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The Guardian
24-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘Laughing and out of breath, he thanked us for the snowball fight': fans on the magic of Ozzy Osbourne
I interviewed Ozzy in 1997, for Kerrang! magazine. We met in a hotel on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, where he proceeded to drink gallons of Diet Coke, and take the piss out of himself. He was the least pretentious rock star I ever met, and during my decade in the industry, I met hundreds. By the time I met Ozzy, I'd had enough of music journalism. I decided he should be my final interview because how do you beat that? I'd interviewed everyone I'd ever wanted to, including Nirvana, so it made sense to end my music journalism career by chatting with Ozzy. Ozzy was so self-effacing and hilarious. He told me about becoming partially deaf while working in a factory testing car horns, how he'd thought Spinal Tap was a documentary about Black Sabbath, and how the band named themselves after a horror movie for a joke. He was already shaking back then, and seemed very small and frail, but he had this gorgeous twinkling quality, which I certainly hadn't expected to encounter in the Prince of Darkness. And he clearly couldn't do a thing without Sharon, which he was more than happy to admit. Liz Evans, Tasmania, Australia My first ever gig was Ozzfest 2002 at Donington. I was so excited, I dyed my hair black and carried a wallet chain thick enough to tie up a ship. When I arrived, a guy in a top hat with a voice like the devil said I'd be 'lucky if I made it out alive'. I'd largely wanted to go because of System of a Down. But Ozzy was the show stealer. I'd become familiar with him due to the The Osbournes, then got into Black Sabbath. There was no other performer like him over the weekend. This – what I thought at the time – old guy had more energy than the younger bands put together. Needless to say, I was hooked on metal from that point onwards. Because of that festival so many bands got their big breaks. He not only invented metal with Sabbath but continued to support the genre the rest of his days. James, Cambridge I was a fairly obsessive heavy rock fan in my teens, and first saw Ozzy live when I was 16 at a one-day heavy metal festival at Port Vale's football ground in Stoke-on-Trent in 1981, alongside a few other bands including Motörhead. A couple of years later I was at university in Sheffield, and saw him for a second time at the City Hall. Afterwards, a friend and I got tipped off about which hotel the band were staying in, so we gatecrashed the residents-only bar and ended up spending an hour or two in the company of Ozzy, Sharon, and the rest of the band. He was an absolute gentleman, happily putting up with a bunch of geeky 18-year-old fans asking him loads of questions, and he insisted on buying multiple rounds of drinks for everyone in the bar. Before we departed he also decided to sign our foreheads 'Ozzy was here' with a Sharpie, as per the photo – earning us a huge amount of credibility when we finally got back to our hall of residence. What an absolute legend of a man – definitely one of a kind. Nick Payne, St Albans As teenagers in the early 1980s we all used to go to venues early and hang around the loading areas and back-stage entrances, on the off-chance of picking up an autograph or seeing a rock star. We did so during the Blizzard of Ozz tour, which were his first UK appearances since being sacked from Sabbath. We got there very early, around 2pm, and turned the corner to find guitarist Randy Rhoads and Ozzy himself, sat quietly having a cup of tea. We gathered tentatively and joined him. Rhoads and Ozzy gave off an air of openness and gentle bonhomie. This wasn't the Prince of Darkness, but a slightly apprehensive man who was hoping that the fans would accept his new musical incarnation. He was humble, communicative and very patient. It was like sitting with a mate's older brother, shooting the breeze for 20 minutes. After he and Randy went back in to sound check, we all remained stunned for a few moments. We'd had a cup of tea with the Prince of Darkness, and it turned out he was a really nice bloke. It's a real shame that successive generations only know him as the sometimes incoherent, grumpy old man of the TV show, The Osbournes. As in his heyday, he was the funniest and most disarming of all of the 1980s rock gods. Van Norris, Hampshire I was lucky enough to see Black Sabbath at Download festival in 2012. Ozzy was already a huge legend but hadn't done a show in a while and we went genuinely thinking that it may be the last chance to see him. When he wobbled out on to the stage, clearly a bit frail, I was worried. Oh no, I thought, this is a cash grab and he's really not up to it anymore ... but then he opened his mouth, and wow. His voice was still all there – it was like listening to him in his heyday. I'm still agog at how good he was. And he was clearly enjoying himself immensely. We've lost a