The new football season is just a few weeks away (I know...) ‘Tis the season then for Premier League clubs to launch their new kit, which in the 21st Century tends to be conducted via social media. Aston Villa though have chosen to do theirs with the help of a pair of bona fide rock legends.
Black Sabbath’s Ozzy Osbourne and Geezer Butler feature prominently in the one minute-long Youtube clip. The two can be seen chatting on the phone, with Ozzy suggesting they play Villa Park. “As long as I’m left wing,” Geezer replies. And then we’re into a montage featuring Villa fans, staff, manager Unai Emery, all soundtracked by Paranoid.
At one point goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez can be seen in the dressing room and says ‘who’s that?’ pointing at Butler, who’s stripped down, ready to play and asking ‘do you want me through the middle, or on the left?’
Seconds later Geezer can be seen, eyes closed, listening to the Champions League theme on his stereo (Villa will play in the prestigious European competition this season for the first time since the early 1980s).
Then there’s an announcement on the tannoy: ‘Number Eleven: The Prince Of Darkness’. ‘Who’s that?’ asks a disbelieving John McGinn. ‘The biggest frontman to ever come out of Birmingham,’ answers Ozzy, not unreasonably.
It goes without saying that Osbourne and Butler are lifelong fans of the club. And that comment about the band playing Villa Park isn’t there for show either. Earlier this year Sharon Osbourne revealed that whilst her husband is done with touring, he’d like to play two final shows at Villa Park to “say goodbye” to fans.
In other Sabbath news Geezer Butler has been opening up about his battles with clinical depression. In an interview with NPR’s Bullseye With Jesse Thorn, the bassist talked about how he used to hide it out of fear: “Back then nobody ever said anything about depression or anything like that, and people were terrified to mention that you might be depressed 'cause you automatically thought you were gonna be taken away to a mental hospital and be locked away forever. So you couldn't talk about it to people in case that happened.”
Things changed in the 1990s after he suffered a nervous breakdown. “And I went to this doctor, the usual doctor, and I just explained everything to him and he told me that I was clinically depressed and he put me on Prozac. And after six weeks, I finally came out of the depression. And I thought, 'Oh, yeah. This is what I'm supposed to feel like.' And ever since that, I've been okay."
Paranoid, of course, was originally inspired by these feelings of mental anguish, which the success of that album did little to alleviate. "I enjoyed the success of the album, absolutely,” Butler explained. “People would say, 'You've got all this money coming in. You've got a No 1 album. What have you got to be depressed about?' But it's like a disease. There's nothing you can do about it, no matter how much money you've got or how happy you are with your job.”
