What a shame Ozzy and Tony couldn't rise above it

By Joel McIver

I'm gutted that Ozzy is suing Tony Iommi, and even more so that he's gone public with it -- but this is a complex issue and not one that can be decided quickly or easily.

OK, before we pass judgment on Osbourne vs. Iommi, we should acknowledge that we aren't in possession of the salient facts. We don't know what portion of Sabbath's earnings accrue from ownership of the trademark; how much revenue has historically come to either party before this latest development; and who owns the rest of the band's income-accruing assets (such as publishing). It's reasonable to assume that most of Sabbath's income is divided between the various members and the companies they own, but we don't know (for example) what role Sharon Osbourne plays or indeed the estate of her late father Don Arden. So everybody should curtail their opinions for a minute (that means you, internet posters!).

I'm not a lawyer or a legal expert, so don't take this as gospel (m'lud), but Ozzy does make a reasonable point when he mentions that Sabbath's career took a nosedive in his absence. Many Sabbath fans, myself included, rate the Ronnie James Dio-era albums as among Sabbath's best, but that won't carry much weight if a court is asked to calculate the band's popularity in terms of record and ticket sales. Then again, with or without Ozzy the band would probably have had a less successful period in the eighties than the seventies -- by 1985 a lot of the metal-consuming public's attention had moved away from trad Heavy Metal to Thrash and Glam.

It comes down to this. Should the Black Sabbath name and the income that follows ownership of that name go to a) the guy who wrote most of the songs, b) the guy whose presence at the front and subsequent solo career gave Sabbath a massive boost in later years, c) the guy who came up with the name (it must have been one member's suggestion, to which the others agreed), d) the guy who kept the band going against all the odds when no-one was interested, e) the woman who gave Ozzy the impetus to start a solo career and invented the festival that gave Sabbath a comeback vehicle, f) all of them put together?

I don't know what the right answer is, I'm afraid. Tony has been the band's prime mover for decades. Ozzy (via Sharon) enabled the band to be a major late-career success. None of it would have been as good without Geezer and Bill (and Ronnie and Geoff Nicholls, for that matter). Ozzy's plaintive cries of “we're all in our sixties” don't wash with me, but they may appeal to a court of law.

God knows what will happen, but it won't be dignified. What a shame they couldn't rise above it.