great. Coral Pearce-Mariner, Norfolk In February 1972, during the Master of Reality tour, my father was due to pick me and my mates up after the gig at De Montfort Hall in Leicester, but was delayed by the bad weather. We hung round the back stage door and eventually the band came out. We spoke to all of them but it was Ozzy and Bill who gave us the most time. Ozzy threw the first snowball at us. We then had an amazing snowball fight with Ozzy and Bill which seemed to go on for ages. Ozzy, laughing and out of breath, thanked us for the fight and left with Bill covered in snow. For four kids from a small rural town it was magical. The gig was incredible. Gazza, Leicester I saw Ozzy when I was 17, at one of the very first gigs they played as Black Sabbath, at a mini festival organised by the Midlands Arts Centre for Young People in Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham, on bank holiday Monday, 1 September 1969. They'd originally been billed as Earth, but by the time they went on stage, they had become Black Sabbath. Rumours abounded that they had played at a school dance at the Convent of the Holy Child Jesus school in Edgbaston, where they had performed with a huge inverted crucifix on the stage behind them, much to the outrage of the nuns who ran the school. Because we knew most of the security crew at the festival, we watched them from backstage. Though they didn't have top billing, it was clear even then that they were the best band on stage that day, and that Ozzy had incredible charisma. That autumn, before they became nationally famous, I remember they occasionally used to turn up in the coffee bar at the arts centre where I and my friends hung out. Did I ever dare to speak to the Prince of Darkness? I doubt it, but he might once have asked me for a light ... When their first album came out the following year, I decided to model my own look on the spooky proto-Goth lady, dressed all in black, on the front cover. To my mind, that's still their best album, and I have it still; it sums up for me the cusp between the 60s and the 70s, and the awkward but euphoric liminal space between my adolescence and adulthood. Jenni Mills, Wiltshire The importance and significance of both Ozzy and Sabbath only truly sunk into my brain during the Back to the Beginning gig on 5 July, which I saw on live stream. It was a wonderful day seeing so many of my favourite bands pay tribute. The nail was finally hit on the head seeing Ozzy at the end. Some members of the crowd were in tears to see him performing well despite his physical deterioration. I wasn't sad for him at all – he looked like he was having the time of his life. I've also seen plenty of Ozzy live and am blown away by his stage persona. Thanks for everything, oh Prince of Darkness! George Heron, Liverpool
Daily Mail
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
I partied with Noel Gallagher in the 1990s and met him numerous times over 28 years - here's what he's REALLY like, and how fame changed him
A woman who partied with Noel Gallagher in the 1990s and met him numerous times over 28 years has revealed what he's really like - as Oasis returns for the first time in 16 years. Lily Moayeri, from California has been a music journalist since 1992, interviewing some of the world's most influential musicians at the start of their careers, including Oasis. She first met Noel during a night out in 1992, after she was invited to an after party by Manchester rock band Inspiral Carpets, who Noel was a roadie for. Since then, she has interviewed him many times over the course of his career. They developed a strong rapport, she wasn't afraid to ask the tough questions, and she could both take his banter and dish it right back. She described him as 'a show off' with a 'witty sense of humour', but she noticed a change in Noel around 1997. She claimed things were starting to feel 'different' as she noticed that Noel had stopped 'making eye contact with people' and by 2000 he was already talking about leaving the band. Speaking on the Pictures of Lily Podcast, she said: 'I first met Noel in 1992 when he was a roadie for the Inspiral Carpets, the Inspirals were apart of the Manchester craze which was happening at the start of that decade. 'My interview with their guitarist Graham Lambert was my second ever interview and they were my second favourite band at the time, so I was very excited. 'After the Inspiral's show Graham and the band invited me and my friends to hang out at a nearby bar, it was here that we were first exposed to the entity that is Noel Gallagher. 'Noel was so loud, so talkative and such a show off, he was dominating the whole place, he was very very funny and he had us in stitches the whole time. 'He kept on saying loads of negative stuff about the Inspiral Carpets and he said he was going to have a band "a hundred times better" and he kept on telling us how much they were paying him to be a roadie.' The next time she met Noel was two years later at the Chemical Brothers Heavenly Sunday social, after the Oasis album Definitely Maybe had been released. She recalled: 'I hadn't listened to it, and I had made my mind up without hearing it that I was over it. 