I Don't Know Road To Nowhere You Can't Kill Rock And Roll Over The Mountain Suicide Solution

I Don't Know Album: Blizzard of Ozz (1980)
Road To Nowhere Album: No More Tears (1991)
You Can't Kill Rock And Roll Album: Diary of a Madman (1981)
Over The Mountain Album: Diary of a Madman (1981)
Suicide Solution Album: Blizzard of Ozz (1980)
by Ozzy Osbourne

This song depicts the confusion and depression Ozzy was suffering after he got kicked out of Black Sabbath. The line, "What's the future of mankind? How do I know, I got left behind" was speaking of how Ozzy felt he had no future.

I Don't Know is the first track on the Blizzard of Oz album; it's not a well-known hit, but sounds distinctively Ozzy. This makes it a great album to slip on the stereo at parties and begin playing without comment, because someone will ask what the name of the song is. This is sure to set you up for an Abbott & Costello scenario. Be sure to string it out as long as you can: "Do you have the CD case there?" "Yeah" "Is the name of the song written on the sleeve?" "Of course." "So?"

Ozzy Osbourne came up with the title to I Don't Know, but Bob Daisley claims credit for writing the lyrics, all except the line "ya gotta believe in foolish miracles," which he says Ozzy contributed. Daisley was the primary lyricist on the first two Ozzy Osbourne solo albums, which were conceived as a band formed by Osbourne, Daisley and Randy Rhoads called the Blizzard of Ozz. The record company issued the albums as Ozzy solo efforts, and that's how they stood, even though composing the songs was clearly a band effort, with most of the tracks credited to every member.

That powerful lead guitar, so recognizable as the same player from "Crazy Train" and "Mr. Crowley," is yet another reminder of the tragic death of Randy Rhodes. He was one of the few rock legends to have died so young - age 25 - without it being a drug overdose. He was killed in a plane crash, one that was undertaken for fun and which he was persuaded to come along on despite his fear of flying.

Blizzard of Ozz is one of the 100 top-selling albums of the 1980s, despite having no top-40 singles. This is an extremely rare feat.

That sound at the beginning of I Don't Know is a big brass gong, recorded and played backwards. The same sound is played forwards towards the end of the song.

Road To Nowhere is a reflection on Ozzy's life; when he looks back on the "wreckage of his past," he sees the "road to nowhere" leads to him. Ozzy had just gone sober after over 20 years of drug and alcohol abuse. He credits his wife/manager Sharon with keeping him alive. Seems like she's about done with him...

Ozzy wrote Road To Nowhere with his guitarist, Zakk Wylde, and drummer, Randy Castillo.

Road To Nowhere is the last track on No More Tears, which got Ozzy's career moving forward in the '90s. He was 42 when it was released..

Ozzy credits his producers, Duane Baron and John Purdell, for keeping the album No More Tears on track while maintaining a fertile creative atmosphere. "Before we went into the studio, we discussed what we were going to do - everything was planned," he said as part of the 30th anniversary No More Tears release in 2021. "When you write the songs, you have a mental picture of how you think you want it to sound. Sometimes you're surprised for the better, but other times you're disappointed, but John and Duane did an extraordinary job on the album. It was really, really well done. Every song was worked on for a long time and we spent extra time trying to get things right."

Diary of a Madman is the second studio album released in October 1981, and re-issued on CD on 22 August 1995. This is the last Osbourne studio album to feature guitarist Randy Rhoads and drummer Lee Kerslake. An altered version appeared in 2002 with the original bass and drum parts removed and re-recorded. In 2011, a Deluxe 30th Anniversary Edition was released with all original parts restored. The album has sold over 3 million copies worldwide.

Diary of a Madman was supported by the Diary of a Madman Tour, which began on November 5, 1981, and ended August 8, 1982, spanning Europe, North America, and Asia. On March 19, 1982, during the North American leg of the tour, Rhoads died in a plane crash in Leesburg, Florida; after a two-week break, the tour continued with guitarist Bernie Tormé performing several shows in place of Rhoads before in turn being replaced by Brad Gillis.

