An Act of Sabotage

"For the first part of their career they were managed by two of the biggest crooks in the business. They made nothing, I mean nothing." ...Sharon on Sabbath's early management The year is now 1974. The band is living a good life of drugs, sex, cars, etc. If they wanted a car or a house they would ask for it and receive it almost the next day. Ozzy even owned a Jaguar which he smashed while backing out of his driveway, the same day he was to sell it. What the band never saw though, was money. They became very successful especially in the UK charts. Their material possessions were provided by their new management of Patrick Meehan and Wilf Pine. What happened was this: During the same year that Paranoid was soaring up the charts, Pat and Wilf left their management company (which was Don Arden's, more on him later). The duo offered the band a chauffeured limo, champagne dinner at the Speakeasy, and filled the Sab's heads with ideas that Jim was mismanaging them and they could do a hell of a lot better with them instead. The Sabs agreed and on Sept.4, 1970 Jim Simpson found out he was history. The man who had turned the four nobodies into a juggernaut was dismissed. The Sabs were also not happy that with Jim they were being paid a lot less than what they should have been getting. The reason was that Jim insisted they perform at the shows they had already been booked for, even six months prior. These older bookings were for a lot less money than the usual fee, now around 2000 pounds per show. Simpson launched lawsuits against them for of breach of contract. Some concerts later, Ozzy was handed a subpoena on stage for Simpson's lawsuits. The resulting court case would last years. California saw the Cal Jam concert take place in Ontario on April 6th. This was a televised concert to millions of viewers as well as over 450,000 audience members. It featured bands such as Electric Light Orchestra. In the middle of the night, their management threatened the band with a lawsuit if they did not play the Cal Jam concert. The band had not practiced for months and was not ready for a show, especially one with over 450,000 people in attendance. It has been said that the band did not even know they were to play the show. This would be one of the final straws for the band and they soon began the process of getting rid of their second management. Ozzy talks a bit about this in the documentary, "The Decline of Western Civilization II" where the band questions how much money they are really making if their managers could afford houses and cars. Once again the band gets rid of their management and decides to form their own management. This allowed them to have more control and say into what decisions were made for the band. It would be a learning experience as well since they had never dabbled in the management aspects before. They decided a rest was in order since they were exhausted. Their next US tour would be in three short installments rather than one big tour to further save them exhaustion and nervous breakdowns. Oh yes, remember all the flashy cars and houses they were given? They were never really theirs, and when they dumped the management duo they lost everything. They still had the Warner Bros. label in America though, and stayed with WB during the management change.

SABOTAGE -------- In September of 1975, the band released their "Sabotage" album. The last song on the album, "The Writ", would reveal their feelings towards their previous management and all the problems they'd encountered:

The Writ ======== The way I feel is the way I am I wish I'd walked before I started to run to you, just to you What kind of people do you think we are? Another joker who's a rock and roll star for you, just for you The faithful image of another man The endless ocean of emotion I swam for you, yeah for you The shot troopers laying down on the floor I wish they'd put an end to my running war with you, yeah with you Are you metal, are you man? You've changed in life since you began, yeah began Ladies digging gold from you Will they still dig now you're through, yeah you're through You bought and sold me with your lying words The voices in the deck that you never heard came through, yeah came through Your folly finally got to spend with a gun A poisoned father who has poisoned his son, that's you, yeah that's you I beg you please don't let it get any worse The anger I once had has turned to a curse on you, Yeah curse you All of the promises that never came true You're gonna get what is coming to you, that's true, ah, that's true Are you Satan, are you man? You've changed the life since it began, it began Vultures sucking gold from you Will they still suck now you're through The search is on, so you just better run And find yourself another way Probably dead, they don't feel a thing To keep you living for another day You are nonentity, you have no destiny You are a victims of a thing unknown A mantle picture of a stolen soul A fornication of your golden throne A smiling face, it means the world to me So tired of sadness and of misery My life it started some time ago Where it will end, I don't know I thought I was so good I thought I was fine I feel my world is out of time But everything is gonna work out fine If it don't I think I'll lose my mind I know, I know, I know, yeah yeah I know Listen to me while I sing this song You might just think the words are wrong Too many people advising me [managers, lawyers] But they don't know what my eyes see But everything is gonna work out fine If it don't I feel I'm lose my mind

The anger is very strong in both the lyrics and the tone of Ozzy's voice. After hearing the song one cannot help but feel sympathy for what the band had been enduring. Some album labels (Warner Bros. for example) have a hidden tune following the song, you need to really turn up the volume to hear it. It features the band playing piano and singing an old 'Nitty Gritty Dirt Band' song called "Blow on the Jug". A sound engineer caught this during a recording session and it was put on the album. Sadly, there are a lot of other Sab cover songs which we will never get to hear. You can hear the 'Blow on the Jug' song by clicking right here! Reporter: "Do you have a drinking problem?" Ozzy: "Yes, I can't find a bar."

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