No Rest for the Wicked is the fifth solo studio album by English
heavy metal singer
Ozzy Osbourne. It was released on 28 September 1988,[5] and was re-issued / remastered on 22 August 1995, and again on 25 June 2002. The album was certified gold in December 1988 and has since gone double platinum.[5] It peaked at number 13 on the
Billboard 200.[6] It was the first album to feature guitarist
Zakk Wylde, keyboardist
John Sinclair and the first to feature bassist
Bob Daisley since Bark at the Moon.
Overview
No Rest for the Wicked is the recording debut of lead guitarist
Zakk Wylde.[7] After firing lead guitarist
Jake E. Lee in 1987, Osbourne received a demo tape from Wylde and later hired him after an audition.
Bassist/lyricist
Bob Daisley made his return to Osbourne's band after the two had a falling out in 1985. Once the album's recording was complete, Daisley was once again out, replaced by Osbourne's former
Black Sabbath bandmate
Geezer Butler for subsequent promotional tours.
"Miracle Man", "Crazy Babies", and "Breakin' All the Rules" were released as
singles with accompanying
music videos. The song "Hero" was an unlisted hidden bonus track on the original 1988 CD and cassette releases. The song "Miracle Man" was a pointed barb aimed at
televangelistJimmy Swaggart. Swaggart had long been critical of Osbourne's music and live performances, before he himself was involved in a 1988
prostitution scandal.[8] The song "Bloodbath in Paradise" references
Charles Manson and the Manson Family murders.
Creative Director John Carver was hired by
Osbourne's management to conceptualize and direct the album sleeve for "No Rest For the Wicked". Carver's concept was to portray Osbourne as
Jesus Christ, with photographer
Bob Carlos Clarke taking the cover photo.
^Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava.
ISBN978-951-1-21053-5.