Geezer Butler Explains Why He + Ozzy No Longer Talk to Each Other

Geezer Butler and Ozzy Osbourne no longer speak to each other, according to a recent interview with Butler, the heavy metal bass guitar icon who played with Osbourne in Black Sabbath.

Butler also says as much in his new memoir, Into the Void, which came out this week. Black Sabbath, the English heavy metal band that defined the genre for a generation, disbanded in 2017 after a reunion between the group that saw the release of their final album, 2013's 13. Order Butler's book here.

Talking to UCR on June 6, Butler explained that he and Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi do still correspond, and continue to "slag each other to death. … But he's always there. He always is. I hope he is after this book."

He adds, "I still love [Sabbath drummer] Bill [Ward], but he's not on the internet. If you want to talk to Bill, you have to email his wife and she has to tell him. It's really awkward. [Laughs] Ozzy I don't speak to at all."

Butler and Osbourne (Kevin Winter, Getty Images)

However, in Into the Void, Butler asserts that he and Osbourne are still good, even though they don't talk. "We didn't fall out, it was the wives," he tells UCR.

Indeed, "Me and Ozzy are fine, it's just that we're both ruled by our wives," Butler writes in his book. "He's got a big heart and was always there for me."

Butler and his wife, Gloria Butler, now reside in their adopted home base of Las Vegas. Osbourne and his wife, manager and media personality Sharon Osbourne, are moving back to their native U.K.

Butler's Into the Void is a candid and informative memoir covering his years as Black Sabbath's bassist, as explained by its publisher, Dey Street Books. See a synopsis directly below.

With over 70 million records sold, Black Sabbath, dubbed by Rolling Stone 'The Beatles of heavy metal,' helped create the genre itself, with their distinctive heavy riffs, tuned down guitars, and apocalyptic lyrics. Bassist and primary lyricist Geezer Butler played a gigantic part in the band's renown, from suggesting the band name to using his fascination with horror, religion, and the occult to compose the lyrics and build the foundation of heavy metal as we know it.
In 'Into the Void,'Butler tells his side of the story, from the band's beginnings as a scrappy blues quartet in Birmingham through the struggles leading to the many well-documented lineup changes while touring around London’' gritty clubs (Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa and The Who make notable appearances), and the band's important later years. He writes honestly of his childhood in a working-class family of seven in Luftwaffe-battered Birmingham, his almost-life as an accountant, and how his disillusionment with organized religion and class systems would spawn the lyrics and artistic themes that would resonate so powerfully with fans around the world.
'Into the Void' reveals the softer side of the heavy metal legend and the formation of one of rock’s most exciting bands, while holding nothing back. Like Geezer's bass lines, it is both original, dramatic and forever surprising.