Ozzy Osbourne’s Controversies Through the Years: A Timeline

For all of Ozzy Osbourne‘s accomplishments — helping to invent the heavy metal genre with Black Sabbath, being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, landing nine solo albums in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 — his storied career is also full of arrests, lawsuits, firings and bannings. Some of these are very funny (public urination), some suggest severe alcohol addiction (public drunkenness in Memphis) and some are disturbingly violent (attempting to choke his wife to death). 

Osbourne, who died Tuesday (July 22) at age 76, was infamously debauched and went through several career phases of constant inebriation. Much of this stuff was his own fault, but he also became an unwitting scapegoat for families and lawyers who wrongly blamed his songs for the tragic behaviors of teenagers. Osbourne’s wife and business manager, Sharon Osbourne, was both an indulgent partner in crime for decades and a victim herself when he brutally attacked her for no apparent reason other than that he was out of his mind on alcohol and substances. It’s funny to watch this old clip of Osbourne’s misbehavior, but as he suggested in the video itself, it’s disturbing, too.

“Most of the people that I drank with are dead. And the ones that aren’t, that still continue to drink, are going to be dead soon,” a sober Ozzy once said in an interview. “It’s not a happy ending.”

Below, check out a timeline of the Prince of Darkness’ lifelong career of committing and being accused of things.