(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)
Sun 2 November 2025 19:45, UK
Even though Joe Walsh has gained a sense of notoriety as your everyday ‘Average Joe’, his career is a testament to the exact antithesis of that very ideal.
He is best known, of course, for his prolific stint in the Eagles, but this is a man who is worth so much more than a bunch of hits in a major rock band. Commercial success is nice and all, but the spice of life – and of rock music – is nuance, darkness, and possibly even a little dance with the devil. Although that may not instantly ring true to Walsh’s work, he knew someone for whom it most definitely did.
Indeed, as much as the guitarist has most prolifically made his mark as one of the Eagles, it’s easy to forget that Walsh had an entire life before them that laid the foundations for something stratospheric – and also allowed him to rub shoulders with some of the smouldering greats. To that end, he learned many of the tricks of the trade from one of the darkest, most enigmatic and crazed frontmen there was out there: the one and only Ozzy Osbourne.
It was the early 1970s when Black Sabbath were obliterating the scene and Walsh was still a member of James Gang, and the two came face to face for one fateful experience – not that they had much recollection of it later. “So Black Sabbath and whatever band I was in, we had a lot of shows together,” Walsh later explained. “Those were wonderful days, but it’s in the distant past. Ozzy and I don’t have much of a clue about it other than what I just told you. I wish we’d have had a chance to hang out more in the old days, but we wouldn’t be here probably if we had.”
They were wise, if slightly ominous, words – but in many ways, Osbourne wouldn’t want his legacy to be remembered in any other way. Even if they weren’t in each other’s orbit for long, the crusade of the ‘Prince of Darkness’ would have a transcendent impact on Walsh for the rest of time. As such, when the ‘Crazy Train’ of Osbourne’s life finally reached its end destination earlier this year, the Eagle could pay tribute in the only way he knew how.
Describing the Black Sabbath frontman as “A fine gentleman, father, husband and friend with a legacy that will never be denied,” it was clear Walsh recognised the hallmarks of the heavy metal giant just as much as the rest of the world. Yet there was also a more tender, unspoken side. “But for me, above all, a gentle soul. Our deepest condolences to Sharon and the family. May Ozzy Osbourne RIP, the ‘Prince of Darkness’!”, he added.
There are many people who hailed Osbourne as having an indelible legacy in the wake of his death – that fact is frankly nothing new. But for a titan of Walsh’s calibre to step out of his shrouded golden league to honour the person who undeniably made the greatest impact on his life, albeit with very different sonic repercussions, shows well and truly that we have lost our spectral prince of the underworld – and nothing can bring a presence like that back.
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