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"The show attracted an audience of 10 million. There will be lots of traffic and tremendous excitement at retail for this project."
——Epic's Steve Barnett

ALL IN THE F**KING FAMILY

Osbournes Overdrive Now Includes
Family Favorites Disc
Now it’s time to f**king cash in.

With MTV’s first season of The Osbournes a rousing success, America’s first family is pursuing a media blitz that has seen them turn up everywhere. The clan has taken every conceivable media opportunity, from appearances on Howard Stern, Rosie O’Donnell, Barbara Walters and Jay Leno to the recent White House Correspondents Dinner in the nation’s capitol, where they mingled with First Father George W. himself.

And now, with Ozzfest having launched its European tour in Nuremberg, Germany, Friday night (5/17), ahead of its July 6 bow in Bristow, VA, Epic Records is set to release The Osbourne Family Album June 11. The first single, daughter Kelly’s cover of Madonna’s 1986 hit “Papa Don’t Preach” has quickly kicked in at stations like KIIS L.A. and Z100 N.Y. (where it’s up to 40 spins a week and generating massive requests). It was #1 Most Added at Pop radio yesterday. “I’m handing the torch over to my daughter,” says paterfamilias Ozzy in a rare moment of lucidity. Marcos Siega (Blink-182, Papa Roach, P.O.D.) directed the video for the track, which will go to MTV as soon as the family’s new deal with the network is inked.

Says Epic EVP/GM Steve Barnett: “The single’s exploding on radio. This is a record that has the potential to surprise a lot of people. The show attracted an audience of 10 million. There will be lots of traffic and tremendous excitement at retail for this project.”

The clan showed up in N.Y. last week—with Ozzy via satellite from London—for a press conference to introduce the album, a collection of tracks handpicked by the gang themselves. They also made a surprise appearance at the label’s N.Y. offices, where they greeted leading retailers during a lunch meeting with Epic’s sales staff.

The 13-track album features a variety of songs with sentimental meaning to the Osbournes, including John Lennon’s “Imagine” and Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight,” both favorites of Ozzy and wife/manager Sharon during their courting days.

Ozzy classics “Crazy Train,” “Dreamer” and “Mama, I’m Coming Home” are also included, as is a lounge version of “Crazy Train” by Osbournes neighbor Pat Boone, heard as the show's theme song. The album also includes The Kinks’ “You Really Got Me,” which Ozzy calls “the first heavy metal riff I ever heard.” Son Jack, now a budding A&R exec in his role as Ozzfest booker, brought in new band Dillusion’s “Mirror Image.” Other songs include System of a Down’s cover of Black Sabbath’s “Snowblind,” The Cars’ “Drive,” Starsailor’s “Good Souls” (a live, previously unreleased track) and Chevelle’s “Family System.” Snippets of the show’s dialogue, which link the tracks into a thematic whole, were put together by Epic VP Worldwide Mktg. Scott Greer.

Promotion and marketing initiatives include: Rolling Stone, Blender, Entertainment Weekly, Interview, Cosmo and YM covers; contests and online promotions involving the family; CD packaging that includes a Father’s Day (6/16) greeting card; a set of cable TV spots filmed with the whole clan, and point-of-purchase posters that boast, “F**k my family. I’m moving in with the Osbournes.”

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