Diary of a Madman is the final album recorded with late guitarist Randy Rhoads. Although bassist Rudy Sarzo and drummer Tommy Aldridge are credited in the liner notes and pictured on the inner sleeve for the American vinyl and cassette release and later CD re-issues, it was bassist Bob Daisley and drummer Lee Kerslake who performed all bass and drum parts on the original release. Aldridge has stated of the album, "I think it's pretty obvious that it's not my drumming on that album. I have never taken credit for that recording and have always given Lee Kerslake, whenever asked or interviewed, the credit he rightly deserves."

Daisley provided significant contributions to the album's songwriting, having written some of the music and most of the lyrics. Kerslake claims to have also had a hand in the writing of the album, even performing lead vocals on some of the original demo recordings. "'Flying High Again' was one of my ideas, 'Over the Mountain' was another. The basic (demo) tracks were just Bob's words, my vocals—though some of the words I wrote—and Randy's playing. It was unreal. And then we got Don Airey to come in and do the keyboards", he stated in 2009. Kerslake says he used a piano in the studio to write many of the songs with guitarist Randy Rhoads. Daisley and Kerslake were not given credit for their performance or songwriting contributions, a situation which resulted in a later lawsuit.

During the album's recording, Kerslake says the band members were given no money to live on, prompting them to approach management. Shortly after, both Kerslake and Daisley were fired. "Everything was working fine," said Kerslake. "It was only when Sharon (Osbourne) came in that we had a problem. When she started managing—taking over—she wasn't the manager until Diary of a Madman. Before that was her brother, David. He didn't really want to handle it. He had too much to do for Don [Arden] in the office. So she came in and it started to get edgy. But we never suspected a thing until we went away on holiday. Next minute, they're rehearsing with Tommy Aldridge and Rudy Sarzo, and going to America."

Although Don Airey is credited as keyboardist on the album, it was in fact a musician named Johnny Cook (who had worked with Daisley in Mungo Jerry in the 1970s) who actually recorded the keyboard parts. Airey was on tour as a member of Rainbow at the time of recording and was thus unavailable.

Randall William Rhoads (December 6, 1956 – March 19, 1982) was an American guitarist and the main focal point musically of this tribute... as Ozzy and band wouldn't be sh1t without Sharron who's my Daddy Osbourne. He was the co-founder and original guitarist of the heavy metal band Quiet Riot, and the guitarist and co-songwriter for Ozzy Osbourne's first two solo albums Blizzard of Ozz (1980) and Diary of a Madman (1981). Rhoads was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021.

Originally educated in classical guitar, Rhoads combined these early influences with heavy metal, helping form a sub-genre later known as neoclassical metal. With Quiet Riot, he adopted a black-and-white polka-dot theme which became an emblem for the group. He reached his peak as the guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne's solo career, performing on tracks including "Crazy Train" and "Mr. Crowley" on the Blizzard of Ozz album. "Crazy Train" features one of the most well-known heavy metal guitar riffs.

He died very suspiciously in a plane crash while on tour with Osbourne in Florida in 1982. Despite his short career, Rhoads is regarded as a pivotal figure in metal music, credited with pioneering a fast and technical style of guitar soloing that largely defined the metal scene of the 1980s. He helped popularize various guitar techniques now common in heavy metal music, including two-handed tapping, vibrato bar dive bombs, and intricate scale patterns, drawing comparisons to his contemporary Eddie Van Halen. The Jackson Rhoads guitar was originally commissioned by him. He has been included in several published "Greatest Guitarist" lists, and has been cited by other prominent guitarists as a major influence.

After driving much of the night, the bus stopped at Flying Baron Estates in Leesburg, Florida, to fix a malfunctioning air conditioning unit while Osbourne remained asleep. On the property, owned by the Calhoun Brothers tour bus company, there was an airstrip with helicopters and small planes. Without permission, tour bus driver and private pilot Andrew Aycock took a single-engine Beechcraft F35 plane registered to a Mike Partin. On the first flight, Aycock took keyboardist Don Airey and tour manager Jake Duncan with him as passengers. Duncan later revealed that Aycock "buzzed" the bus in an attempt to wake drummer Tommy Aldridge. The group then landed. The second flight had Rhoads and makeup artist Rachel Youngblood aboard. Rhoads had tried unsuccessfully to coax bassist Rudy Sarzo to join him on the flight; Sarzo chose to get some extra sleep instead.

