The 1980s band Ozzy Osbourne grew to resent: “Enough is enough”
For someone who became synonymous with heavy metal, Ozzy Osbourne was never the kind to listen to the darkest music imaginable.
He liked the idea of adding some variety to everything he listened to, and it wasn’t that uncommon to go back to his early Beatles records rather than keeping up with whatever the nu-metal movement had to offer when he was putting together the first Ozzfest. He was more interested in more contemporary rock and roll bands, but there are a few moments where he could be absolutely furious when heavy metal kept getting shoved down his throat.
Then again, it’s not like ‘The Prince of Darkness’ didn’t lean into his reputation as one of the most dangerous men in rock and roll. Heavy metal was all about making some of the most macabre music that anyone had ever heard, and while Osbourne was happy to get stoned and talk about the spiritual side of music in Black Sabbath, no one gets on the cover of Bark at the Moon unless they’re going for a campy horror vibe.
But by the time that Osbourne reached the 1980s, the hair-metal movement had begun to take over the world. It wasn’t a bad genre by any means, and even bands like Motley Crue would be the first to say that Osbourne helped show them the ropes, but there were more than a few times where these supposed “metal” bands began to look way too saccharine to Osbourne’s taste.
Rock and roll was all about being dangerous, and here were a bunch of bands that sounded like they were a slightly heavier version of the Partridge Family in some spots. That probably explains why Osbourne eventually catered to bands like Metallica and Anthrax on tour, but that didn’t mean that his kids couldn’t bother him relentlessly when they first heard bands like Bon Jovi.
But, really, what’s not to love? Jon Bon Jovi had that unique boy-next-door energy despite being in one of the biggest rock bands in the world, and while there were more than a few tunes that sounded a bit more dangerous like ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’, everyone knew that tunes like ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’ and ‘You Give Love a Bad Name’ were probably going to be played when most of their fans were well into their 40s.
And for someone that had already seen their fair share of rock and roll excess, Osbourne grew to despise Bon Jovi for a while after hearing him one too many times, saying, “My daughter’s a Bon Jovi freak. She thinks the sun shines out of his you-know-what. She listens to it all day long! I met him the other week and he’s a real nice guy. [But] enough of anything is enough! I can’t stand to hear any music too much. Too much music of any sort gives you a headache.”
It was nothing personal, either, since Bon Jovi had a lot of kind words to say about Osbourne later in his career, but it’s not hard to see why anyone would start getting frustrated with the band after a while. They were unstoppable back in the 1980s, and while Osbourne was willing to give him a fair shot, he was more interested in what someone like Peter Gabriel was doing around that time.
Bon Jovi certainly deserved to be one of the biggest bands in the world thanks to the strength of their hits alone, but it was all about moderation. It’s one thing to get people hyped whenever a band’s song comes on the radio, but when it’s the only thing the radio plays, there’s a good chance most people won’t want to hear the song for the rest of their lives after one too many plays.
