Suicide Solution

“Suicide Solution” is a song performed by heavy metal vocalist John Michael “Ozzy” Osbourne, who recorded it as the fifth of nine selections included on his 1980 album Blizzard of Ozz. Guitarist Randy Rhoads composed the main riff of the song and bassist/lyricist Bob Daisley wrote the lyrics.

Overview

Osbourne said in 1991 that the song was about the alcohol-related death of AC/DC's Bon Scott in 1980,^[1] but Daisley revealed in 2002 that he had Osbourne himself in mind when he wrote the lyrics.^[2] Most likely the song's title is not a reference to suicide as being a solution to anything, but rather it is a reference to alcohol (as a liquid substance) being a "solution of suicide" in the same sense as "solution of hydrogen peroxide." As the word "solution" has multiple meanings, the definition intended for this context is as follows, based on the definition provided for "solution" which appears in Webster's Dictionary: "1.a. A spontaneously forming homogeneous mixture of two or more substances [alcohol and water in this case], retaining its constitution in subdivision to molecular volumes, displaying no settling, and having various possible proportions of the constituents, which may be solids, liquids, gases, or intercombinations. b. Formation of such a mixture. c. The state of being dissolved."
In this manner the word "solution" shares the same etymology as the word "solvent."
Unfortunately, the shared meaning of the song and its title has been distorted by misunderstanding, ending up misleading people to assume the meaning implies that suicide is a means of solving a crisis or problem. But Daisley's intent was to regard alcohol as being a liquid solution (like hydrogen peroxide or other chemical solutions) of alcohol and water.

A live version of the song from Osbourne's 1987 album Tribute is notable for an extended guitar solo midway through by guitarist Randy Rhoads. A very similar solo can be heard on the song "Laughing Gas" by Quiet Riot, the band Rhoads had founded in the 1970s.

Rhoads had originally used the main guitar riff to "Suicide Solution," which opens the song, in the verse of the Quiet Riot track "Force of Habit."

Controversy

On January 12, 1986, a lawsuit against Osbourne was filed by the parents of John McCollum, a depressed teenager who committed suicide allegedly after listening to this song. The plaintiffs, however, failed to prove that Osbourne had any responsibility for the teenager's death. The plaintiffs's attorneys alleged that a line in the song stated, "Why try? Get the gun and shoot!"^[3] Lyricist Daisley and Osbourne himself both claimed that the line actually says, "Get the flaps out." "Flaps," they insisted, was an English slang term for female genitalia. Don Arden, Black Sabbath's former manager and the father of Sharon Osbourne, is on record as having said of the song's controversial lyrics: "To be perfectly honest, I would be doubtful as to whether Mr. Osbourne knew the meaning of the lyrics, if there was any meaning, because his command of the English language is minimal."^[4]

Personnel

• Ozzy Osbourne – vocals
• Randy Rhoads – guitar
• Bob Daisley – bass
• Lee Kerslake – drums
• Don Airey – keyboards

See also

• "Better By You, Better Than Me"
• Elyse Pahler

References

1. ↑ Don't Blame Me documentary film, 1991, directed by Jeb Brien.
2. ↑ Ozzy Osbourne - Biography
3. ↑ VH1: Behind The Music--Ozzy Osbourne, VH1. Paramount Television, 1998.
4. ↑ Bob Daisley's History With The Osbournes http://www.bobdaisley.com/interview/website

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics