WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.620 Welcome to the Deep Dive. It's really great to 00:00:03.620 --> 00:00:05.179 have you with us today. Yeah, thanks for joining 00:00:05.179 --> 00:00:07.419 us. We've got a really wild one today. We really 00:00:07.419 --> 00:00:09.699 do. I want you to imagine something for a second. 00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:12.820 Imagine being at the absolute pinnacle of your 00:00:12.820 --> 00:00:16.579 career, right? You're playing to sold -out arenas 00:00:16.579 --> 00:00:20.039 worldwide, making millions, and then you just 00:00:20.039 --> 00:00:22.500 decide to... Well, you just walk away from the 00:00:22.500 --> 00:00:24.679 machine. You just pack it in. Right. You go home 00:00:24.679 --> 00:00:28.079 and you officially retire. But then a few short 00:00:28.079 --> 00:00:31.480 years later, you come roaring back with a massive 00:00:31.480 --> 00:00:35.060 multi -platinum return. But this return completely 00:00:35.060 --> 00:00:38.340 reconfigures your sound and honestly, your entire 00:00:38.340 --> 00:00:40.960 creative process. And it's never a smooth transition 00:00:40.960 --> 00:00:43.420 when that happens. Exactly. So today's mission 00:00:43.420 --> 00:00:46.310 is to explore that exact scenario. We were looking 00:00:46.310 --> 00:00:48.969 at the incredibly chaotic creation, the scrapped 00:00:48.969 --> 00:00:51.649 recording sessions, and the somewhat paradoxical 00:00:51.649 --> 00:00:54.770 success of Ozzy Osbourne's 1995 studio album, 00:00:54.950 --> 00:00:57.609 Osmosis. The narrative behind the specific record 00:00:57.609 --> 00:01:00.390 is really a masterclass in how messy and, frankly, 00:01:00.469 --> 00:01:02.450 psychologically taxing the music industry can 00:01:02.450 --> 00:01:05.370 be behind closed doors. It really is. And for 00:01:05.370 --> 00:01:08.230 our source today, we're relying on a comprehensively 00:01:08.230 --> 00:01:10.930 detailed Wikipedia article that breaks down the 00:01:10.930 --> 00:01:13.349 entire history of the album. Yeah, it goes deep 00:01:13.349 --> 00:01:17.280 into the intense production. and its deeply fractured 00:01:17.280 --> 00:01:20.260 reception. It provides a stark look at the friction 00:01:20.260 --> 00:01:23.719 between an artist's vision and a record label's 00:01:23.719 --> 00:01:25.879 commercial demands. Especially during a really 00:01:25.879 --> 00:01:30.319 transitional era in rock music. So we want to 00:01:30.319 --> 00:01:32.439 extract the ultimate insights from the making 00:01:32.439 --> 00:01:34.420 of this album. We're going to figure out how 00:01:34.420 --> 00:01:37.260 a supposed permanent retirement turned into a 00:01:37.260 --> 00:01:39.700 comeback fraught with psychological warfare in 00:01:39.700 --> 00:01:41.859 the recording studio. Yeah. Okay, let's unpack 00:01:41.859 --> 00:01:44.480 this. So to set the stage, coming off the absolute 00:01:44.480 --> 00:01:47.640 juggernaut that was No More Tears in 1991, Ozzy 00:01:47.640 --> 00:01:49.299 was at the top of the mountain. He was huge. 00:01:49.640 --> 00:01:51.840 Massive. And he called the accompanying tour 00:01:51.840 --> 00:01:54.359 the No More Tours Tour. Which is pretty clear. 