'I didn't realise at the time but they were playing Oasis's Live Forever and the whole place was singing at the top of their lungs and the whole place was soaking it up. 'I didn't place him but I knew I had met him before, and I was going over to ask him "where do I know you from?" but I decided against it because I was having a really good time and I didn't want to start a conversation with some random dude.' 'Later that year I was watching MTV News and they were doing a segment on Oasis and they mentioned that Noel used to be the Inspiral Carpets roadie and everything fell into place.' A year later, after the release of What's the Story, Morning Glory, Lily got to meet Noel again, but this time for an interview. In 1995, they at Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica, Oasis were there to film the music video for Don't look Back in Anger. She said: 'I reminded Noel that we had met before and we had a super fun time during the interview. 'I was recording on cassette tape, I had another interview that week and I was running out of tape so I stopped the recording and Noel thought it was insane that I would stop just to save tape for someone else - in retrospect I see him point.' She said during the interview he went to buy cigarettes and she said they were cheaper down the road and he said "I don't care because I'm f***ing rich!" Noel said: 'I never thought we would get to this stage, I needed the money, well I made good money as a roadie but then I quit that.' In the interview, he claimed the songs Liam wrote were 's***', but he found it to be a 'a lot of pressure' as the main songwriter of the group. Noel wrote the vast majority of the band's songs, including many of their most iconic hits up until 2000. While Liam also wrote some songs for the band, such as Songbird and I'm Outta Time, Noel's songwriting was the foundation of Oasis's success. During Lily's 1995 interview with Noel he also opened up about his drug taking. He said: 'If we don't have an album or a single coming out the article is going to be about drug. I've never told a lie, if someone asks me a question, I give them a straight answer. 'It's not big and clever to take drugs, I'd rather be a healthy person but the culture I was brought up on in Manchester was about drugs and gangs, there is no getting away from it. 'I'd love to give up smoking, drinking and drugs but I'm not going to be a hypocritical, up my own a**, righteous f*****, telling people not to do it when I do it myself. 'Every does it anyway, and there is people who deny it and they lie to themselves, but I can't for the life of me see what the f**** it has to do with the music.' Elsewhere in the interview Noel said 'Oasis won't last forever' he added: 'It will last as it as it lasts, the next album might be the last one, but then we could go for another 10 albums, its as long as I feel comfortable.' The next time Lily saw Oasis was when they were opening up for U2 at the Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, California in 1997. She claimed things were starting to feel 'different' as she noticed that Noel had stopped 'making eye contact with people'. In 2000, when she interviewed him again, Lily revealed it felt rushed and not as relaxed as it did in her earlier interviewers. Noel told her he had planned to leave the band because he 'had enough' and he 'didn't like the people' he had to work with. He said: 'I felt like we weren't going anywhere, it was useless. I felt my time would be better served as a solo artist so I gave up drug, rediscovered the writing bug, it was brilliant.' Nine years after that interview, Oasis officially announced their split days after their V Festival show on August 28, 2009. In her podcast, Lily said: 'The thing that I found with Noel is, he doesn't have deep seated loyalties, he has people who are loyal to him but he could drop his end of it without any explanation or reason instantly. 'There is always that fear surrounding him, I wasn't surprised when they other members of Oasis didn't follow him when the band broke up.' In another interview years later, Lily asked Noel if he wanted to have the same impact as Oasis had as a solo artist. He said: 'I didn't realise what had happened until it was all over, to be honest it' never going to happen again, it's never going to happen for me, it might not ever happen again in rock and roll. 'The music keeps on regenerating, it couldn't happen to me now what happened to Oasis then. I wouldn't be able to deal with that. Well, I would be able to deal with it but I wouldn't be able to enjoy it.' Lisa revealed that Noel has a 'witty sense of humour' and said you can always count on him for a laugh. However she did find it 'a little weird' that he used to always bring up money, how much things cost, how much he was getting paid, how much people should be paying him for things.
