The Ozzy Osbourne and Madonna Collaboration the World Almost Never Got to See (Thanks, Internet)

For all its pitfalls and problems, the internet is a particularly handy tool for saving pop culture gems from being lost to time—and the Ozzy Osbourne and Madonna collaboration the world almost never got to see is certainly no exception. The track definitely sounds like something Madonna might release. But the idea that Madonna would duet with the Prince of Darkness (and vice versa) makes this techno track unusual. And if it weren’t for the internet, this unexpected collaboration might have only been enjoyed by niche early 1990s dance compilation vinyl collectors.

Videos by American Songwriter

Don Was, co-founder of Was (Not Was), invited Madonna to record guest vocals on a track called “Shake Your Head”. “She did a great job,” Was recalled to Rolling Stone in 2025. “But it didn’t sound like Was (Not Was) to me anymore.” To gain back some of that authenticity, Was invited then-former Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne to cut some vocals, too. The pair knew each other after Was opened for Black Sabbath in 1974. Was’ folk band fled the stage after the audience started pelting them with beer bottles. But the musicians maintained a positive connection.

So positive, in fact, that Osbourne was willing to cut vocals on a song unlike anything he had released before that included lyrics like, “You can’t talk Shakespeare to a monkey.” When Was (Not Was) tried to confirm the new version with Madonna, she wouldn’t let them use her vocal takes. They hired Kim Basinger instead. That is the version Was (Not Was) put on their second album, Born to Laugh at Tornadoes.

How the Ozzy Osbourne and Madonna Collab Eventually Saw the Light of Day

The band later remixed the track for the compilation album, Now Dance 92. According to some unverified reports, the band sent Madonna’s original vocals to the remixer, Steve “Silk” Hurley, by mistake. But in his 2025 Rolling Stone interview, Don Was said they were aware the vocals were Madonna’s. “We realized about eight years later that we had Ozzy and Madonna on parallel tracks,” he explained. “We gave it to a remixer, and he turned it into an Ozzy/Madonna duet.”

Madonna still didn’t approve her vocals for the final record. Nevertheless, the version with Madonna and Ozzy Osbourne made it onto two versions of Now Dance 92, a two-LP and double-cassette. If it weren’t for the internet, that version of “Shake Your Head” might have been lost to time (and the collections of niche dance compilation enthusiasts). Luckily, the internet can be good for some things, including digitizing these pre-streaming releases so that we can listen to them without hunting down that one double-LP from 1992.

The song makes for an unlikely mashup, but it’s hardly the weirdest music to come out of the 1980s. And with all of his dove-biting, ant-snorting, and urine-drinking in those days, “Shake Your Head” doesn’t even come close to being the weirdest thing Osbourne did in the 80s.

Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images