00:01:54.519 --> 00:01:56.719 Right, a definitive statement. He was burned 00:01:56.719 --> 00:01:59.140 out on the lifestyle, the touring, the relentless 00:01:59.140 --> 00:02:01.099 cycle of the industry. He basically just wanted 00:02:01.099 --> 00:02:04.040 out. But his retirement... Didn't last very long 00:02:04.040 --> 00:02:06.459 at all. And the reason he gave for coming back 00:02:06.459 --> 00:02:08.819 is honestly one of the most relatable things 00:02:08.819 --> 00:02:11.740 you will ever read from a legendary rock front 00:02:11.740 --> 00:02:16.020 man. It really humanizes him. It does. When talking 00:02:16.020 --> 00:02:18.539 about his return to music, Ozzy joked, and I 00:02:18.539 --> 00:02:22.639 quote, he said, if you stayed at home day in 00:02:22.639 --> 00:02:25.020 and day out for three years with your wife and 00:02:25.020 --> 00:02:27.379 a house full of screaming kids, you'd want to 00:02:27.379 --> 00:02:29.699 get back out on the road too. It's just so funny. 00:02:29.740 --> 00:02:32.180 You have this larger than life figure of heavy 00:02:32.180 --> 00:02:34.719 metal essentially admitting that mundane domestic 00:02:34.719 --> 00:02:37.379 life was driving him up the wall. Yeah. And most 00:02:37.379 --> 00:02:39.180 people listening to this have probably experienced 00:02:39.180 --> 00:02:42.259 that feeling, you know, being trapped in a chaotic 00:02:42.259 --> 00:02:45.400 house and just needing an escape. How long would 00:02:45.400 --> 00:02:47.719 you last before needing a break? Probably not 00:02:47.719 --> 00:02:50.180 three years. Right. But for Ozzy, that escape 00:02:50.180 --> 00:02:52.919 just happens to be a multimillion dollar recording 00:02:52.919 --> 00:02:56.090 studio and a tour bus. Right. Exactly. So he 00:02:56.090 --> 00:02:58.949 decides to end the hiatus. And when you are making 00:02:58.949 --> 00:03:01.330 a grand return like this, you don't just throw 00:03:01.330 --> 00:03:03.460 together a garage band. The personnel brought 00:03:03.460 --> 00:03:05.879 in Fraz Hosis was a legitimate supergroup. Oh, 00:03:05.900 --> 00:03:08.560 absolutely. You had his longtime guitarist, Zach 00:03:08.560 --> 00:03:11.039 Wild, back in the fold. You had Geezer Butler 00:03:11.039 --> 00:03:14.159 coming in on bass, and Dean Castronovo was brought 00:03:14.159 --> 00:03:16.360 in on drums. And that specific rhythm section 00:03:16.360 --> 00:03:19.080 is crucial to understand. How so? Well, Geezer 00:03:19.080 --> 00:03:21.639 Butler brings that classic, heavy, swinging groove 00:03:21.639 --> 00:03:24.020 that defined early Black Sabbath. But then you 00:03:24.020 --> 00:03:26.240 pair him with Dean Castronovo, who has a much 00:03:26.240 --> 00:03:29.780 more modern, aggressive, and highly precise attack. 00:03:30.120 --> 00:03:32.159 It creates a specific tension. Exactly. Exactly. 00:03:32.159 --> 00:03:34.319 Tension in the rhythm tracks. And on top of that, 00:03:34.400 --> 00:03:36.539 they brought in Rick Wakeman to play the Mellotron 00:03:36.539 --> 00:03:39.560 on tracks like Perry Mason and I Just Want You. 00:03:39.699 --> 00:03:42.979 Which is wild. Putting a 1970s prog rock tape 00:03:42.979 --> 00:03:45.919 replay keyboard on a mid -90s heavy metal record 00:03:45.919 --> 00:03:49.139 is a massive creative swing. It is. It gives 00:03:49.139 --> 00:03:52.479 those tracks a dense, almost gothic, psychedelic 00:03:52.479 --> 00:03:54.000 atmosphere that you wouldn't normally expect 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:56.500 from an Ozzy solo record. And it was the first 00:03:56.500 --> 00:03:58.800 and only Ozzy album to feature that specific 00:03:58.800 --> 00:04:01.990 combination of Butler, Cacernovo, and Wakeman. 