BS BULLETIN
- Dee Snider claimed Ozzy Osbourne “always had bass players write his lyrics,” naming Geezer Butler, Bob Daisley and Lemmy Kilmister.
- Kelly Osbourne called Snider’s comments “spectacularly classless” and suggested he was using her late father’s name to make himself relevant again.
- There is real history behind the credit dispute: Daisley was an important lyricist and songwriter on Ozzy’s solo records. But that is not the same thing as saying Ozzy contributed nothing.
Dee Snider apparently decided that what the world needed in August 2026 was a new argument about whether Ozzy Osbourne deserved credit for his own music.
Kelly Osbourne had thoughts. Lots of them.
The Twisted Sister frontman ignited the fight while discussing longtime Ozzy bassist Bob Daisley and the complicated history of songwriting credits surrounding Ozzy’s solo albums.
Snider wrote:
“Ozzy always had bass players write his lyrics.”
He pointed to Geezer Butler as Black Sabbath’s principal lyricist, Daisley during Ozzy’s early solo career and Motörhead legend Lemmy Kilmister, who later wrote lyrics for several Ozzy songs.
Kelly Osbourne was not amused. She defended her father’s legacy as a musician, singer, songwriter and bandleader, arguing that decades of records, performances and influence speak considerably louder than Snider’s assessment.
Then she got personal. Kelly called Snider’s commentary:
“spectacularly classless.”
And according to multiple reports, she suggested Snider was dragging her father’s name into the headlines because his own relevance had faded. Her sharpest line may have been the simplest:
“Trying to make my father smaller won’t make Dee Snider bigger.”
That leaves a mark. By Friday morning, Snider was trying to turn the temperature down. He posted that he had:
“NOTHING BUT LOVE FOR OZZY.”
Snider said Black Sabbath had changed his life and explained that, as a songwriter himself, he can be particularly sensitive about “credit and royalties.”
That clarification matters, because Snider’s original point wasn’t entirely invented. There really is a long and messy history involving who wrote what on some of Ozzy Osbourne’s most famous records.
Geezer Butler was indeed Black Sabbath’s principal lyricist during much of Ozzy’s tenure with the band. Bob Daisley was also an enormously important creative collaborator during Ozzy’s early solo years.
Daisley has long maintained that he wrote a substantial portion of the lyrics on Ozzy’s early solo albums, and he received songwriting credits on records including Blizzard of Ozz and No Rest for the Wicked. The credits on some of the albums between those releases became bitterly disputed.
Entertainment Weekly notes that Daisley and drummer Lee Kerslake successfully pursued litigation over improper credits involving Diary of a Madman. Daisley also claimed there were disputes involving Bark at the Moon and The Ultimate Sin.
So if Snider’s narrower argument is: Bob Daisley deserves more recognition for his songwriting contribution to Ozzy’s catalog, there is plenty of historical evidence supporting that discussion. But that is a long way from reducing Ozzy Osbourne to a guy who wandered into the vocal booth after somebody else finished making the record.
The earliest Blizzard of Ozz material was developed collaboratively by Ozzy, guitarist Randy Rhoads and Daisley. Contemporary accounts and later recollections describe all three as central to creating the record that launched one of rock’s biggest solo careers.
And songwriting itself is broader than typing lyrics onto a sheet of paper. Melody, vocal phrasing, arrangement, musical concepts and performance can all become crucial pieces of creating a song. Whatever anybody thinks about the old royalty fights, there was only one Ozzy Osbourne singing those songs. That counted for something. Quite a lot, actually.
Kelly didn’t stop at defending her father. She invited a comparison between Ozzy and Snider. And then basically argued that the comparison ended the debate. She noted that Snider enjoyed a comparatively brief period of major mainstream commercial success with Twisted Sister, while Ozzy’s career stretched across nearly six decades — first helping define heavy metal with Black Sabbath and then becoming a massive solo artist.
That was clearly intended to hurt.
And it probably did.
Snider’s contribution to rock shouldn’t be erased either. “We’re Not Gonna Take It” and “I Wanna Rock” became cultural fixtures, and Twisted Sister earned its place in 1980s metal history.
But Ozzy? Ozzy is a different category. Black Sabbath didn’t merely make successful records. They helped create an entire genre.
Then Ozzy somehow survived being kicked out of Sabbath and built a second legendary career around records such as Blizzard of Ozz, Diary of a Madman and No More Tears.
So when Kelly says her father does not need Dee Snider to validate his place in music history, she’s standing on pretty firm ground.
DBS WIRE SOURCES:
- Fox News — Kelly Osbourne blasts Dee Snider as ‘spectacularly classless’ over Ozzy songwriting claim
- People — Kelly Osbourne defends Ozzy’s legacy after Dee Snider comments
- Entertainment Weekly — Kelly Osbourne fires back as Snider questions Ozzy songwriting
- Page Six — Kelly Osbourne eviscerates Dee Snider over Ozzy comments
- Guitar World — Bob Daisley recalls his years writing and recording with Ozzy Osbourne