Irish Times
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
The treks Irish concert-goers endure are almost always worth it
'You won't be able to ring Lord Henry anymore,' quipped a friend when the news of the death of the legendary Slane Castle proprietor broke. I've only ever called Henry Mount Charles once, about 15 years ago when Oasis were gearing up to headline in his back garden. I was in music journalism and he had graciously granted an interview and handed over his personal mobile number. He was a gentleman, in every sense of the word. Lord Henry is one of two celebrities whose number I have in my phonebook. The other is Louis Walsh , although I suspect he might have changed his since. Lord Henry's death ignited a lot of chat around the Slane concerts, but whenever Slane comes up, what people are really keen to talk about is getting there and particularly getting home. 'It took us eight hours to get back to Dublin after Metallica.' 'We had to walk five miles to the car after Harry Styles.' 'I'm still on the bus home from Oasis in 2009,' etc. The truth is, going to almost any large concert in Ireland is a serious test of endurance. Last weekend, the Phoenix Park hosted three concerts by American country star Zach Bryan . Reports that about 12 per cent of the tickets were purchased in Dublin meant that the fans would be travelling in from all around the country, and beyond. READ MORE Obviously, the hotel prices were in the stratosphere, but even anyone lucky enough to be lodging nearby would still be subjected to the great Phoenix Park concert trek – a good 45 minutes from the entrance of the park to a concert venue itself. Zach Bryan playing in Dublin's Phoenix Park. Photograph: Alan Betson / The Irish Times I didn't attend the Zach Bryan concerts, but I've done so, so many of these treks. As a punter who knows little of the logistical and safety arrangements for large events it's tempting to imagine concert and festival planners sitting around the gaping maw of Mordor devising ways to make people suffer. 'I know, I know, let's make them walk for four miles following signs for a blue car park, even though there is no blue car park.' 'Oh, you're terrible, I love it. How about having no parking and asking people to use public transport, but then cancelling all the public transport?' 'Or, or, let's put the campsite at the top of a hill so that they have to carry their stupid tents and little chairs all the way up. And obviously the car parks will be six miles away.' We do it, though, for the experience. I attended the Beyond the Pale festival a few weeks back. It's mercifully small, which means the treks are shorter, but there was still a moment as we wrestled up (it was obviously uphill) a slippery, muddy forest trail with air mattresses and six packs of Tayto when I hissed, 'This bit is always hell, but it will be worth it.' Eleven years ago this weekend, I attended an Arcade Fire concert at Marlay Park. Afterwards we walked the 8km back into Dublin city centre, rewarding ourselves on arrival to a slap-up, sit-down 2am meal at the wonderful Temple Bar Indian restaurant Shan. Unfortunately, I don't think Shan survived the pandemic, but the torturous journey to and from a concert at Marlay Park is still very much with us. I relived the experience this week, attending the Olivia Rodrigo show. We were bringing some preteens, so there was much investigating of extortionate private bus options and Google mapping of possible parking possibilities that might lie outside the road closures and resident-only restrictions. Because if there's anything concert organisers love, it's road closures and parking restrictions. [ Olivia Rodrigo at Marlay Park: Pop star surprises fans with Fontaines DC cover during a brilliantly energetic show Opens in new window ] I was a victim myself during the Zach Bryan concerts. Leaving a pal's house in Stoneybatter, I was met with no fewer than three different roadblocks while trying to drive home to Dublin 8. With each refusal I did a mental recalculation and headed for a different route, only to be rebuffed with no detour suggestion offered. When I finally found my way around the exclusion zone I was stuck in 40 minutes of traffic. All around me were frantic designated picker-uppers trying to find somewhere to pull in to wait for their Bryan fan to make the at least 60-minute hike to find them. And for every designated picker-upper there was a Garda roaring at them to 'move that veh-hickle'. All I could think about was the girls I'd seen earlier on Parkgate Street heading for the Phoenix Park entrance. They were already hobbling a little in their cowboy boots and obviously oblivious to the trek still ahead of them. I hope it was worth it. It always is. Almost always.