00:04:02.330 --> 00:04:04.849 The pedigree of musicianship in that room was 00:04:04.849 --> 00:04:07.030 just staggering. They were building a massive 00:04:07.030 --> 00:04:09.250 sonic architecture. But here's where it gets 00:04:09.250 --> 00:04:12.009 really interesting. Because the guitarist situation 00:04:12.009 --> 00:04:14.289 wasn't always just Zach Wild providing those 00:04:14.289 --> 00:04:17.350 massive riffs. Right. Originally, guitar virtuoso 00:04:17.350 --> 00:04:19.670 Steve Vai was heavily involved in the project. 00:04:20.089 --> 00:04:22.370 He and Ozzy were writing songs together back 00:04:22.370 --> 00:04:25.310 in 1994, trying to forge new direction for the 00:04:25.310 --> 00:04:27.629 comeback. But out of all the material they worked 00:04:27.629 --> 00:04:31.250 on together, only one song, My Little Man, actually 00:04:31.250 --> 00:04:34.589 made the final cut for osmosis only one yeah 00:04:34.589 --> 00:04:37.589 the wikipedia article notes that vi reportedly 00:04:37.589 --> 00:04:40.269 left the project due to a falling out with aussie 00:04:40.269 --> 00:04:42.589 and when you think about their respective styles 00:04:42.589 --> 00:04:45.230 it makes total sense that they might clash they 00:04:45.230 --> 00:04:47.889 are very different musicians vi is an absolute 00:04:47.889 --> 00:04:51.129 technical alien he deals in complex polyrhythms 00:04:51.129 --> 00:04:54.889 bizarre scales avant -garde composition aussie's 00:04:54.889 --> 00:04:56.889 roots are in straightforward meat and potatoes 00:04:56.889 --> 00:05:00.699 blues based doom metal Mashing those two musical 00:05:00.699 --> 00:05:02.779 philosophies together is inherently volatile. 00:05:03.220 --> 00:05:05.519 So the friction there seems inevitable. But the 00:05:05.519 --> 00:05:07.740 real bombshell from the source material isn't 00:05:07.740 --> 00:05:09.879 just that they had a falling out, it's what happened 00:05:09.879 --> 00:05:12.399 to the music they made. Yes. What's fascinating 00:05:12.399 --> 00:05:16.060 here is a detail from a 2023 interview where 00:05:16.060 --> 00:05:19.829 Vai revealed that he is, quote, Sitting on a 00:05:19.829 --> 00:05:22.589 whole Ozzy album from that time period. That 00:05:22.589 --> 00:05:25.410 blows my mind. Somewhere locked in a vault, there 00:05:25.410 --> 00:05:28.389 is an entire unreleased album of music written 00:05:28.389 --> 00:05:31.230 and recorded by Ozzy Osbourne and Steve Vai from 00:05:31.230 --> 00:05:34.689 1994. It's the ultimate music industry white 00:05:34.689 --> 00:05:38.069 whale. A completely lost album featuring two 00:05:38.069 --> 00:05:40.829 titans of their respective instruments just sitting 00:05:40.829 --> 00:05:42.870 on a shelf somewhere because the personal and 00:05:42.870 --> 00:05:45.240 creative chemistry dissolved. it really makes 00:05:45.240 --> 00:05:47.180 you wonder what that alternate universe version 00:05:47.180 --> 00:05:48.959 of the 90s would have looked like if they had 00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:51.379 managed to hold it together it really does But 00:05:51.379 --> 00:05:53.860 the fragility of the creative process is always 00:05:53.860 --> 00:05:56.439 looming over these massive projects. You can 00:05:56.439 --> 00:05:58.660 have the budget, the label support, and the talent 00:05:58.660 --> 00:06:01.180 in the room, but if the interpersonal dynamics 00:06:01.180 --> 00:06:04.120 fracture, the whole thing gets shelved. And the 00:06:04.120 --> 00:06:06.279 scrapped Steve Vai project was really just the 00:06:06.279 --> 00:06:09.420 beginning of the false starts surrounding Osmosis. 