During the second flight, more attempts were made to "buzz" the tour bus. Aycock succeeded in making two close passes, but botched the third attempt. At about 10 a.m., after being in the air for approximately five minutes, one of the plane's wings clipped the top of the tour bus, breaking the wing into two parts and sending the plane spiraling. The initial impact with the bus caused Rhoads' and Youngblood's heads to crash through the plane's windshield. The plane then severed the top of a pine tree and crashed into the garage of a nearby mansion, bursting into flames. Rhoads (25) was killed instantly, as were Aycock (36) and Youngblood (58). All three bodies were burned beyond recognition, and Rhoads was identified by dental records and personal jewelry. According to Sharon Osbourne, who was asleep in the bus and awoken by the crash, "They were all in bits, it was just body parts everywhere."

Keyboardist Don Airey was the only member of the band to witness the crash, as the rest were still asleep in the bus. In his account, he reported a struggle between Rhoads and Aycock in the cockpit, seconds before the crash:

I had my camera and was taking photos of the plane to give to Randy afterwards. I had my telephoto lens on and could tell that there was some sort of struggle going on aboard the plane. The wings were rapidly tipping from side to side. At one point the plane almost became perpendicular, no more than six feet off the ground. That's when I put down my camera and saw the plane right in front of me. I quickly crouched to avoid getting hit and looked over my shoulder and watched it clip the bus, crash into the tree and explode on impact into the garage.

As the band members on board the bus tried to figure out what had happened, bassist Sarzo recalls side-stepping broken glass in his bare feet and looking through the gaping hole in the bus to see tour manager Jake Duncan outside, rocking back and forth on the ground screaming "They're gone! They're gone!" Drummer Tommy Aldridge took a fire extinguisher from the bus and ran towards the crash site in a vain attempt to put out the fire. Tour manager Duncan, who had been on board the first flight, explained that although he had been concerned about the pilot's behavior, there was no sense of foreboding:

It all seemed so innocent. When we arrived this morning, Andy offered Don and me to take us up. I must admit it got a bit scary when he started buzzing the bus trying to wake Tommy up. But after a few attempts we just landed. That was it.

Rhoads was afraid of flying (not suspicious at all then) and Youngblood had a bad heart (not suspicious at all then). Rhoads originally had no intention of getting in the plane (not suspicious at all then). Duncan explained how the guitarist ended up on the doomed flight:

Well, right after we landed Andy came up to me and told me that he was going to take Rachel up for a ride. And that being aware of her heart condition he assured me that he was just going to take it easy, circle the property a couple of times and not pull any crazy stunts. So when Randy heard that, he decided to join them so he could take some aerial shots with his camera.

The remaining band and crew members were required to remain in Leesburg for an additional two days, until preliminary investigations were completed. Rhoads' brother-in-law flew from California to Leesburg to identify the guitarist's remains.[32] Ozzy Osbourne's official statement to crash investigators was:

At approximately 9:00 a.m. on Friday, March 19, 1982, I was awoken from my sleep by a loud explosion. I immediately thought that we'd hit a vehicle on the road. I got out of the bed, screaming to my fiancée, Sharon, 'Get off the bus.' Meanwhile, she was screaming to everyone else to get off the bus. After getting out of the bus, I saw that a plane had crashed. I didn't know who was on the plane at the time. When we realized that our people were on the plane, I found it very difficult to get assistance from anyone to help. In fact, it took almost a half-hour before anyone arrived. One small fire engine arrived, that appeared to squirt three gallons of water over the inferno. We asked for further assistance, such as telephones, and didn't receive any further help. In the end, we finally found a telephone and Sharon phoned her father.

Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake, who had recorded Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman with Rhoads and had been recently fired (leaving Rhodes as a loose swtring?) from Osbourne's band, were together in Houston, Texas, with Uriah Heep later that day when they got word of the accident. Kerslake recalled the moment he heard the news:

I was already sitting at the bar when Bob Daisley came into the bar. I turned and looked at Bob and said, 'Fuck, you have gone all white. What is wrong?' Bob said, 'Lee, there was a plane crash this morning and Randy was in it ... and he is dead.' That was it. Oh God, to hear that – I just turned and cried my eyes out. Bob and me were crying our eyes out over him, cause we loved him. He was such a lovely guy."

This song is about the dangers of alcohol. The "suicide solution" is drinking yourself to death, and the song is a warning against it: "Suicide is slow with liquor..."

