Who is Sharon Osbourne's Mysterious Capitalist Enemy?
- Fred
- Jul 12
- 4 min read
Last week, Sharon Osbourne made headlines when she said that a popular band was uninvited from Ozzy's final performance with Black Sabbath because they wanted to make sure their band made "a profit" if they went to Birmingham.
Osbourne framed the unnamed band as a bunch of selfish misers, but the comments were very curious coming from Sharon herself. Why? In the history of Heavy Metal, other than Gene Simmons of KISS, no one has made sure that profit was part of the musical equation more than Sharon Osbourne.
Why has this topic festered enough to become an article? The one day concert in honor of her husband generated between $180 -$200 million for charity. I went to social media and said once the venue, contractors, AND SHARON, got paid, look for that number to be cut in half. Man did I get dogpiled, people explaining to me that ALL the money was going to charity and that I was an internet troll. I will apologize as soon as I see the amount of the check that is written.
Who was the mystery band in question that demanded, gasp, money in return for a performance? Well, let's line up the suspects. (Odds in parenthesis).
Mötley Crüe (2-1): At one time there was no band friendlier to Ozzy than Mötley Crüe. What happened to their close relationship? Mick Mars claims that his former bandmates haven't done anything in the last 20 years that wasn't dictated by money.
"Official" response: Vince Neil has health issues and couldn't travel.
Megadeth (3-1): If Megadeth played, it would have reunited the "Big Four." Rumors were that Dave Mustaine had issues with certain members of Ozzy's Inner Circle. For the record, I don't believe that, I think Mustaine had issues with James Hetfield.
"Official" response: Kelly Osbourne says it wasn't Megadeth.
Slipknot (5-1): After the concert, Slipknot's Sid Wilson proposed to Kelly Osbourne, so it obviously couldn't be that band....but internet sleuths claim that "Clown" Shawn Crahan was unable to motivate all 9 members to fly to England, that's why Sharon said the public would be "surprised" at who the culprits were.
"Official" response: The "band" had no official response, but most members of Slipknot praised Ozzy on their own separate social media accounts, including Wilson, Corey Taylor, and Eloy Casagrande.
KISS (10-1): For many years, Sharon Osbourne and Gene Simmons were bitter acquaintances/rivals. That seems to be water under the bridge now, but redditors continue to bring up KISS when it comes to bands that only doing things for money.
"Official" response: The tabloids also continue to speculate KISS, but I doubt it. Why? Because no one would be "surprised" if KISS did anything solely based on money.
Marilyn Manson (20-1): Marilyn Manson did a video tribute, but didn't show up in person.
"Official" response: In order to be disinvited, you have to be invited in the first place. Manson is still kind of cancelled.
Limp Bizkit (500-1): Fred Durst also did a video tribute, but didn't show up in person.
"Official" response: C'mon now, do you really think anyone was clamoring for Fred Durst to be there? To Durst's credit, he performed an emotional cover of Changes for the live stream.
Dave Grohl (1,000-1): It was strange when I came across the story "If you were wondering why Dave Grohl didn't make an appearance at Black Sabbath's final gig in Birmingham, it's because he was watching Kneecap.... play in London instead" Um, okay?
"Official" response: Surprisingly, there were multiple articles pointing out that Dave Grohl was in England that weekend, but Grohl said nothing on the record about Ozzy's big day. Watching Kneecap, at least on the surface, seems like a slap at Sharon instead of being at her husband's final show though, doesn't it?
Ronnie James Dio's Hologram (100,000-1): I saw a smart-aleck redditor ask: Why wasn't Dio's hologram at Ozzy's Final Concert? I think the question was tongue-in-cheek, but according to Dio's widow, Wendy Dio, it costs $2.5 million to generate that hologram.
"Official" response: Does Wendy speak for the hologram?
Other long-shots mentioned: Paul McCartney, Rob Zombie, and Iron Maiden. I don't believe any of those for a second.
On the record, who do I think it is? I'm positive it's Slipknot. Once Kelly got engaged after the show, Sharon would look like a world class B-I-T-C-H if she outed her future son-in-law's band. If it really was a surprise engagement for her daughter, all clues fit.
Slipknot's absence could be explained in a few ways. It's possible that they took a vote, and since they have a history with Sharon (they played 5 Ozzfests for her), maybe they just thought it was too much.
Or it could be as simple as the band knew Sid was going to propose, so they didn't want to steal the spotlight from the couple's special day. Slipknot's performances have been described as "physically grueling," and the band may not have wanted to risk injury.
Just a reminder for Sharon, it's Grammy Award-winning Slipknot to you.
Comments