00:06:09.540 --> 00:06:11.699 Yeah, because the Vai situation wasn't even the 00:06:11.699 --> 00:06:14.000 only time an entire iteration of this album was 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:15.759 thrown in the trash. Not at all. The original 00:06:15.759 --> 00:06:17.800 vision for the record was entirely different 00:06:17.800 --> 00:06:20.100 from the disc that fans eventually bought and 00:06:20.100 --> 00:06:22.519 stored. Before the final version was produced, 00:06:22.740 --> 00:06:24.899 the album was actually being helmed by Michael 00:06:24.899 --> 00:06:27.639 Wagner. And Wagner was a very known quantity 00:06:27.639 --> 00:06:30.680 in Ozzy's camp. He had mixed the incredibly successful 00:06:30.680 --> 00:06:33.490 No More Tears album. So it was a safe bet. The 00:06:33.490 --> 00:06:36.250 strategy seemed incredibly sound. Reunite Ozzy 00:06:36.250 --> 00:06:38.550 with the guy who helped polish his biggest solo 00:06:38.550 --> 00:06:41.449 hit. So they were recording at Granny's House 00:06:41.449 --> 00:06:44.110 Recording Studio out in Reno, Nevada in early 00:06:44.110 --> 00:06:47.189 1994. And they had a totally different rhythm 00:06:47.189 --> 00:06:49.949 section for those Reno sessions. Mikey Nez on 00:06:49.949 --> 00:06:53.129 bass and Randy Castillo on drums. The stated 00:06:53.129 --> 00:06:55.629 intention was to make an album that sounded similar 00:06:55.629 --> 00:06:58.470 to No More Tears. And they completely finished 00:06:58.470 --> 00:07:01.189 seven songs. They had a working album ready to 00:07:01.189 --> 00:07:03.069 go. Ready to go. But the corporate side of the 00:07:03.069 --> 00:07:05.550 music business had a very different agenda. According 00:07:05.550 --> 00:07:07.990 to the source, Epic Records allegedly demanded 00:07:07.990 --> 00:07:10.310 a change in the production style. They absolutely 00:07:10.310 --> 00:07:12.829 did not want a No More Tears Part II. They wanted 00:07:12.829 --> 00:07:15.129 to pivot. Because to understand why, you have 00:07:15.129 --> 00:07:17.970 to look at the music landscape in 1994 and 1995. 00:07:18.970 --> 00:07:21.670 Grunge and alternative rock had completely taken 00:07:21.670 --> 00:07:24.730 over. Bands like Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, 00:07:24.790 --> 00:07:40.679 and Pearl Jam were dominating the era. Which 00:07:40.679 --> 00:07:43.600 is brutal. Epic Records essentially looked at 00:07:43.600 --> 00:07:46.199 a nearly finished album, paid for all that studio 00:07:46.199 --> 00:07:48.620 time in Reno, and told them to start over from 00:07:48.620 --> 00:07:51.040 scratch just to chase a trend. Yeah. They took 00:07:51.040 --> 00:07:52.860 tracks like Perry Mason, See You on the Other 00:07:52.860 --> 00:07:55.560 Side, Tomorrow, and Old L .A. Tonight, and completely 00:07:55.560 --> 00:07:57.519 re - re -recorded them with Beinhorn. And they 00:07:57.519 --> 00:07:59.779 moved the entire production from the relatively 00:07:59.779 --> 00:08:03.180 relaxed environment of Reno, Nevada to high -pressure, 00:08:03.180 --> 00:08:06.100 incredibly expensive metropolitan studios in 00:08:06.100 --> 00:08:08.220 Paris and New York City. Talk about a shift in 00:08:08.220 --> 00:08:11.079 