Now that I'm doing QA Automation, a lot of times this job consists of kicking tests off and letting them run. This usually gives me nothing to do until things run to completion. On one hand, it means I have to stay a little later to see how things turn out and apply whatever changes I have to make. On the other hand, I sometimes have honestly no other choice than screw around for an hour.

I don't know how the conversation got started, but this afternoon I told Dave all about Black Sabbath's history. It is, I told him, one of those subjects that I can ramble on about for hours. I also showed him Joe Siegler's web site and guided him through it. He seemed fascinated by the whole thing. I know he was certainly interested, otherwise he wouldn't have asked questions and let me go on for 45 minutes.

He shared my amazement. Namely, over the fact that the status quo only seems to care about Black Sabbath up to "the Ozzy years" (and even then, typically only the first 5 years of his stay) yet the "post-Ozzy" Sabbath has some of the most rich and detailed in history than any other band.

And on top of all that, so many people who even claim to be Ozzy fans are completely oblivious to some of the stuff Black Sabbath has accomplished without him, and some of the crooked things he and Sharron have done. It is, as I explained to Dave, one enormous soap opera.

Some facts that zealous Ozzy fans don't want to hear:

- Ozzy didn't quit Black Sabbath in 1979. He was "asked to leave". In other words, fired.

- Ozzy was never Black Sabbath's main lyricist by a long shot. Geezer Butler was.

- The first few albums Black Sabbath did without Ozzy sold BETTER than the last few done with Ozzy.

- Ozzy did not jump into a world of fame and fortune after leaving Black Sabbath. He struggled hard with his original band, and was still under the shadow of Black Sabbath for a while (as evident by the fact that his older shows would always end with Black Sabbath songs). What helped him was the fact that he hooked up with guys who were great musicians and song writers. And how did he say thanks? Keep reading.

- A few years ago, Ozzy "remastered" his first couple of solo albums. But what the packaging didn't indicate was that the albums had the drum and bass parts RE-RECORDED with his new drummer and bassist. Reviews were horrible as, not surprisingly, you CAN'T re-record drums and have it sound normal. No human drummer has mechanically perfect timing, which is why drums are always recorded first. Why did he do this? To escape paying royalties to the guys who helped Ozzy get his solo career launched. Can you still buy the original versions? Nope, they've been permanently deleted from his catalog.

- The Ozzfest was not the first time the original line-up of Black Sabbath had reunited. They reunited for 1985's Live Aid concert, and in 1992 for Ozzy's "Retirement" tour.

- Wait a minute, what "Retirement"? That was 12 years into his solo career, and he's still been playing in the additional 12 years after that, hasn't he? Exactly.

- In 1992, Black Sabbath was reunited with Ronnie James Dio, and things were going great. Then came the news that Black Sabbath was OPENING for Ozzy on the last two shows of his "farewell/retirement" tour. Understandibly, Dio bailed. Another successful line-up that was dissolved via chasing after an Ozzy reunion, like it was some holy grail. But how did that Ozzy reunion turn out?

- At the end of that "retirement" tour in 1992, there was news that the original Black Sabbath line-up would put out a new album and do a new tour. Contracts were all ready, but at the last minute Ozzy decided not to sign.

- Ozzy had a stroke around 1992. They tried their best to cover that up ("We're interviewing Ozzy here tonight, and he, uh, hasn't had sleep in 3 days!" - host of Headbangers' Ball). But check out any inteviews of him from before and after.

- Bill Ward, Sabbath's original drummer, was originally not asked to reunite with Black Sabbath. Instead they grabbed Mike Bordin of Faith No More. Sharron sent Bill Ward a fax saying "Your services are not needed."

The list goes on. There have been plenty of other times when legit members of Black Sabbath got screwed, and it had nothing to do with Ozzy.

So why is this guy considered "the" member of Black Sabbath? Why does he have drones and drones of fans who swear the man can do no wrong? Beats me.