Zakk Wylde has newly spoken at length about the passing of his late bandmate and friend, heavy metal icon Ozzy Osbourne. Wylde was a fixture in Osbourne‘s backing band throughout much of Ozzy‘s monumental solo career, which ultimately saw him inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame twice: once with Black Sabbath, and the second on the merits of his solo output.
Speaking with the Los Angeles Times about the man he affectionally referred to as ‘the boss’, Wylde spoke of Ozzy‘s resilience and humor, as well as the various hijinks they got into during their decades spent together on the road and in the studio.
He also looked back at Ozzy‘s final days prior to his untimely July 22nd, passing from a heart attack. Despite facing considerable health challenges, the 76-year-old Prince Of Darkness managed to deliver a pair of farewell performances at an all-star tribute show to both him and the pioneering heavy metal band he fronted, Black Sabbath. That concert took place just weeks ahead of his death.
When asked in this new interview if Wylde thought Ozzy knew that farewell show, ‘Back To The Beginning“, would be his last, Wylde replied:
“No, I don’t think so. The way I always felt, all the things that I’ve gone through with them, it was always — if it was a setback or anything like that — it was more of a speed bump and it was just like, ‘All right, we’ll fix the flat tire on the truck and then we’ll just keep moving.’ So, I think it was more like that, because I knew he still wanted to make records and things like that. But I was just thinking, ‘Who knows, man, hopefully if this thing goes over well, then we might be able to do some other shows or do select shows throughout the year.’ Like these Ozzfest-type things, just so Oz can still keep doing gigs, but maybe not touring in the capacity of doing four shows a week or whatever.”
On the notion of Ozzy seemingly being ‘indestructible’, Wylde offered:
“It’s just like with the Stones, you just always think they’re going to be there. I felt like that with us. Even when we were doing that show, I didn’t go, ‘Oh, this is the last time I’m ever going to play ‘’Mama, I’m Coming Home‘ with him or ‘Crazy Train‘ with him or anything.’ You’re in the moment anyways. You’re playing, so my concern was making sure he was OK. I wasn’t thinking about any of that, because it’s like you’re playing a game.
You never think it’s your last Super Bowl; you’re playing and you’re playing to win. So, yeah, I didn’t think about it, and like I said, I’ve always been optimistic. I would always tell him, no matter how bummed he got, ‘Just keep doing therapy and keep doing everything you’ve got to do because what’s the option? Then you just quit in the corner, and you whine about it.
Or you could do something about it, with therapy and hitting the weights and doing everything you got to do.’ Like you said, there was no quit in him. So, that’s where we were at. I never thought like, “Oh, yeah, this was the last gig.” I didn’t think after we did the show, two weeks from now, he was gonna be gone. I wasn’t thinking that at all.”
When asked what he would want people to remember most about Ozzy, Wylde responded:
“Like I said, he had a heart of gold, man. It was that he had all the best qualities you’d want in somebody; his heart of gold, and then you couple that with him just being hard as nails and tough, no quit ever.”