vibe. Exactly. Some of Wagner's original tracks, 00:08:11.199 --> 00:08:13.540 like Amy and Living with the Enemy, were relegated 00:08:13.540 --> 00:08:16.680 to B -sides. A track called Slow Burn was left 00:08:16.680 --> 00:08:19.620 completely unreleased. Think about being the 00:08:19.620 --> 00:08:22.290 artist in that situation. You think you're done 00:08:22.290 --> 00:08:24.689 with your big comeback record and suddenly you 00:08:24.689 --> 00:08:27.410 are relocated across the globe with a new producer, 00:08:27.589 --> 00:08:30.449 new studios and new band members. It's exhausting. 00:08:30.689 --> 00:08:34.029 And the relationship between Ozzy and this new 00:08:34.029 --> 00:08:37.309 producer, Michael Beinhorn, deteriorated rapidly. 00:08:37.950 --> 00:08:40.529 The article includes this explosive quote from 00:08:40.529 --> 00:08:43.850 Ozzy from 2001. Oh, this quote is intense. It 00:08:43.850 --> 00:08:47.200 is. He said. And I quote, after doing Osmosis 00:08:47.200 --> 00:08:49.440 with Michael Beinhorn producing, I didn't care 00:08:49.440 --> 00:08:51.600 if I never made another album again. There'd 00:08:51.600 --> 00:08:53.600 be these fucking mind games. He'd have me singing 00:08:53.600 --> 00:08:55.360 all day and then I'd get three quarters through 00:08:55.360 --> 00:08:57.179 and he'd go, your voice sounds tired. Let's pick 00:08:57.179 --> 00:08:58.899 it up tomorrow. And I knew that the next day 00:08:58.899 --> 00:09:00.720 he'd go, your voice has changed. Let's start 00:09:00.720 --> 00:09:03.740 again. If we connect this to the bigger picture, 00:09:03.940 --> 00:09:06.559 you really start to see the immense crushing 00:09:06.559 --> 00:09:09.399 pressure that legacy artists face when they become 00:09:09.399 --> 00:09:12.399 caught in the machinery of label demand. Ozzy 00:09:12.399 --> 00:09:15.820 was trapped. On one side. Epic Records is demanding 00:09:15.820 --> 00:09:18.879 a highly specific, modern, heavy but polished 00:09:18.879 --> 00:09:21.860 sound to compete with the alt -rock boom. On 00:09:21.860 --> 00:09:23.980 the other side, you have a producer like Beinhorn 00:09:23.980 --> 00:09:26.240 employing psychological attrition to get it. 00:09:26.340 --> 00:09:28.799 Right. But to play devil's advocate for a moment 00:09:28.799 --> 00:09:31.879 here. Sure. Didn't Beinhorn technically do exactly 00:09:31.879 --> 00:09:34.679 what he was hired to do? Epic Records wanted 00:09:34.679 --> 00:09:37.740 a massive, pristine commercial hit to compete 00:09:37.740 --> 00:09:40.879 in a cutthroat 90s market. They brought Beinhorn 00:09:40.879 --> 00:09:43.399 in to be the bad guy and push Ozzy past his comfort 00:09:43.399 --> 00:09:46.240 zone to achieve a very specific audio standard. 00:09:46.679 --> 00:09:49.139 Does the end justify the means in that scenario? 00:09:49.440 --> 00:09:51.139 Well, it's the central dilemma of commercial 00:09:51.139 --> 00:09:53.500 art, isn't it? Yeah. Beinhorn was pushing for 00:09:53.500 --> 00:09:56.299 a highly polished, heavily layered vocal performance 00:09:56.299 --> 00:09:58.659 that required endless tracking. But the toll 00:09:58.659 --> 00:10:00.620 it takes on the human being behind the microphone 00:10:00.620 --> 00:10:03.639 is severe. When you are in a sterile vocal booth 00:10:03.639 --> 00:10:06.279 in Paris singing the same chorus 50 times while 00:10:06.279 --> 00:10:08.299 the producer constantly moves the goalposts, 00:10:08.299 --> 00:10:10.480 you lose your confidence. You lose the spark. 