The one guitarist Ozzy Osbourne considered family: “I love the guy”
Considering the axe-shredding company Ozzy Osbourne likes to keep, any guitarist afforded the honour of Prince Of Darkness’ inner family circle must have been doing something right.
Osbourne was barely 20 when jamming with one of rock’s all-time greatest riff conjurers. First playing the pub circuit as Earth in the late 1960s, the Birmingham heavy metal pioneers Black Sabbath downtuned their instruments, soaked up the decaying hippy idyll, and scored a darker channel of their deindustrialising suburban environment. Tony Iommi stood central to this gloomier descent, gifting the band the guitar work that sounded straight from the Devil’s music sheets.
Along with wider fame and US conquer, so too came plenty of alcohol and cocaine. Eight albums later, their unruly frontman was finally dismissed from the band that had paved the metal path, now adrift and destined back to the Aston factory of his hometown. In came Osbourne’s second great guitarist in his life.
Arriving like a minor miracle, former Quiet Riot axeman Randy Rhoads, several years Osbourne’s junior, brought youthful zest and insane fret chops to help the wayward singer. Pushed by future wife Sharon’s managerial muscle, the team entered the 1980s with Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman to chart acclaim, just in time to share the metal takeover of the MTV era.
Osbourne would roll through several guitarists, and fans will argue among themselves as to where the likes of Brad Gillis and Jake E Lee stack up, but no one would dispute Zakk Wylde’s essentiality to Osbourne’s latter years. Joining in time for 1988’s No Rest for the Wicked, Wylde would stand as lead guitarist as well as co-write much of the material up to the mid-1990s. After Joe Holmes’ brief tenure, Wylde returned in 2001 and formed an essential part of the band up until 2007’s Black Rain.
Yet, creative restlessness and a need to jump into new terrain saw Wylde part ways before 2010’s Scream. While reports of personal bickering had flared up due to the guitarist’s drinking, and some creative differences held regarding the direction of the Black Rain follow-up, Osbourne always held deep admiration for the Black Label Society shredder.
“Let me set something straight: I didn’t lose Zakk,” Osbourne once made clear to journalist Darryl Sterdan. “It was time to move on. I love the guy as much as I’ve always loved him, and as much as I will always love him. He’s like family, you know”.
There was clearly no bad blood. Wylde would make live cameos on and off over the years, performing ‘Crazy Train’ during Osbourne’s 2022 NFL season opening half-time show, and ripping through ‘Mama, I’m Coming Home’ and ‘No More Tears’ for the induction ceremony two years later. Til the end, Osbourne held Wylde’s craft and contribution to his career and life dear.
“I remember when he was in hospital a while back,” he recalled. “He had a blood clot in his hip or his leg or something. I sent him an email that said, ‘Zakk if you die before me, I’ll fucking kill you!’”
