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.
Before you flame me, I was in San Antonio when this mental defective pissed on the Alamo. I didn't take the news well, and I hope he dies a horrible, lingering death. I think that his brain already has done so...
Well at least you both have something in common.
Not that it will matter to you.
Too bad YOU weren't at the Alamo when it was being over run by the Mexican Army! I'm with you Ranger! I don't like Oozie either!!
"Not that it will matter to you."
FYI: $10,000,000 wouldn't make up for desecrating the Alamo!
Did you cry?
Notice that there is no "smiley face" attached to this statement? that's because I'm not joking.
As for the morons who think Osbourne is a great musician, I wish them luck in their careers in the food service or janitorial industry.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.