00:10:10.679 --> 00:10:12.860 You lose the spontaneous energy of rock and roll. 00:10:13.039 --> 00:10:15.299 The environment shifts from a place of musical 00:10:15.299 --> 00:10:18.330 expression. into a grueling endurance test. It's 00:10:18.330 --> 00:10:20.149 no wonder Ozzy said he didn't care if he ever 00:10:20.149 --> 00:10:23.070 made another record. The very thing he came out 00:10:23.070 --> 00:10:25.990 of retirement to enjoy doing again was weaponized 00:10:25.990 --> 00:10:29.029 against him. Right. So after the Steve -I drama, 00:10:29.330 --> 00:10:32.450 the scrapped Reno sessions, the massive label 00:10:32.450 --> 00:10:35.009 interference, and the endless mind games in the 00:10:35.009 --> 00:10:38.110 vocal booth, logic dictates this album should 00:10:38.110 --> 00:10:40.730 have been a bloated, disjointed disaster. Oh, 00:10:40.789 --> 00:10:43.370 totally. But Osmosis was an absolute smash hit. 00:10:43.549 --> 00:10:45.850 Commercially speaking, the label's gamble paid 00:10:45.850 --> 00:10:48.490 off immensely. It hit number four on the U .S. 00:10:48.529 --> 00:10:51.850 Billboard 200, which at the time was the highest 00:10:51.850 --> 00:10:54.230 position Ozzy had ever achieved on that chart 00:10:54.230 --> 00:10:56.870 as a solo artist. It had serious momentum. By 00:10:56.870 --> 00:10:59.409 the end of 1995, it was certified platinum. And 00:10:59.409 --> 00:11:03.129 by April 1999, the RIAA certified it double platinum. 00:11:03.350 --> 00:11:05.710 Billboard magazine noted it sold well over three 00:11:05.710 --> 00:11:08.009 million copies worldwide. Wow. It wasn't just 00:11:08.009 --> 00:11:10.409 coasting on his legacy. It was actively competing 00:11:10.409 --> 00:11:12.429 with the biggest bands of the decade. It also 00:11:12.429 --> 00:11:14.950 spawned highly successful radio singles that 00:11:14.950 --> 00:11:17.970 dominated the rock charts. Perry Mason hit number 00:11:17.970 --> 00:11:19.950 three on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs 00:11:19.950 --> 00:11:21.889 chart. See You on the Other Side hit number five. 00:11:22.490 --> 00:11:25.129 These tracks were ubiquitous on rock radio in 00:11:25.129 --> 00:11:27.629 the mid -90s. And he took the whole mass of production 00:11:27.629 --> 00:11:30.149 on the road, leaning into the irony of his brief 00:11:30.149 --> 00:11:33.690 hiatus by launching the Retirement Sucks tour 00:11:33.690 --> 00:11:37.809 in August 1995. A great name. The fans clearly 00:11:37.809 --> 00:11:39.970 did not care about the behind the scenes drama, 00:11:40.169 --> 00:11:42.830 the scrapped Steve Vai tracks or the producer 00:11:42.830 --> 00:11:45.269 mind games. They were just thrilled the Prince 00:11:45.269 --> 00:11:48.049 of Darkness was back and touring. But the critics 00:11:48.049 --> 00:11:50.049 were a completely different story. Very different. 00:11:50.110 --> 00:11:52.730 The critical reception was heavily mixed. And 00:11:52.730 --> 00:11:55.570 ironically, the critics specifically targeted 00:11:55.570 --> 00:11:58.029 the exact production style that the label had 00:11:58.029 --> 00:12:00.309 fought so hard and spent so much money to get. 00:12:00.649 --> 00:12:03.210 Right. Stephen Thomas Oluwine from AllMusic heavily 00:12:03.210 --> 00:12:05.710 criticized the album's lack of musical evolution. 