Ordinary People: Our Story

Authors Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne with Aimee, Kelly and Jack Osbourne
MTV Books, $26


Isn’t it kind OF late in the day for the tie-in tell-all book? Surely at this point in 2004, no sane person needs more Osbournes in his life.

Happily, though, Ordinary People doesn’t feel too connected to the remorseless hype machine. Yes, it’s funny enough, but the firsthand quotes also dig deeper than the TV-series caricatures. Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne’s memories of their grueling childhoods and the Black Sabbath years show that their insanity didn’t spring from nowhere (Ozzy’s brush with local pedophiles is particularly grim). Interjections from the kids (including the “mysterious,” depressive oldest sister, Aimee) hint at how tough having a chronic addict for a dad can be.

Behind the familiar gonzo tales, a picture of real strangeness emerges. Why would Sharon endanger her life by working feverishly through chemotherapy? And the revelation that she once slept with Ozzy’s guitarist Randy Rhoads might induce shrugs, but there’s something compellingly odd about the image of all three snuggling up together on tour buses. “[Ozzy] was just as in love with Randy as I was,” she writes.

Reminding us why this undisciplined crew turned heads in the first place, the sense of turbulence is constant. That Ozzy nearly died (in a December ATV accident) since this book’s completion only underlines the central message here: Some people just weren’t destined for the quiet life.