Ozzy Osbourne recently marveled at the speed at which his new album, Patient Number 9, came to fruition, and recalled telling producer and guitarist Andrew Watt he had a ”funny feeling” about his 13th solo LP.
“I remember when we were doing Patient Number 9, I said to Andrew, I said, ‘I’ve got a funny feeling about this album,'” the Prince of Darkness told Billboard in a new interview. He likened it to the sensation he felt upon completing his 1991 smash No More Tears: ”When I did No More Tears, I knew at the end of the album we had a good album.
“But this album came so quickly,” Osbourne continued. “We had it mixed five times. It was a lot of fun, like everything else. But I put a lot of emotion into this album.”
Patient Number 9 features a murderer’s row of rock stars, including Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Tony Iommi, Zakk Wylde, Chad Smith and the late Taylor Hawkins. Osbourne said he “really love[s] the Eric Clapton one, and I really love ‘Patient Number 9,'” though he didn’t expect to land the high-profile guests.
“When Andrew says to me, ‘I wonder, do you think we should put anyone like Jeff Beck or Eric Clapton?’ I said, ‘Ah, they wouldn’t want to play on an Ozzy album,'” Osbourne explained (not for the first time). “I was absolutely floored when they agreed. And what they played was just mind-blowing.”
Patient Number 9 collected four Grammy nominations: Best Rock Album, Best Metal Performance for “Degradation Rules” and Best Rock Performance and Song for the title track. “The whole thing shocked me,” Osbourne said of the nods. “I mean, if I won anything for the album, I’ll be floored. That’s what I like about the business. It’s never short of — I love surprises.”