00:12:06.049 --> 00:12:09.049 He pointed the finger squarely at Michael Beinhorn's 00:12:09.049 --> 00:12:11.710 modern rock -conscious production. Oluwine noted 00:12:11.710 --> 00:12:13.769 that on the surface, the music was undeniably 00:12:13.769 --> 00:12:16.750 hard and loud, but it actually sounded, quote, 00:12:16.950 --> 00:12:20.769 smooth and processed. Smooth and processed. That 00:12:20.769 --> 00:12:24.190 is the exact sonic profile Ozzy was going through, 00:12:24.250 --> 00:12:27.059 those grueling... endless vocal takes in Paris 00:12:27.059 --> 00:12:29.899 and New York to achieve. And the critics immediately 00:12:29.899 --> 00:12:32.740 clocked it as artificial. Yes. Chuck Eddy from 00:12:32.740 --> 00:12:35.279 Entertainment Weekly gave the album a C's rating. 00:12:35.419 --> 00:12:37.200 He argued that the long running lengths of the 00:12:37.200 --> 00:12:40.320 tracks made Osmosis feel like a, quote, parody 00:12:40.320 --> 00:12:42.799 of the most overinflated opera. And even the 00:12:42.799 --> 00:12:44.720 retrospective reviews have been fairly harsh. 00:12:45.210 --> 00:12:47.409 Writers for Blabbermouth and Pop Matters have 00:12:47.409 --> 00:12:49.769 criticized it in later years, and Ultimate Classic 00:12:49.769 --> 00:12:52.330 Rock ranked it near the bottom of Ozzy's discography, 00:12:52.590 --> 00:12:55.710 again pointing to that dense, suffocating production 00:12:55.710 --> 00:12:58.450 style. Oh, Loudwire liked it, right? Yeah, a 00:12:58.450 --> 00:13:00.669 20th anniversary review on Loudwire was a bit 00:13:00.669 --> 00:13:03.289 kinder, calling it a sonically pristine extension 00:13:03.289 --> 00:13:06.129 of his hard rock songwriting. But overall, the 00:13:06.129 --> 00:13:08.490 critical consensus remains very fractured to 00:13:08.490 --> 00:13:10.429 this day. So what does this all mean? We have 00:13:10.429 --> 00:13:12.789 a record that sold millions, gave Ozzy his highest 00:13:12.789 --> 00:13:15.549 chart peak to date, generated massive rock radio 00:13:15.549 --> 00:13:18.870 hits, and packed arenas around the world. But 00:13:18.870 --> 00:13:20.809 the people paid to analyze and critique music 00:13:20.809 --> 00:13:23.190 thought it was overproduced, heavily processed, 00:13:23.429 --> 00:13:25.879 and completely bloated. It perfectly illustrates 00:13:25.879 --> 00:13:28.620 the intense dissonance that often exists between 00:13:28.620 --> 00:13:31.539 commercial viability and critical artistic integrity. 00:13:32.179 --> 00:13:34.700 Epic Records and Michael Beinhorn essentially 00:13:34.700 --> 00:13:37.299 engineered a product specifically designed to 00:13:37.299 --> 00:13:40.480 sell in the mid -90s rock climate. Right. They 00:13:40.480 --> 00:13:42.840 demanded a heavily processed, highly polished 00:13:42.840 --> 00:13:44.820 sound that could sit comfortably on a playlist 00:13:44.820 --> 00:13:47.879 next to Soundgarden or Stone Temple Pilots. And 00:13:47.879 --> 00:13:49.799 purely from a business standpoint, they were 00:13:49.799 --> 00:13:52.500 proven absolutely right. The fans bought it by 00:13:52.500 --> 00:13:57.029 the millions. But artistically, it alienated 00:13:57.029 --> 00:13:59.809 the purists and the critics. The reviewers heard 00:13:59.809 --> 00:14:02.110 the endless tracking, the precise drum edits, 00:14:02.309 --> 00:14:04.950 and the vocal perfection, and they interpreted 00:14:04.950 --> 00:14:07.570 it as a lack of authenticity. They felt the grit, 00:14:07.690 --> 00:14:10.509 the danger, and the rawness of