Wednesday , March 27 2024
The most honest and engrossing rock 'n' roll memoir I have ever read.

Book Review: I Am Ozzy by Ozzy Osbourne and Chris Ayres

I Am Ozzy is the most honest rock star biography I have ever read.

When I mentioned that I was going to review this book, some people commented, “Ozzy Osbourne can write?!!”

Well, technically, Ozzy is dyslexic, so he dictated the book to Chris Ayres. But he certainly can remember and share.

From his extremely rough childhood to his days as a teen working in a slaughterhouse to finding Black Sabbath and fame, through his brilliant solo career masterfully held together by his wife Sharon, to his infamous excesses, it’s all here. (And yes, he did bite the head off a bat, but he didn’t realize it was real until afterward, and he had to take a series of rabies shots as penance.)

Ozzy sugarcoats nothing. Some of his story is tragic, like the bizarre death of Randy Rhodes in the strangest plane crash ever. Some of it, in retrospect is screamingly funny, like the time Ozzy got arrested for accidentally urinating on the Alamo.

All of it is amazing. That he did all this, including extreme drug and alcohol abuse for 40 years, and is still alive, in better shape than ever, and still performing is nothing short of a miracle.

Ozzy Osbourne is a funny guy and an incredible storyteller. He survived by being a clown, and even when he’s discussing waking up in the middle of a four-lane highway with no idea how he got there, he makes it an amusing tale.

But he also does not shirk from telling how he almost killed Sharon in a drunken, drug-ridden haze, how he nearly died numerous times, or any of the things that some people might choose to gloss over.

He has lived a public life and he denies nothing.

I Am Ozzy is a perfect rock ‘n roll book about the far from perfect but thoroughly entertaining Prince of Darkness.

About Rhetta Akamatsu

I am an author of non-fiction books and an online journalist. My books include Haunted Marietta, The Irish Slaves, T'ain't Nobody's Business If I Do: Blues Women Past and Present, Southern Crossroads: Georgia Bluesand Sex Sells: Women in Photography and Film.

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2 comments

  1. I find it difficult to believe that this man can provide word-for-word quotations of what his bandmates said, manager said, and stories of hotel rooms, hookers, and so forth when he can’t even tell you what he ate for supper the day before. In any interview he’s given he clearly doesn’t know any of these details when asked about them. A great work of fiction indeed.

  2. Helen Maidiotis

    This is a great book review Rhetta, well done! I am campaigning for Ozzy to receive a knighthood and as part of the campaign I have a petition running on causes.com called appropriately – “KNIGHT OZZY OSBOURNE”. We have now entered our final week before the close and would really appreciate it if you could join us on the facebook page I have going to coincide with my campaign.
    I will share your book review on our page, as it’s a wonderful tribute to the man and believe that it will get others who haven’t read it yet to check it out. I have both the hard copy and soft cover of his book including the Frank Skinner audiobook. This book is a real treasure and a ‘must have’. I recommend it to all to have a read, even those who mock and loathe him and then maybe they will see who the real Ozzy Osbourne is, and not the person the media has portrayed him to be over the last 45 years!
    Thank you Rhetta! Well done!! 🙂
    Here are the links to both my facebook page and the causes page in case you want to pop in and say hello and of course maybe even sign the petition (July 6 is the final day).
    Cheers! xo
    https://www.facebook.com/TheKnighthoodOfOzz
    https://www.causes.com/campaigns/39911-knight-ozzy-osbourne