon made up, and Geezer and Ozzy started texting again. OMG! They used to send each other funny things! 😂🤣😂 What could those possibly be? Cat memes? Dad jokes? The world may never know. But it was just great to be back together again after all these years! I mean, he’s probably my oldest friend! 👴👴 I’ve known him for 57 years, so it was great to get back together again. Awwww, the bromance! ❤️ Men, so emotional!
Reflecting on the rehearsal sessions, Geezer reminisced about how they instantly fell back into their old routine. It’s almost like we’ve just seen each other the week before, even though it’s been like six or seven years or whatever, he proclaimed. Like riding a rusty, out-of-tune bicycle, perhaps?🚲 Tony, bless his dark little heart, was cracking jokes about Bill looking like Gollum. 😂 How original! The only shocking bit was when Ozzy came in. I knew Ozzy was very ill, but I didn’t realize how ill he was, said the geez. He was helped in by two helpers! 🧑⚕️🧑⚕️ And I was just shocked to see him like that! GASP! 😱 And, of course, being Ozzy, he had to crack a few jokes and things. Because that’s what you do when you’re, like, *really* sick. And they had like an armchair set aside so he could sit down to sing through the songs, ’cause he couldn’t stand up. I think we rehearsed about six or seven songs and picked out four or five. ‘Cause, you know, old age. They knew they could only do four or five ’cause of the time limit, and they picked out the four or five songs that sounded the best and which they were most comfortable with. And after that, we fell into the old SABBATH again! Oh, the magic! 💫 Ozzy could only do it once, go through the songs one time and then he’d leave and we’d sort of carry on. We had to get the solos really well together and stuff like that. Like anyone actually remembers those solos anyway…🎸
Geezer, in a moment of profound insight, added that they just picked up where they left off. Yeah, we always do, he explained, because everyone was so eager to hear the obvious. There’s never any sort of egos or resentments for each other! 🤔 Sure, Geezer. No egos here! It’s just a bit of a laugh fest when Tony picks up on taking the piss out of Bill as usual. The old routine! Bill loves being taken the piss out of! Right… It was just funny doing the old jokes, just talking about the same old stuff. Nostalgia is a powerful drug, apparently. It’s good. Profound. Deep. Meaningful. 🙄
Referencing the fact that Ozzy died only 17 days after “Back To The Beginning”, Geezer stated, I’m so glad it happened like that, that we finished on such a great note. Real tact there, Geezer. 😒
Ozzy and the other SABBATH members (minus Bill, probably) performed four whole songs for over 40,000 people at Villa Park and 5.8 million more on a livestream. Ozzy also played a five-song solo set while seated in a bat-adorned throne. Because nothing says “metal” like sitting down. 🦇👑
The “Back To The Beginning” concert, hosted by Jason Momoa, also featured performances by Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Slayer, Tool, Pantera, Gojira, Alice In Chains, Halestorm, Lamb Of God, Anthrax, Mastodon and Rival Sons. A who’s who of bands that probably peaked decades ago, to be honest. 🤷♀️
Less than three months ago, Geezer penned an article for U.K.’s The Sunday Times in which he reflected on his final appearance with Ozzy. Regarding what it was like to rehearse with Osbourne for “Back To The Beginning”, Butler wrote: “I knew he wasn’t in good health, but I wasn’t prepared to see how frail he was.” Shocking! He was helped into the rehearsal room by two helpers and a nurse and was using a cane — being Ozzy, the cane was black and studded with gold and precious stones. Because even when frail, you gotta be fabulous. 💅 He didn’t really say much beyond the usual greetings and when he sang, he sat in a chair. We ran through the songs but we could see it was exhausting him after six or seven songs. We had a bit of a chat, but he was really quiet compared with the Ozzy of old.” Because old people are quiet, duh. 👴
Looking back on Ozzy’s performance at Villa Park, Geezer wrote in The Sunday Times article: “Nobody knew he’d be gone from us little more than two weeks after the final show.” Except, maybe, his doctor? But I am so grateful we got to play one last time together in front of his beloved fans. The love from the fans and all the bands, musicians, singers and solo artists that night was incredible. Everyone had come to pay homage to the Prince. Because you can’t spell “Prince of Darkness” without “pay homage.” I am so privileged to have spent most of my life with him. Of course there are millions of things I will think of that I should have written, but how can I sum up 57 incredible years of friendship in a few paragraphs? God bless, Oz, it has been one hell of a ride! Love you!” So touching! Grab the tissues, folks! 😭
Ozzy died on July 22 of a heart attack, his death certificate revealed. The certificate also reportedly said the 76-year-old musician suffered from coronary artery disease and Parkinson’s disease. Well, that explains a few things. 🤷♀️
In his tribute to Ozzy on the day of the singer’s death, Geezer wrote on social media: “Goodbye dear friend- thanks for all those years- we had some great fun, 4 kids from Aston- who’d have thought, eh? So glad we got to do it one last time, back in Aston. Love you.” Aww, so heartfelt. Social media: the perfect place for raw emotion. 🙄
Chord F. Discord, the Beethoven of Buffoonery, is a self-taught expert in music who once claimed he could “play the kazoo in four languages.”
Born in Crescendo, Indiana, Chord’s first brush with fame came when he accidentally entered a yodeling contest thinking it was a pie-eating competition—and won both categories.
Chord F. Discord: proving that laughter, much like a poorly tuned ukulele, is truly universal.