traditional heavy 00:14:10.509 --> 00:14:13.210 metal had been sanded down into a pristine commercial 00:14:13.210 --> 00:14:15.909 commodity. The very sound the producer tortured 00:14:15.909 --> 00:14:18.549 Ozzy to achieve was precisely what the critics 00:14:18.549 --> 00:14:21.899 disliked. It's a fascinating paradox. The label 00:14:21.899 --> 00:14:24.120 manufactured a massive commercial success, but 00:14:24.120 --> 00:14:26.500 in doing so, they sacrificed the critical acclaim 00:14:26.500 --> 00:14:28.580 that usually comes from an artist feeling free, 00:14:28.740 --> 00:14:30.740 dangerous, and unconstrained in the recording 00:14:30.740 --> 00:14:33.059 studio. When you listen to a track like Perry 00:14:33.059 --> 00:14:35.539 Mason now, you aren't just hearing a heavy metal 00:14:35.539 --> 00:14:38.440 song. You are hearing the tangible result of 00:14:38.440 --> 00:14:41.720 corporate panic, scrap sessions in Reno, discarded 00:14:41.720 --> 00:14:44.419 guitar tracks from a virtuoso, and a legendary 00:14:44.419 --> 00:14:47.179 singer being pushed to the brink of walking away 00:14:47.179 --> 00:14:49.700 forever inside a vocal booth. It's the sound 00:14:49.700 --> 00:14:51.600 of an artist surviving the roofless machinery 00:14:51.600 --> 00:14:54.419 of the 1990s music industry. We have covered 00:14:54.419 --> 00:14:56.840 some serious ground today. Take a moment and 00:14:56.840 --> 00:14:58.679 reflect on everything we've explored in this 00:14:58.679 --> 00:15:01.399 deep dive. We started with a highly relatable 00:15:01.399 --> 00:15:04.210 false retirement. prompted by a chaotic household. 00:15:04.450 --> 00:15:07.690 We uncovered the existence of a legendary, completely 00:15:07.690 --> 00:15:10.669 lost Steve Vai album sitting in a vault somewhere. 00:15:11.070 --> 00:15:13.730 We navigated the sheer chaos of a record label 00:15:13.730 --> 00:15:16.509 throwing a finished album in the trash just to 00:15:16.509 --> 00:15:19.429 chase a modern trend. And we witnessed the psychological 00:15:19.429 --> 00:15:22.490 toll of a producer's mind games, all leading 00:15:22.490 --> 00:15:25.129 to a record that sold millions while simultaneously 00:15:25.129 --> 00:15:27.840 dividing the critical establishment. It's a story 00:15:27.840 --> 00:15:30.299 that challenges our perception of how hit records 00:15:30.299 --> 00:15:33.320 are actually constructed behind the scenes. This 00:15:33.320 --> 00:15:36.429 raises an important question When a record label 00:15:36.429 --> 00:15:39.190 forces an artist through a mentally grueling, 00:15:39.190 --> 00:15:41.970 manipulated production process just to achieve 00:15:41.970 --> 00:15:44.730 a perfect commercial sound, does the resulting 00:15:44.730 --> 00:15:47.269 multi -platinum success actually justify the 00:15:47.269 --> 00:15:50.309 psychological toll taken on that artist? Or are 00:15:50.309 --> 00:15:53.549 the true, authentic masterpieces, the raw, unreleased 00:15:53.549 --> 00:15:55.809 tapes currently sitting locked away in Steve 00:15:55.809 --> 00:15:58.110 Vai's vault? That is a phenomenal question to 00:15:58.110 --> 00:15:59.669 leave you with. Thank you so much for joining 00:15:59.669 --> 00:16:01.889 us on this deep dive. Keep questioning the stories 00:16:01.889 --> 00:16:03.730 behind the media you consume. Keep looking for 00:16:03.730 --> 00:16:05.399 those hidden narratives. and we will catch you 00:16:05.399 --> 00:16:05.919 on the next one.