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The astonishing claims about the Birmingham-born Black Sabbath icon, who died last year, were made by American heavy metal star Dee Snider, of Twisted Sister.

In a post on X, he claimed Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler penned all of the band's lyrics.

He also claimed Ozzy's first two solo albums featured lyrics written by Bob Daisley, and that the No More Tears album had contributions from Lemmy Kilmister.

Snider also suggested that Sharon Osbourne "doesn't like to share" while discussing the legacy of Ozzy's music, but aded that while many artisits don't write their own material they can still make songs their own.

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[–] Danika7@lemmy.world 3 points 14 hours ago

Is Dee Snider somehow trying to make himself relevant by making these statements? Sure seems like it to me.

[–] baronvonj@piefed.social 32 points 5 days ago (2 children)
[–] MelodiousFunk@slrpnk.net 29 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Yeah, wtf. "The bassist writes the lyrics" has been an Ozzy thing forever. There's nothing wrong with it. Especially in Sabbath. They're a band, people contribute. What's the stink about?

[–] thisbenzingring@lemmy.today 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

IDK who penned the words, the album Paranoid is a masterpiece and nobody else has the vocal style of Ozzy and it is a major reason that it's a masterpiece.

[–] SlurpingPus@lemmy.world 3 points 5 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

nobody else has the vocal style of Ozzy

Meanwhile there's a whole industry of doom-metal working off Sabbath's and Ozzy's style. E.g. Druidess, Hail Darkness, Stoned Jesus, Castle Rat, etc.

[–] thisbenzingring@lemmy.today 2 points 5 days ago (2 children)

I don't know these bands, thank you! I will check them out

[–] ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Oh if you like any of those, I have some for you too. In no particular order, and they don't necessarily sound like Sabbath or Ozzy and they all vary a little, and have varying levels of heavyness, but they follow a general vibe (of one of like 4 genres) that was kinda sorta born from the Sabbath roots (an album rec in parentheses, where remembered lol):

Electric Wizard (Dopethrone), Sleep (Holy Mountain), Acid Witch (Witchtanic Hallucinations), Om (Pilgrimage), Baroness (Red Album), Bongripper, Dozer, Kyuss, Earth (Earth 2), Noothgrush, Neurosis, Dystopia, High on Fire, Mastodon, Orange Goblin, Torche, Inter Arma, Weedeater, Yob.

[–] thisbenzingring@lemmy.today 2 points 1 day ago

I have known a couple of these but I will check out the rest. Thank you friend

[–] SlurpingPus@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago

Sabbath basically invented doom metal (together with Beatles), so there are a whole lot of bands paying tribute to them, and imitating Osborne's vocals was quite fashionable in stoner rock. These bands are just what I've found in the past few years, though Stoned Jesus are pretty old. Truckfighters are also somewhat similar.

[–] Skullgrid@lemmy.world 9 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Yeah, it's like saying geddy lee didn't write Rush's lyrics.

AFAIK, as soon as they saw that besides being an excellent drummer, Neil Peart was a voracious reader, they went, phew, we can get him to write the lyrics.

[–] neidu3@sh.itjust.works 22 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Uh, wasn't this already well known? Next up we're gonna learn that Robert Halford is gay..

[–] Earthwormjim91@lemmy.world 25 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Not only well known, but all the albums explicitly credit those guys too lol.

The big controversy was always Bark at the Moon, where Sharon got involved and only Ozzy is credited as a writer. Every other album has credit where credit is due.

Blizzard of Ozz: All songs written by Ozzy Osbourne, Randy Rhoads and Bob Daisley, except where noted Diary of a Madman: All songs by Ozzy Osbourne, Randy Rhoads, Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake, except where noted

Lemmy is explicitly credited on 4 songs on No More Tears.

It's been known for about 50 years that Geezer was the main lyricist for Black Sabbath. Ozzy just did arrangement and contributed some lyrical changes here and there.

There's not even any controversy here.

