To say there’s no love lost between Sharon Osbourne and Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson would be one hell of an understatement. Those two old Brits have had it out for one another for a long time now, with the flashpoint being Iron Maiden’s final headlining performance during the 2005 Ozzfest run.
In a recent Billboard interview featuring Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne in an “oral history” of the family’s traveling metal festival, both of them elaborated on why there’s so much disdain between both camps. Sharon started off by saying it was all on Dickinson’s shoulders and that the rest of the band was pleasant to work with.
“It was just the singer. The other guys in the band are great, great people. No problem at all. But when you’ve got a singer that is so eaten up with jealousy for the headliner, it never goes well.”
Given the fact that this was 19 years ago, maybe a trip down memory lane is in order. During the 2005 Ozzfest, Iron Maiden was a headliner. It was a major deal, getting both Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden on the same bill, but things weren’t going well for Maiden’s camp. All throughout the tour, Dickinson would regularly criticize the sound system, the lighting, and take jabs at the Osbournes’ foray into reality TV.
It all came to a head during the band’s final night on the tour, which was August 20, 2005 in San Bernardino, California. During their set, the band was pelted with bottles, eggs, batteries, and all sorts of stuff. Backstage, Sharon was fucking with their performance by ordering things like interference in the PA system and delaying Maiden’s mascot Eddie’s entrance to the stage.
Recalling all that went down, Ozzy said it was odd for Dickinson to be so upset about things if he and his bandmates were the ones that accepted the headlining spot.
“[Dickinson] would go on the stage and turn to the audience and say bad things. Be disrespectful. ‘I didn’t condone the fucking lights,’ and all this. If you don’t want the gig, just say, ‘I don’t want the gig.’ But it’s pretty fucking stupid if you accept the gig and all you do is complain about it.”
Sharon also said that she got outside help to pelt Iron Maiden with those various items.
“I had been having cancer treatments, and all the nurses that I had met over my year in chemo came to the show and they said, ‘Can we do anything for you?’ And I’m, like, ‘Yes, you can.’ I loaded them up with cans of bean soup, vegetables, eggs, and I said, ‘Pelt the singer.’ And that’s what they did. It was, like, ‘You wanna talk? You think you’re clever? Well, watch this — you’re gonna get covered in tomato soup in L.A.
“I just thought, ‘You’re taking the money to be on this tour, and you’re disrespecting the namesake of the tour. You’re disrespecting him by knocking him every night to the fans.’ I don’t like that. It’s not in the spirit of what we do.”
In the interview, Ozzy chimed in by simply saying, “if you feel that bad about the tour, fucking leave.”
Needless to say, things have not cooled down in the Osbourne camp. I wonder how long it’ll take before Bruce fires back…