Read Ozzy Osbourne’s thoughts on his legacy and drugs

In Last Rites, which is released on Tuesday, Ozzy Osbourne considers his last years. He discussed his opinions on the Back to the Beginning concert and his nearly 60 years as a rock artist in an excerpt that was published by The Times, as reported by UCR.

Death’s been knocking at my door for the last six years, louder and louder. And at some point I’m gonna have to let him in. The funny thing is, I used to worry more about my mortality when I was younger. It’s weird. You get closer to the end — the very thing you were scared of your whole life — and suddenly the weight’s lifted off you. Not that I’m ready to go. But I’ve had a good run. I think I made a mark on the world. And I’m glad I didn’t check out early, like so many others. When the end does come, I don’t want to be cremated. It’s like you were never here. You’re just a bag of dust. That’s not for me. I wanna make the flowers grow. The only conversation I’ve had with Sharon was when we decided we wanted to be buried together. I’ve also said to Sharon, ‘Don’t you dare go before me!’ It’s my biggest fear now, Sharon leaving this world before I do. If she does, I won’t be too far behind.

Osbourne also denied that he and Sharon had agreed to commit suicide together.

[T]hat’s bullshit. We just don’t want some drawn-out end on a breathing tube. I’ve said to Sharon, ‘If that happens to me, please… turn me off. Or fly me to Switzerland, give me one final sip of the jolly juice and send me out like a Viking.’

What happens after death?

I say to ’em, ‘I’ve no idea, but it won’t be long now, so if you hang around a bit, maybe I can haunt you and give you the answer’. As for what I want on my tombstone, that’s one of the subjects my family definitely won’t let me discuss. Between you and me, though, I’m thinking something short and sweet. ‘I told you I wasn’t feeling well’ should do the trick.

And about the best drug ever, this is what he said.

The best medicine I’ve had since all my medical shit started back in 2019. It was a magical night. It couldn’t have been better. What I’ve realized is that the one place where I’m free of all my demons is on a stage… I spent my whole life trying to get high from every substance known to man. … I was just trying to get back the feeling of when I was up there on stage, doing my job. The packed arena; The thump of the bass drum you can feel in your stomach. Forty or fifty thousand voices singing back your words. All along, that’s what I was chasing. It was the best drug I ever took.

But what about if he couldn’t make it? As Loudwire reports, this is what he stated.

Lying in bed at night I’d be like, I can’t go, I can’t do this. I kept saying to Sharon, we’d better get a video made ’cos there’ll be an empty stage. She just looked at me like I was mad. She knows me better than I do. She knew I was just scared. Eventually Sharon said, ‘Look, there’ll be no backup plan. No video. No prerecorded anything. If you can’t sing on the night, just talk to the crowd and thank them. All you need to do is get up there and be Ozzy.