[–] acosmichippo@lemmy.world 19 points 5 days ago

what an awful headline. this made it sound like Kelly is the "rock star" who "takes on Sharon" by claiming Ozzy didn't write his songs.

[–] troed@fedia.io 20 points 5 days ago (1 children)

tbh if Dee Snider says it I'd assume he's right

[–] Earthwormjim91@lemmy.world 12 points 5 days ago

Don't need to assume anything. He just read the liner credits on the albums lol.

Blizzard of Ozz literally says "All songs written by Ozzy Osbourne, Randy Rhoads and Bob Daisley, except where noted.". Same with Diary of a Madman. "All songs by Ozzy Osbourne, Randy Rhoads, Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake, except where noted."

Bark at the Moon is where the controversy starts, where Ozzy is the sole writing credit, but Daisley and Jake Lee claim they wrote a good chunk of it and Sharon screwed them out of credits.

The Ultimate Sin lists Jake Lee with credits again. No Rest for the Wicked has everyone with writing credits. Same with Just Say Ozzy.

No More Tears explicitly credits everyone. "All tracks are written by Ozzy Osbourne, Zakk Wylde and Randy Castillo, except where noted." And Lemmy is credited on I Don't Want to Change the World, Mama I'm Coming Home, Desire, and Hellraiser.

Bark at the Moon is the only controversy. Every other album has credit given to other writers. And all of Black Sabbath's are credited to all four of them. It has been long known though that Geezer was the primary lyricist, and Ozzy only contributed some original lyrics, but did a lot more with the actual arrangement of the songs.

[–] OryxAndCake@slrpnk.net 13 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler penned all of the band’s lyrics.

This was common knowledge when I was getting into music in my early teens about 20 years ago, and it was repeated in music magazines and conversations about music a lot. This happening doesn't make it true obviously, but like, it was known. I even remember saying it once or twice.

I think one of the old heavy metal musicans from the Sabbath era released an auto/biography around that time (early 00's) and it was said there too/first? I can't remember. I read a bunch of that shit around that time though, so it might just be conflated memories?

[–] Blibly@lemmy.world 10 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Yeah like it's not even a big deal. Plenty of artists don't write all their own songs. There's lots of collaboration in writing a song as part of a band. Idk why they feel the need to fight over it 🤷‍♀️

[–] OryxAndCake@slrpnk.net 6 points 5 days ago

The osbourne lot are just trashy, shitty people. This is what they do.

I'll believe this just because fuck the Osbournes. You can tell they're not the real deal by how Sharon and Jack suck up to right wing conservative christian pedophiles, and worship AI.

[–] rozodru@piefed.world 8 points 5 days ago (3 children)

why she pissed? he's right.

Look I know she's gone through a lot lately. Father died last year, split with Sid Wilson from Slipknot, but I mean...he's not wrong.

[–] Gullible@sh.itjust.works 7 points 5 days ago

Ozzy raised her on reality tv. She’s not going to be perfectly adjusted

[–] MummifiedClient5000@feddit.dk 5 points 5 days ago

... split with Sid Wilson from Slipknot...

Hey, that exact thing happened to Slipknot 😀

[–] kip@piefed.zip 4 points 5 days ago

sid just got the boot from slipknot, what's going on with him?

[–] velma@sh.itjust.works 7 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Snider isn't wrong to be fair.

[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 2 points 5 days ago

He gave a damn good live performance, too.

[–] dan1101@lemmy.world 6 points 5 days ago

I had never even thought about whether Ozzy wrote his own songs, and I'm not sure how much it matters. Why bring it up now?

[–] _NetNomad@fedia.io 3 points 5 days ago

if i had a nickel for every Birmingham-based band adjacent to Sharon Osborne who failed to properly credit and compensate all of their writers to create the image of a solo genius at the helm, i would have two nickels, which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice

[–] MehBlah@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Dee Snider is a complete asshole any way you turn him up. He is honest though.