Ozzy Bat Beer Ban Bid

A US brewer has been prevented from continuing to sell a beer named Ozzy, after Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne’s legal eagles stepped in.

Baltimore firm The Brewer’s Art had been distributing a pale ale featuring a logo which mimics the singer’s ‘Ozzy’ knuckle tattoo, and the can was adorned with images of bats – including some with their heads missing.

Brewery boss Tom Creegan has reported that he received a cease-and-desist order from Osbourne’s representatives, and that the beer will no longer be sold.

Meanwhile, ex-Sabbath drummer Vinny Appice, who spent much of his career working with Ronnie James Dio, has said Sabbath took on a different character when the late frontman took over from Ozzy.

Appice tells Mars Attacks: “It’s two different bands – it’s two different sounds. There’s a tie between them: you can hear Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler’s style and personality – but the stuff done with Ronnie sounds different than the old Sabbath stuff.

“It became a different band, a little bit more musical. They could play more challenging stuff than what they did before.”

He describes Dio as “a musician-singer”, while Ozzy, he says, is more like a “singer-frontman”, and argues that both brought equally strong talents to the band.

“It’s very unusual,” Appice continues. “Same with Van Halen: with David Lee Roth it was a different band, then they got Sammy Hagar and became more musical, more mature. ‘We can try different things – we’ve got a different singer.’ It’s a different band with the same name.”