Geezer Butler, a former bassist for Black Sabbath, recently appeared on The Rock Experience with Mike Brunn to talk about his new book, “Into The Void.” He described Ozzy Osbourne as “a musical genius” while discussing the book and his time with Black Sabbath.
The interviewer brought up several passages in Butler’s book where Osbourne was given credit for the Black Sabbath songs throughout the conversation. The bassist was afterwards questioned about a period when he decided to alter a former bandmate’s work because he didn’t like it.
He said in response, “No, not at all. I always thought Ozzy was a genius for coming up with the melodies that he did. Especially on songs like ‘Black Sabbath,’ which is like – It must have been so hard. It was natural for him, but it’s this very strange song to sing, to make up a melody to sing to. And he was always brilliant at doing that.”
The songwriter went on to describe how Osbourne’s work simplified his own, saying:
“He usually wrote off the top of his head. He’d come out with his great melodies. I think that’s what made it easy for me too. ‘Cause there was so much emotion in it; so much feeling that he used to put in it that it was easy for me to put the lyrics to it.”
The songwriter went on to describe how Osbourne’s work simplified his own, saying:
Later on in the discussion, Geezer Butler himself came into focus. When the retiring musician was asked if he thought he received equal credit for his contribution in the band to that of Ozzy Osbourne and Tony Iommi, he responded as follows:
“Yeah, I think people that know Sabbath, you know, always – They know that I was the lyricist, and a lot of bands have cited – Especially bass players seem to cite me as one of their main influences, and a lot of the lyrical ideas that bands come out with stem from early Sabbath stuff.”
The songwriter went on to describe how Osbourne’s work simplified his own, saying:
Geezer Butler now maintains various connections with his previous bandmates. He informed Ultimate Classic Rock that he was still in touch with Iommi but hadn’t spoken to Osbourne at all a few weeks prior to this interview.
Watch a video of his most recent interview below.
