Former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Jake E. Lee has long been regarded as one of the Prince of Darkness’s most accomplished collaborators, particularly during the keyboard-heavy early-to-mid-1980s era. Albums like 1983’s Bark at the Moon and 1986’s The Ultimate Sin showcased Lee’s technical prowess and songwriting contributions. However, in a recent appearance on the Tone-Talk podcast, Lee reaffirmed his longstanding dissatisfaction with the final mix of Bark at the Moon, pinpointing it as the Ozzy record he disliked most sonically.
Recounting the moment he first heard the completed mix, Lee described being invited by Ozzy and his manager (and wife) Sharon Osbourne to listen to the album. “I listened to it, and [Ozzy] said, ‘What do you think?'” Lee recalled. “I said, ‘I hate it. Keyboards are loud. Guitars—they’re not driving the songs anymore. They’re too low.’ I said, ‘I hate it.
According to Lee, Ozzy initially agreed, exclaiming, “That’s it! We need to remix it!” But Sharon intervened, citing deadlines: “No. We’re already way too late giving them the album. We can’t remix it. We have to send this in now.” She then reportedly turned to Lee and said, “And just get used to it.
Lee also touched on a separate regret from the era: signing away his writing and publishing rights post-recording under threat that his guitar parts would be erased and re-recorded by another player. Reflecting years later, he realized this was likely a bluff, as the tight schedule that prevented a remix would have made replacing all his tracks equally impossible. “Later that night, I realized… they certainly couldn’t have brought [in] another guitar player [to] re-record all my tracks,” he said. “So, that was a bluff.
Despite briefly considering refusing the “artist-unfriendly” agreement, Lee ultimately signed, admitting, “For a couple minutes, I was thinking, ‘I’m not signing.’ And then I thought, ‘Oh shit, no, I have to. I can’t take the chance.'”
Lee’s candid reflections highlight the tensions behind one of Ozzy Osbourne’s classic solo albums, underscoring the challenges faced by musicians in the high-pressure 1980s rock scene.
