killed in a plane crash on March 19, 1982, Osbourne
fell deeper into drug and alcohol abuse. His mar-
riage to Sharon Arden in July, 1982, helped him out
of his depression and put him back on track, writing
music, recording albums, and performing. In 1985,
at the historic Live Aid concert in Philadelphia to
benefit victims of famine in Africa, he performed
once again with Black Sabbath. Throughout the
1980’s, Osbourne battled drug and alcohol addic-
tion but continued to produce albums, such asBark
at the Moon(1983),The Ultimate Sin(1986), andNo
Rest for the Wicked(1988); all reached platinum sta-
tus. Because of his demeanor and the albums’ con-
tent, his albums were banned by the Moral Majority,
and he was sued by three sets of parents who blamed
his song “Suicide Solution” for the suicides of their
sons.
Impact Osbourne became a legend in the 1980’s.
He was at the forefront of a number of heavy metal
groups that wowed crowds and questioned the sensi-
bilities of the establishment. Osbourne continued to
tour, organized the heavy metal tour Ozzfest begin-
ning in 1996, and starred in MTV’s popular televi-
sion seriesThe Osbournes, which premiered in 2002.
Further Reading
Clerk, Carol.Diar y of a Madman: Ozzy Osbourne—The
Stories Behind the Classic Songs. New York: Thun-
der’s Mouth Press, 2002.
Fricke, David. “For Ozzy Osbourne, There Is Reality
Television—and There Is Real Life.”Rolling Stone
25 (July, 2002): 62-67.
Marcia B. Dinneen
See also Guns n’ Roses; Heavy metal; Live Aid;
Mötley Crüe; MTV; Music; Music videos; Parental ad-
visory stickers; Van Halen.
Ozone hole
Definition The depletion of stratospheric ozone
by artificial chemicals
Manufacture of chlorofluorocarbons was banned during
the 1980’s because of their role in depleting ozone in the
stratosphere. This depletion of ozone, which protects the
earth from some types of ultraviolet radiation, was associ-
ated with an increased risk of skin cancer. Despite the ban,
the ozone layer was slow to heal.
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) initially raised no envi-
ronmental questions when they were first marketed
by DuPont Chemical during the 1930’s under the
trade name Freon. CFCs were first manufactured in
1930, having been invented by Thomas Midgley, a
chemist working for the Chevron Corporation.
By the early 1980’s, manufacturers in the United
States were producing more than 750 million pounds
of CFCs a year, having found multiple uses for them:
as propellants in aerosol sprays, as solvents used to
clean silicon chips, in building and automobile air
conditioning systems, and in the manufacture of
polystyrene cups, egg cartons, and containers for
fast food. CFCs were cheap to manufacture, non-
toxic, and nonflammable. By the time their legal
manufacture was banned internationally during the
late 1980’s, CFCs were a $28-billion-a-year industry
and had been used in roughly 90 million U.S. car
and truck air conditioners, 100 million refrigera-
tors, 30 million freezers, and 45 million air condi-
tioners in homes and other buildings.CFCs and Ozone Depletion During June, 1974,
chemists F. Sherwood Rowland and Mario J. Molina
reported inNaturethat CFCs were working into the
stratosphere and depleting the ozone column. This
research, augmented during the 1980’s, led to a No-
bel Prize in Chemistry for Rowland and Molina and
resulted in DuPont’s ceasing the manufacture of
CFCs. Rowland and Molina’s work was theoretical.
In the early 1980’s, their theories were confirmed as
scientists discovered that CFCs were, in fact, rapidly
thinning the ozone layer over the Antarctic.
The major human concern with ozone depletion
is ozone’s role in shielding flesh and blood from
several frequencies of ultraviolet radiation. One of
these frequencies, ultraviolet B, is strong enough to
break the bonds of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
molecules, which carry the genetic coding of all liv-
ing beings, including humans. While plants and ani-
mals are generally able to repair damaged DNA, on
occasion the damaged DNA molecules can continue
to replicate, leading to dangerous forms of basal,
squamous, and melanoma skin cancers in humans.
The probability that DNA can be damaged by ultra-
violet light varies with wavelength, shorter wave-
lengths being the most dangerous.
During 1985, a team of scientists working with the
British Antarctic Survey reported a startling decline
in “column ozone values” above an observation sta-The Eighties in America Ozone hole 741