Ozzy Osbourne has revealed that he was under the impression that Eric Clapton was tracking him around Los Angeles many years ago.
In a new episode of Ozzy Speaks on SiriusXM – which will premiere his new song Degradation Rules featuring Tony Iommi on July 22 – Ozzy recounts a story where he bumped into the guitarist at The International Rock Awards in New York City, 1989, then several times in California years later.
"Many, many years ago, me and Sharon were in New York and we had to go to an award show,” says the vocalist in the interview, transcribed by Blabbermouth. “Everybody was there. I was still doing drugs and alcohol and I was freaked out. So, we go to this award show and afterwards there's me, Grace Jones, that chick I did the award show with. [We] wanted a picture of Eric Clapton, me and Grace Jones together. I thought, 'He's gonna think I'm a…' And he'd just come out of some place. So, he was freaked out, which I didn't know. And I'd convinced myself that he was gonna stop this photograph from being [published]; I'd never seen it for the longest time.
“I went to an AA meeting in the valley many years later," he continues. "I turn around in this AA meeting and there at the back was Eric Clapton, sitting there. And I'm, like, 'Fucking hell.’ I'm thinking, 'He still remembers.' I'm thinking, 'All he's done, he's still thinking how much he hates me.' So I'm thinking, 'At the end of the meeting, I'm gonna go out that door. I'm fucking legging this.'
"I'm thinking, 'He hates me. He's gonna call me the biggest c**t he ever met.' So, I'm just going back to cross the road. I'll get in the car and drive off.'
“A couple weeks later, I go again," he continues. "There he is again. I'm thinking, 'This fucking guy…' … Yeah. I'm paranoid as fuck. So, I'm just about to cross the road and get in my car and drive off. He goes, 'Ozzy.' I go, 'Here we go.' And he goes, 'Good to see you in the room.' We had a chat and I thought, 'Wow, what a nice guy.' The fucking next week, I go to a music stand and that photograph [from the award ceremony] was in the magazine, the first magazine I picked up.”
Ozzy's new album Patient Number 9 will be released on September 9.
