Posted on 06/18/2002 11:42:37 AM PDT by wallcrawlr
LONDON (Reuters) - Rock rebel Ozzy Osbourne tried to hang himself from a clothes-line during a wild childhood, but was stopped in the nick of time by his angry father, according to a book excerpt released Monday.
"The 14-year-old made a noose out of his mother's clothes-line, put it over his head, fixed the other end securely to a high gate and jumped from a chair," said the excerpt from the new book "Ozzy Unauthorized" by Sue Crawford.
"The teen-ager who was to become one of rock's most outrageous men may have died right there except that he was caught in the act by his father -- who then gave him a sound beating," added the excerpt, published in Britain's The Sun newspaper.
Crawford's book paints a picture of chaos and poverty during Osbourne's upbringing in the central English city of Birmingham.
The British heavy metal rocker, famed for biting off a bat's head on stage, has lately acquired a new cult following due a hit U.S. docu-soap, "At Home With The Osbournes," charting daily life at his Beverly Hills mansion.
Rich and famous at 58 -- he recently sang for Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace in London -- Osbourne was so poor as a child he only owned one pair of shoes and socks at a time.
"My mother was an amateur singer, my father was an amateur drunk," he was quoted as saying of his parents.
Having witnessed his father beating his mother, he became violent, at age seven organizing "hanging squads" that terrified other children by stringing them up in the toilets.
He later joined in gang fights with dustbin lids, iron pokers and even once a set of meat cleavers. "I can remember one pitched battle where I deliberately tried to drown some kid. Where I came from it was kill or be killed," he said.
Not surprisingly, Osbourne drank hard. At 17 he ended up in jail for six weeks for breaking into a shop. In prison, to escape a murderer's unwelcome attention, he smashed him over the head with a metal chamber pot, the excerpt said.
Osbourne's love of music came from his mother, who encouraged him to take part in school musicals. But it was the Beatles who were his first direct inspiration.
"If he did not have the money he would simply hide the records under his coat and do a runner," Crawford's book said of Osbourne's desperation to acquire the band's material.
The rocker left school early and worked as a slaughterman, killing 250 cattle a day and cutting the guts out of sheep, the book added. "It fostered his weird reputation for a fascination with animals and death," it said.
Earlier in the day, Osbourne was arrested on charges of public drunkenness after he relieved himself on a column outside The Alamo. In doing that, Osbourne said he accomplished one of his lifetime goals. But he said his main goal in life is to use the White House steps as a public bathroom, too.
That's a joke. Suck it up and laugh. Ozzy peeing on the White House. Ha Ha.
All it takes is a water hose, and the rocker piss stain is gone.
1. Me.
2. Ranger Airborne.
3. Millions of Texans.
4. Anyone who cares about freedom.
5. Anyone who admires courage.
1982 - Ozzy Osbourne is forbidden from performing in San Antonio, Texas, after he is arrested for urinating on the Alamo. Osbourne's various legal troubles also prevent him from playing in several other cities, including Boston, Baton Rouge, Corpus Christi, Las Vegas, and Philadelphia and Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Mayor Henry Cisnero had a lot to do with the heavy metal and rap ban in San Antonio. The scope of which extended beyond just Ozzy.
Additionally:
Under the leadership of mayor (and future Clinton cabinet member) Henry Cisneros, city officials in San Antonio, Texas, pass an ordinance forbidding children under the age of fourteen from attending rock concerts at any city-owned facility.
If the above individual is called Osbourne, he's a hero. If he's called Clinton he's a jerk.
What a joke you Osbourne cheerleaders are.
I've never admired his silly antics or care much for his TV show[can't stomach his kids]but what I do admire his work with Black Sabbath and a lot of his solo stuff.I think Elvis in his last years was about as pathetic as you can get.He made Ozzy look like a health nut.I sure liked Ozzy in the old days way before MTV decided to use him as a carnival sideshow.VH1 had a show about Ted Nugents ranch style house in Michigan with Sebastion Bach as a guest.It was ten times more hilarious than The Osbournes and a hell of a lot more interesting.
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