Associated Press
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Christopher Simmons' MuseWire again ranked among the Top 70 Music Industry Blogs for 2025 by Feedspot
TEMECULA, Calif., June 12, 2025 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — MuseWire has been selected by the panelists at Feedspot as one of the 'Top 70 Music Industry Blogs' on the web for 2025. Ranked #30 this year ( #35 last year ). MuseWire™ (aka/formerly Music Industry Newswire) covers music makers, music gear, audiophile gear, the music business and related topics; established 2006. A publication of Neotrope®. Edited by Christopher Laird Simmons, a working tech journalist since 1984, and member ASCAP. 'Nice for folks to notice my blog is still alive and kicking, even if my time for music journalism has dropped a bit in past couple of years,' said Christopher Simmons. 'Looks like I moved up a few spots to #30 this year. It's an interesting list, with some notable industry portals and some fairly obscure stuff.' About MuseWire: MuseWire is an online magazine published and edited by Christopher Simmons, an award-winning artist, author, musician, photographer and creative. The publication covers new music, new music tech and gear (both music instruments and audiophile gear), and selected news from music education and music business concerns. MuseWire was originally known as Music Industry Newswire (MIN) prior to a rebrand and scale back circa 2016. Learn more at: and View an example Wayback Machine snapshot of the old Music Industry Newswire version of site, from 2010 here (Wayback Machine): About Feedspot: Feedspot is a Content Reader. It helps you keep up with multiple websites in one place so that you need not visit each website to see what's new. 'Feedspot makes keeping up with your favorite websites as easy as checking your email.' See the complete list of music industry blogs honored for 2025 at: About Christopher Laird Simmons: Christopher Simmons has been a working journalist since 1984 when he sold his first music industry article to POLYPHONY magazine (purchased by MIX and became Electronic Musician). Later writing for diverse pubs including Computer Player, Digital Imaging, Micro Publishing News, Spazz, the Graphic Artist's Guild newspaper, among many others. He has been widely interviewed on topics related to technology, marketing, health and entertainment. His full-time gig is acting as CEO and founder of NEOTROPE® and its PR brand Send2Press®. As a musician he played in several bands in the '80s including PROJECT 11 and PETS GONE WILD (featured in the LA Times 'Calendar' section and an LA Weekly 'Band Name of the Week'). He released numerous indie cassette albums in the 1980s under the moniker, BLUETOY. His music has been played on late night space radio stations, and positively reviewed in Electronic Musician and 'zines like SYNE. A CD of his music from the mid '80s was released on Neotrope Records in 2000, 'BESERKER.' The album is still available on most streaming platforms (albeit in horribly recompressed form). His music has been used for two cable TV productions in the late 1980s in California: the award-winning 'VIDKIDCO' and 'Viewpoints on Video' from the Long Beach Museum of Art. Simmons has some minor notoriety for having published two highly popular genre fanzines: in the late 1970s, 'The Adama Journal' – and late 1980s, 'Galaxy Class.' Chris is no relation to a Canadian pianist of the same name, another electronic musician of the same name, nor a graphic artist based in San Francisco, also of same name. Recently he began using his full name to better differentiate himself from the brothers from another mother. Learn more about Christopher Simmons at: (website under reconstruction; it's a mess!). X/Twitter: Facebook (main personal page): Instagram: LinkedIn: Neotrope Records: Neotrope Press: MULTIMEDIA: Photo link for media: Caption: Artist, author, musician, Christopher Laird Simmons (2022). NEWS SOURCE: Christopher Simmons Keywords: Music and Recording, Christopher Simmons, music blog, MuseWire, Feedspot, music industry blogs, top 70, top 30, music news, TEMECULA, Calif. This press release was issued on behalf of the news source (Christopher Simmons) who is solely responsibile for its accuracy, by Send2Press® Newswire. Information is believed accurate but not guaranteed. Story ID: S2P126933 APNF0325A To view the original version, visit: © 2025 Send2Press® Newswire, a press release distribution service, Calif., USA. RIGHTS GRANTED FOR REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART BY ANY LEGITIMATE MEDIA OUTLET - SUCH AS NEWSPAPER, BROADCAST OR TRADE PERIODICAL. MAY NOT BE USED ON ANY NON-MEDIA WEBSITE PROMOTING PR OR MARKETING SERVICES OR CONTENT DEVELOPMENT. Disclaimer: This press release content was not created by nor issued by the Associated Press (AP). Content below is unrelated to this news story.
ABC News
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Co-creator of the Beach Boys Brian Wilson dies aged 82
Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys founder, songwriter, producer and musician, has died at the age of 82. He's being remembered as one of the great pioneering geniuses of pop music. ABC NewsRadio's Sarah Morice spoke with music journalist Debbie Kruger
