(This story was originally published November 29, 2014)
The frigid temperatures and the danger of being late to school was no deterrent to local rock n’ roll fans in 1983.
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A Scranton Times article described “a mass of teeners three abreast and wending down the block” outside the Spruce Record Shop to buy $11 tickets to a concert slated for Feb. 12, 1983 at Scranton’s Catholic Youth Center. The scene was similar at Paperback Booksmith at the Viewmont Mall and Stone Hill on Lackawanna Avenue. The musician? Heavy metal rocker Ozzy Osbourne.
Hashem Sharifi, second from left, owner of Stone Hill Shop, Lackawanna and Penn avenues, watches as his cousin, Bahram Sharifi, refunds ticket money from the canceled Ozzy Osbourne concert on Feb 16, 1983. Ron Green, right, turns in his ticket as Chris Domal receives cash. (TIMES-TRIBUNE FILE)
The former member of Black Sabbath had made a very controversial name for himself – biting the head off a bat at a 1982 concert in Des Moines, rumors of involvement with Satanic cults and other outlandish behavior. “He’s massive and bizarre,” one “freckle-faced girl with a bandana headpiece” told the Times reporter on Jan. 20, 1983. The same article reported that the three locations ran out of tickets by late morning.
Ozzy’s scheduled appearance in Scranton was part of a tour that made stops in several smaller cities that year. Local heavy-metal fans’ excitement was short-lived, however.
Five days after tickets went on sale, The Scranton Times reported that city Public Safety Director James Noone “has serious doubts about whether he will issue a permit” for the Ozzy Osbourne concert. At the time, about 4,000 tickets to the show had been sold.
Mr. Noone “said he wants to know whether past stories about Osbourne are true. If they are, he said, they could be enough to prevent the issuance of a permit,” according to the Jan. 25, 1983, article.
Apparently, Mr. Noone had been unfamiliar with the heavy-metal rocker. His and other Scranton officials’ concerns were raised after the mayor’s office received calls from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Humane Society of Lackawanna County, a nun, a therapist from Lourdesmont School, teachers and parents, the article reported.
Before Scranton officials could meet to discuss it, Scranton CYC officials canceled the contract covering the concert because of “Osbourne’s alleged desecration of a national moment, alleged affiliation with Satanic cults and alleged abuse of animals,” according to a Jan. 26, 1983 article. The concert’s promoter, Makoul Productions, filed paperwork in Lackawanna County Court so the show could go on.
Makoul official Gene Fritzinger said the rocker’s misdeeds were “all whispers down the alley” and called Mr. Osbourne “a national figure.” He dismissed rumors about plans to sacrifice a cow during the show in Scranton.
“They’re listening to all the negative stuff,” Mr. Fritzinger was quoted in the Jan. 26 article. “They’re ignoring the very positive response of 4,000 people buying tickets.”
The American Civil Liberties Union got involved in the fight, raising concerns that canceling the concert encroached on free speech.
Ultimately, the show did not go on. A panel of county judges – Edwin Kosik, James Munley and James Walsh – denied the request for an injunction, ruling that there were other remedies that Mr. Osbourne and Makoul officials could pursue.
The judges also noted that additions CYC officials had made to the concert contract to ensure the musician would “not do any of the crazy and uncouth things which have made him such a controversial figure” was not signed by Ozzy himself, according to a Feb. 11, 1983 Times article.
Scranton wasn’t the only town with concerns about Ozzy Osbourne in the winter of 1983. His concert a day later at the University of Maryland was also canceled, though he performed in Charlotte, North Carolina, as scheduled a day or so after that.