Zakk Wylde was the longtime guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne having played with The Prince of Darkness for three separate lengthy stints. Wylde, also well known for his work with Black Label Society, Zakk Sabbath and Pantera, appeared on six Ozzy studio albums and three live efforts.
In a new interview with Waste Some Time With Jason Green, Wylde opened up about Osbourne’s passing which happened just weeks after the Ozzy/Sabbath “Back To The Beginning” farewell. “It was so crazy, ’cause when we went back to the house — obviously we went home (after ‘Back To The Beginning’), and then (my wife) Barb called me up (while on the road with Pantera) that Ozz passed away.”
Wylde continued: “Whenever any of this stuff (Ozzy’s health issues) would always come up with us, just ’cause Ozz was just so tough and resilient, it would just be, ‘Oh, it’s just another bump in the road or another hurdle. We’ll get through it.’ So it was just always that. So you just always — not that you take anything for granted ever, but it’d be like Ozzy being Evel Knievel —it’s, like, he survives, he makes a jump, or even if he gets into an accident, we get him to the hospital, he’ll be fine. And then he gets out and he’s all right, and then we’ll do another jump. You know what I mean? So you never think, like, ‘This is the end.’ You’re just, like, ‘Ah, Ozz will be fine.’ Then we’ll either do another record or whatever until Ozz gets better. But truly it was just like he willed himself to hang in there long enough to knock that show out. ‘Cause I was just saying, like, what happens if the show was this month (August)? He doesn’t make it. That’s what’s crazy about the whole thing. And you just always had that sense that he’s gonna be around forever, just kind of like Keith Richards and Mick Jagger and all the guys.”
Green noted that Osbourne never stopped making music in the studio despite his health issues. “Obviously until he get his health back, it was just, like, ‘Ah, just keep plugging away, man,'” Wylde added. “And either you quit or you keep conquering and climbing. And he never had any quit in them. So, yeah, it was just, like, all right, well, then in the meantime, until you can get better, well, we’ll write and make records or whatever you wanna do, man. I mean, that’s what I just figured. It was, like, ‘Ah, I’ll see Ozz on Tuesday,’ and we’ll start working again or whatever.”
Wylde previously told Guitar World about the final text he received from his longtime boss and friend. “Everybody and their mother were in the backstage dressing room (after ‘Back To The Beginning’) and I just wanted to give him a break,” Wylde said. “I figured we’d see him later on — the next day or whatever. But no. The last text I got from Ozz was saying, ‘Zakky, sorry, it was like a madhouse back there. I didn’t see you.’ He goes, ‘Thanks for everything.’ It was just us talking, saying, ‘I love you, buddy.’ That was it.”
Wylde’s full appearance can be viewed below.