There is some controversy over both who wrote the words to Suicide Solution, and who they're about. Ozzy has stated that he wrote the lyric about AC/DC's lead singer Bon Scott, who was found dead after a night of drinking. Bassist Bob Daisley, however, maintains that he wrote the lyric about Ozzy, who was struggling with his own alcohol problems at the time. Evidence is in Daisley's favor, as he was the lyricist for the project.

After leaving Black Sabbath (whose lyricist was Geezer Butler), Ozzy formed a new band with Daisley and guitarist Randy Rhoads, which was called the Blizzard of Ozz. The trio wrote most of the songs for their debut album before drummer Lee Kerslake joined, including Suicide Solution. Ozzy's contribution was vocal melodies. In our interview with Bob Daisley, he explained:

"Usually the music came first, Ozzy would sing a melody, and then I would take a tape away into my room and write lyrics by myself to Ozzy's phrasing and melodies that would fit with what he was comfortable with. He wasn't a lyricist and neither was Randy, so I had to wear the lyricist hat."

When the album was released, it looked like an Ozzy Osbourne solo effort, with just the singer pictured and his name in big letters above the phrase "Blizzard of Ozz." The record company (Don Arden's Jet Records whose daughter is Sharon Arden Osbourne) had decided to turn the band into Ozzy's solo project, and that's how it stood, even though early promotional materials clearly indicate Blizzard of Ozz as the name of the group.

On October 26, 1984, a 19-year-old American named John McCullom shot himself in his bedroom while listening to Osbourne's Speak of the Devil album on his headphones. McCullom had been listening to Osbourne's Diary of a Madman and Blizzard of Ozz earlier in the evening on the living room stereo, and his parents singled out "Suicide Solution" as a song that encouraged him to kill himself. In October 1985, they sued Ozzy and his record company on grounds of negligence, product liability, and intentional misconduct. The case was dismissed in August 1986, but McCullom's parents filed an appeal that brought even more attention to the case, which had become a first amendment litmus test. In the appeal, the plaintiffs made a case that Ozzy's songs contained themes of devil worship and death, and quoted the lyrics "suicide is the only way out" from "Suicide Solution" as evidence that it contributed to their son's death. Additionally, they argued that the song contained "masked" lyrics that weren't printed on the album: "why try, why try, get the gun and try it, shoot, shoot, shoot."

The court took a good, hard look before dismissing the case in 1988, ruling that the lyrics did not explicitly encourage suicide, and that music is protected by the first amendment. How a song about the dangers of alcohol abuse could be put on trail was baffling and frightening to many musicians, who feared legal ramifications over misinterpretations of their songs. The case was especially bewildering in Ozzy's home country of England, where the idea of blaming a song for someone's death was laughable.

Osbourne told Mojo magazine, August 2010: "Listen, it'd be a pretty bad career move for me to write a song saying 'Grab a gun and kill yourself.' I wouldn't have many fans left.

Anyhow, that track was about me drinking myself to death. Look at the lyrics:

Wine is fine but whiskey's quicker
Suicide is slow with liquor
Take a bottle drown your sorrows

I knew even then I had an alcohol problem."

While this case was going on, two others were filed by families convinced that this song compelled their kids to commit suicide. They were also dismissed.

In the mid-'80s, song lyrics became a political issue as advocates pushed for a rating system on albums (which led to warning stickers for albums with explicit songs). "Suicide Solution" became a talking point because of its misinterpreted title and controversy over the lawsuit. In a 1986 forum on the Tom Snyder talk show, Don Arden, whose record company released this song, was a guest. When this song was brought up, he said: "I would be doubtful as to whether Mr. Osbourne knew the meaning of the lyrics - if there was a meaning - because his command of the English language is minimal anyway, so I wouldn't think there was any evil intent there."

The lawsuit over Suicide Solution claimed that it contained subliminal messages saying: "Get the gun, shoot, shoot, shoot." Acoustic analysis showed that there were some sub-audible words, but it was not clear what they were. On the album Tribute, the line is listed as "Get the flaps out," which is a reference to the private part of the female anatomy.
The word "Solution" in this song is meant as a mixture, meaning a drink containing alcohol. The alternate interpretation is "Solution" as the answer to a problem, but the song is in no way suggesting that suicide is ever the answer, just that heavy drinking can kill you.

Ozzy was going to appear in an episode of Miami Vice, but was dropped because of the controversy Suicide Solution generated.