Shot in the Dark (Ozzy Osbourne song)

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"Shot in the Dark"
Ozzy Osbourne - Shot in the Dark.jpg
Single by Ozzy Osbourne
from the album The Ultimate Sin
B-side "Rock 'n' Roll Rebel"
Released20 January 1986 (UK) [1]
Genre Glam metal [2] [3]
Length4:26
Label CBS Associated
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s) Ron Nevison
Ozzy Osbourne singles chronology
"So Tired"
(1983)		"Shot in the Dark"
(1986)		"The Ultimate Sin"
(1986)

"Shot in the Dark" is a song recorded and performed by English heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne. It is the ninth and final track on his 1986 album The Ultimate Sin . A top-ten hit on mainstream rock radio, the song also became his first single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 68. [4] The official music video for the song was directed by Andy Morahan, [5] and was played in power rotation on MTV. [6]

Contents

Composition history

"Shot in the Dark" was originally composed sometime around 1983 by members of Wildlife, a band featuring Steve Overland, Chris Overland, Simon Kirke of Bad Company, keyboardist Mark Booty, and future Ozzy Osbourne bassist Phil Soussan. Wildlife recorded a demo version of the song that was never officially released. When Soussan joined Ozzy Osbourne's band a couple of years later, he and Osbourne then reworked the song for Ozzy Osbourne's recording and release in early 1986. As a result, there has been much debate over the proper authorship of the song. Although the writing is credited to Soussan and Osbourne, some question whether other members of Wildlife (the Overland brothers, in particular) deserve writing credit for Osbourne's rendition. [7]

Later releases and omissions

Despite the commercial success of "Shot in the Dark", it was notably omitted from various re-releases and further compilations after 2000, widely believed to be the result of the aforementioned authorship issues, along with other legal disputes from Phil Soussan and Bob Daisley, [8] while Osbourne himself has simply stated that he hates The Ultimate Sin album in general. [9] One notable exception to the song's consistent exclusion from compilations is the original 1997 release of The Ozzman Cometh . However, the 2002 re-release of this retrospective featured the track "Miracle Man" replacing "Shot in the Dark". In addition, the song is absent from compilations such as The Essential Ozzy Osbourne , Prince of Darkness , and Memoirs of a Madman . Both the EP Just Say Ozzy , which contains a live version of the song, and the original studio album The Ultimate Sin, were officially deleted from Ozzy's catalog in 2002.

The original Ozzy Osbourne un-edited studio recording of "Shot in the Dark" (4:26) appears only on the 1986 single and the original release of The Ultimate Sin album. Later reissues of albums featuring a studio version of "Shot in the Dark" (namely, the 1995 remastered edition of The Ultimate Sin and the original 1997 release of The Ozzman Cometh) have the song edited to a 4:16 version, missing four extra measures of music after the first chorus.

The original Wildlife rendition of the song was recorded and released by the Overland brothers' post-Wildlife AOR band FM on their 2012 release Only Foolin EP'. [10] The song was also covered by Finnish melodic rock band Stala & So. on their 2013 album Play Another Round (as bonus track), by Children of Bodom as a bonus track on their 2000 record Follow the Reaper , by German power metal band Powerwolf on their 2015 album Metallum Nostrum and by Swiss heavy metal group Burning Witches on their 2023 record The Dark Tower.

Track listing

Side A
No.TitleLength
1."Shot in the Dark"4:26
Side B
No.TitleLength
1."Rock 'N' Roll Rebel"5:28

Charts

Chart (1986)Peak
position
Ireland (IRMA) [11] 15
UK Singles (OCC) [12] 20
US Billboard Hot 100 [13] 68
US Mainstream Rock ( Billboard ) [14] 10

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References

  1. ↑ "Music Week" (PDF). p. 18.
  2. ↑ Begrand, Adrien (5 April 2017). "36 Essential '80s Pop Metal Tracks". Stereogum . Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  3. ↑ "Ozzy Osbourne's 20 Best Solo Songs, Ranked". SPIN. 2020-02-20. Retrieved 2021-08-07.
  4. ↑ "Ozzy Osbourne | Awards". AllMusic . Retrieved 1 February 2014.
  5. ↑ Garcia, Alex S. "mvdbase.com - Ozzy Osbourne - "Shot in the dark [version 1]"". Music Video DataBase. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  6. ↑ MTV Programming, 22 February 1986
  7. ↑ Interview with FM Vocalist, Steve Overland, Retrieved 3 December 2015
  8. ↑ "Trivia / Ozzy Osbourne" . Retrieved 19 Dec 2020. The original version of The Ultimate Sin has been out of print since 1995. No official reason for this has been given, but it's widely believed that it's due to an unresolved legal struggle between Ozzy Osburne [sic] and songwriter Phil Soussan over the rights to the song "Shot in the Dark."
  9. ↑ "Fetus Jars and Werewolves: Ozzy Osbourne Looks Back Ahead of Box Set Release". Rolling Stone . 23 Aug 2019. asked his least favorite, the reply is swift: 1986's The Ultimate Sin. Although it's currently out of print physically (but available on streaming services), the LP contains one of his biggest hits, "Shot in the Dark," and has been certified double platinum.
  10. ↑ "FM: "Only Foolin' EP"". Rock United. 28 November 2012. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  11. ↑ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Shot in the Dark". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved June 16, 2021.
  12. ↑ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved January 20, 2019.
  13. ↑ "Ozzy Osbourne Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved June 16, 2021.
  14. ↑ "Ozzy Osbourne Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved June 16, 2021.
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