| "Suicide Solution" | ||||
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| Song by Ozzy Osbourne from the album Blizzard of Ozz | ||||
| Released | September 20, 1980 August 22, 1995 (re-issue) |
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| Recorded | March 22-April 19, 1980 | |||
| Genre | Heavy metal | |||
| Length | 4:16 | |||
| Label | Jet Records Epic Records |
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| Writer | Ozzy Osbourne Randy Rhoads Bob Daisley |
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| Producer | Ozzy Osbourne, Randy Rhoads, Bob Daisley, Lee Kerslake | |||
| Blizzard of Ozz track listing | ||||
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"Suicide Solution" is a song by Ozzy Osbourne. It is track five on the album Blizzard of Ozz released in 1980. Guitarist Randy Rhoads wrote the riff to the song (he had previously used the riff on the Quiet Riot track "Force of Habit"), and Bob Daisley helped co-write the lyrics. Ozzy Osbourne supposedly released this track as a tribute to Bon Scott of AC/DC who died of alcohol poisoning.[1]
The song was very controversial following its release. On January 13, 1986, Osbourne was taken to court by the parents of John McCollum, a depressed teenager who shot himself in the head while listening to this song. The court cleared Osbourne in the case. IBAR, The Institute for Bio-Acoustics Research, analyzed the song and found that subliminal message-like noises were recorded in the song at approximately the 2:19 mark in the song; Osbourne, however, denied anything of the sort. Lyricist Bob Daisley and Osbourne himself both claimed that Ozzy said, "Get the flaps out." However, some claim that Ozzy said, "Get the glass shoot," "Let yourself go," "Get the fucking gun" or "Get the gun, get the gun, shoot shoot shoot shoot shoot shoot," both of which supported the court case.[2] Either "Get the flask out" or "Get the shot glass," however, were more logical translations, since the song is dealing with alcohol.
What is also overlooked is that Osbourne and Daisley, when they wrote the lyrics, used the word "solution" to mean a substance—in this case, an alcoholic beverage—dissolved in a liquid, not in the sense of solving a problem. Osbourne himself has had a lifelong struggle with alcohol addiction, and the song is particularly meaningful to him because it depicts the personal self-destruction he was facing before he sobered up.
Another tragic case was that of rock music obsessed 14 year old (Eric A.) of St. Louis Park, Minnesota, who shot himself with a .22 caliber rifle.[3] His parents blamed Osbourne, AC/DC, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath and Mötley Crüe. Osbourne, however, was the prime target, due to this song.
The song is also famous for Randy Rhoads's solo at the end of the song on the live album Tribute. This solo originated from Rhoads' Quiet Riot days in which he performed parts of it during the solo to the Quiet Riot song "Laughing Gas". The original solo was over 6 minutes and contained references to "Goodbye to Romance", "Mr. Crowley", "Crazy Train", and the overture to The Legend of William Tell, even though the solo he performed with Osbourne was just over two minutes. The live solo features some of Rhoads's fastest recorded playing.
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