Of Priests and Devils

Years ago a particular news snippet caught my attention. It was a news clip about a religious group who were burning records. It showed children and adults throwing record albums into a bonfire. A priest told the interviewer, "One of the albums we're going to be burning tonight is Ozzy Osbourne's Speak of the Devil". The album cover shows Ozzy sitting in a chair, or throne, with his mouth open and drooling what is supposed to be blood (but looks more like strawberry jam). At Ozzy Osbourne concerts, religious believers have been known to hand out pamphlets to concert-goers. Religious leaders have condemned Ozzy for being a Satanist and devil worshipper. Ozzy's shows are boycotted and he is banned from playing certain cities. Is any of the hype true, and as a parent should you be concerned if your child is listening to Ozzy Osbourne? To start, Ozzy has had a record of macabre album titles: Diary of a Madman, Speak of the Devil, No Rest for the Wicked and The Ultimate Sin. However the old saying, "you can't judge a book by its cover" certainly comes into play here. As a priest, an album called 'Speak of the Devil' and showing a man spewing blood would certainly be cause for alarm. But if you take a closer look at the album and listen to the songs, it becomes another story. Speak of the Devil is simply a live album boasting some of the earlier Black Sabbath material. There is absolutely no reference AT ALL to Satan. The closest Ozzy comes on that album or most any other of his albums to evil, are songs such as 'Snowblind' and 'Sweet Leaf' which talk about drug usage. You can pull out all of Ozzy's albums, glance at the cover pictures and album titles and dismiss him as a devil worshipper in a heavy metal band. However we live in a world where people are free to make their own minds up about what they believe. I fail to see anywhere in Ozzy's career any truth to the Satanic rumors. I am a fan of Ozzy's and it is true I might be somewhat biased towards him, but I can reassure you I have never seen anything, WHATSOEVER, that leads me to believe Ozzy has any relationship with the devil. Fans of his may laugh at this but there are obviously people out there who seriously believe otherwise. So why then has this man been accused so often of being associated with evil? To explain this would be beyond my abilities. I can however tell you that his album covers may play a part. The fact that people have claimed to have heard backwards messages in his music may also play a part. The suicide deaths of teenagers listening to Ozzy's music also go hand in hand with the allegations of backwards messages. The fact he was once lead singer for a band called Black Sabbath also may play a part. I really can't tell you why people claim this. True, he is a singer in a band which is considered heavy metal. This does not make him an evil person. In all fairness, he has lived a life of drug and alcohol abuse and done some very stupid things which people will always remember him for. Overlooking the stupid stunts he has done, I don't find any evidence of his being an evil person. If you are a parent, should you be concerned if Jimmy brings home an Ozzy Osbourne album? Well, to answer that you need to look at a few outside factors. Is the kid level headed and are the lines of communication open with your child? If the child has serious problems, perhaps listening to his "Suicide Solution" would be a mistake. It is very easy to misconstrue the lyrics and it just might play a part in your son's decision. If your child is planning suicide, there are obviously more serious problems than that of an Ozzy album. I don't wish to spread panic, there is no need to really go and censor all of his albums. The fact is that if given the right circumstances, any medium could lead someone to believe suicide is ok. If you trust your child's judgement and believe him to be level headed, I don't see any real problems. Mind you I am NOT an expert, nor do I pretend to be. I am simply someone who grew up listening to Ozzy's music. Maybe you should sit down with the lyrics to the song and explain that it was the death of the singer for AC/DC which prompted the song, and the lyrics pertain to alcohol solution not answer-to-your-problem-solution. I figure it like this: If Jimmy is thinking of committing suicide, I think listening to an Ozzy album would be the same as watching a TV program or reading a paper on the same subject. If the child sees other teens talking about wanting to commit, how they tried to, or how life is not worth living, perhaps that media attention on the topic would affect his decision just as much. Up till now I have been talking mainly of suicide, this is because music could play a crucial weight in a child's decision. However a song about suicide is irrelevant to the topic of this chapter. I merely wanted to address the question or whether it is okay to listen to Ozzy. SURE! I never sacrificed any cats, nor did I try to kill myself. I did not go out on a full moon and try to eat a dog either, maybe if I was sleepwalking but not that I can remember. :) So why then does the religious faith attack this man? I sincerely do not know. I really don't. Perhaps it has to do with the last chapter. Maybe when our children turn to drugs and alcohol and kills animals, it must be heavy metal's fault. There has been a long waged war against metal. I think statistically you will find that a lot of troubled teenagers and drug abusers listen to heavy metal but I would not blame that music category for it. As Ozzy once said, "I'm sure people smoke pot at a Stevie Wonder concert". Let us now talk about some of the religious people who have attacked Osbourne for being in league with the devil.

Cardinal O'Connor ------------------------- This man accused Ozzy of being the devil and told people that exorcisms were real and that Oz's music was spreading the devil's word. 'A Current Affair' also did a telephone survey in which the majority of callers said that they felt heavy metal music was killing their kids.

Jimmy Swaggart -------------- Another television evangelist. The man makes his bread and butter by selling God. The morals of this are not mine to determine. Jimmy also put down Ozzy. Jim was later found coming out of a hotel room with a prostitute. He was later shown on television crying to God and asking for forgiveness. I don't wish to put him down for his repenting, but the fact he put down someone else and committed his own sins is hypocrisy. The fact is he is a human being with human urges and he can't deny that. Ozzy made a song and video called "Miracle Man" in which he talks about Jimmy and his critical views.

Oral Roberts ------------ Another evangelist who has put down Ozzy. This is the same man who claimed if he did not get 7 million dollars by a certain time, God would be calling him back home. To me, this seems a very obvious and pathetic attempt at milking the public. Ozzy makes his money through hard work, not pretending he will soon die. None of these people offered to help Ozzy in his time of depression and substance abuse. Though Ozzy did send Oral Roberts a single dollar for "his psychiatric bill".

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