During his decades in the public eye, Ozzy Osbourne has been totally open about his frequent drug use. In the early 1970s, though, there was an incident that convinced him to stop using LSD.
In a new Classic Rock feature about the making of Black Sabbath’s 1972 album Vol. 4, Osbourne discussed an extended moment with a horse that talked (in his mind, at least):
“[The band] lived together in a house in Los Angeles, rehearsed there, did loads of drugs and made an album: simple. Those were good times. At that time in America, people were very fond of lacing your drinks with acid. I didn’t care. I used to swallow handfuls of tabs at a time.
The end of it came when we got back to England. I took 10 tabs of acid then went for a walk in a field. I ended up standing there talking to this horse for about an hour. In the end the horse turned ’round and told me to f*ck off. That was it for me.”
Osbourne’s health hasn’t been the best in recent years. In mid-2021, he said, “These past two years, I’ve been in a terrible f*cking state. I’ve struggling with this f*cking broken neck, looks like I’m in for more surgery. I’m in physical therapy right now.”