Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler has opened up about his disconnect with longtime bandmate Ozzy Osbourne, while also ruling out a Sabbath reunion.
A hypothetical Sabbath reunion that would include original drummer Bill Ward has been discussed ad nauseam since the band completed its 2016-2017 “The End Tour” with Tommy Clufetos behind the kit. For various reasons, the reunion has been more of a pipe dream than a legitimate possibility.
Speaking with Rolling Stone about his new memoir, Into the Void: From Birth to Black Sabbath―And Beyond, Butler put what appears to be the final kibosh on the idea. “I don’t think Ozzy’s up for it anyway,” he said.
As Butler reveals in his new book, the lines of communication are currently closed between him and Ozzy, though it isn’t due to a personal beef: “Me and Ozzy are fine, it’s just that we’re both ruled by our wives.”
Speaking with Ultimate Classic Rock in a separate interview, the bassist seconded his own words. “We didn’t fall out,” Butler said, “it was the wives.”
In the book, Butler goes into more detail about the feud between Sharon Osbourne and Bill Ward and the “unsignable contracts” that kept Ward from joining the farewell tour. “When Bill first came back, I thought he was doing great. His timing was off a few times, but that’s Bill,” Butler writes in his autobiography. “However, when me and Gloria got back from a holiday in Hawaii, we were told he’d been fired.”
“Like the Godfather in reverse, maybe they made Bill an offer he couldn’t accept,” Butler continues, adding that the whole thing became “a bit of a soap opera,” with Sharon at the center of the tempestuous legal negotiations.
You can read more revelations from Geezer Butler in his new autobiography Into the Void: From Birth to Black Sabbath―And Beyond. Pick up a copy here., and see various rock and metal artists pay tribute to Black Sabbath below.