{"id":642634,"date":"2026-05-14T12:41:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T12:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/642634\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T12:41:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T12:41:16","slug":"zakk-wyldes-wild-stories-of-ozzy-osbourne-lemmy-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/642634\/","title":{"rendered":"Zakk Wylde’s wild stories of Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy and more"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zakk Wylde has been on this planet for 59 years, and he\u2019s been famous for nearly 40 of them. He rose to prominence in the late 80s as the fresh-faced teenage guitarist in Ozzy Osbourne<\/a>\u2019s band, and stood at the Double O\u2019s side, on and off, until the former Black Sabbath<\/a> frontman\u2019s death last year.<\/p>\n

Along the way, the man born Jeffrey Wielandt in New Jersey has launched the one-and-done southern rock band Pride And Glory and the more durable Black Label Society, whose new album, Engines Of Demolition, is their first in five years. In the past couple of years, he\u2019s taken the place of the late Dimebag Darrell in the current version of Pantera<\/a>, which he\u2019s at pains to call a \u201cPantera celebration\u201d rather than a full-blown reunion.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Over the years, Wylde has crossed paths, jammed and frequently got falling-down-drunk with some of rock\u2019s most famous names. \u201cYeah, it\u2019s been a pretty wild ride,\u201d says the man who hasn\u2019t been within a mile of the Boots razor aisle in decades, as we sit in a corner booth of the bar of a just-the-right-side-of-chic central London hotel, preparing to reminisce about some of his more memorable encounters.<\/p>\n

Latest Videos From Louder<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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Of course, there\u2019s only one place to start\u2026<\/p>\n

\n

\"Lightning\n<\/p>\n

Ozzy Osbourne<\/p>\n

I was nineteen or twenty when I joined Ozzy\u2019s band. Was I shitting myself? Come on, of course – this is a guy whose records I had grown up listening to. But from the start, he wasn\u2019t this big rock star ego guy. If we got turned away from a restaurant cos they were full, he\u2019d never go: \u201cDon\u2019t you know who I am?\u201d He\u2019d go: [doleful Ozzy impression] \u201cI guess they don\u2019t like Black Sabbath.\u201d<\/p>\n

He told me this great story about when he got Concorde for the first time, just after he got kicked out of Sabbath. So he\u2019s sitting there, bummed out, and the stewardess is, like: \u201cOh my god, I can\u2019t believe it\u2019s you!\u201d She\u2019s giving him drinks, getting him food, and he\u2019s just floored by it.\u201d He\u2019s going: \u201cMaybe things aren\u2019t so bad.\u201d As the plane lands, she says: \u201cCan I get a picture?\u201d So she takes the photo, and then she goes: \u201cOh wow, thank you Meat Loaf!\u201d Ozzy\u2019s like: [deflated] \u201cI really fucking need to cut back on the calories.\u201d<\/p>\n

Me and Oz were texting each other after the Back To The Beginning<\/a> gig. He was saying: \u201cI want to make another record, like when you were going through your Allman Brothers\/Lynyrd Skynyrd phase with No More Tears. So it\u2019ll be heavy but melodic.\u201d And I said: \u201cSurely you must be kidding.\u201d And he goes: \u201cNo, I\u2019m not kidding \u2013 and don\u2019t call me Shirley [laughs].\u201d<\/p>\n

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So I was figuring Ozzy would do his rehab and hopefully get better, and we\u2019d make another record and maybe Mom [Sharon Osbourne] would do this gig once a year for charity and give him something to strive for. Every night I\u2019m when saying my prayers I say hi to him.<\/p>\n

Lemmy<\/p>\n

Lemmy<\/a> and Ozzy were both one of a kind. I got to know Lemmy when Mot\u00f6rhead<\/a> did the Ozzy tour in 1991. Me and Randy [Castillo, Ozzy\u2019s drummer] and Mikey [Inez, Ozzy bassist] would go out drinking with them. Lemmy was truly amazing – he\u2019d be drinking the whole time, and I never saw him hammered, not even sloppy. He\u2019d be holding court, solving the problems of the world.<\/p>\n

He liked being in control and he loved life. His attitude was: \u201cNo one is going to tell me how I should be living my life. I love playing this music, I love having my cigarettes, my booze, a nice book.\u201d Him and Ozzy together were amazing, just hearing them exchanging ridiculous stories. You\u2019d go: \u201cYou\u2019re making that up.\u201d And they\u2019d be: \u201cWe\u2019re not.\u201d<\/p>\n

What to read next<\/p>\n

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\"Zakk\n<\/p>\n

Zakk Wylde and Lemmy at Metal Hammer’s Golden Gods awards show in London, 2015 (Image credit: Jo Hale\/Getty Images)Sebastian Bach<\/p>\n

I met Sebastian at the wedding of [rock photographer] Mark Weiss. A guy named Dave Feld, who was buddies with Mark, had seen me playing clubs. This was after Jake E Lee had left the band, and Dave said: \u201cZakk, you ever think about auditioning for Ozzy?\u201d I went: [sarcastically] \u201cYeah, after I\u2019ve been out for a slice of pizza with Jimmy Page and Robert Plant.\u201d<\/p>\n

So anyway, Dave knew Sebastian, and me and him ended up jamming together at Mark Weiss\u2019s wedding [covering Zeppelin\u2019s Rock And Roll, among other things]. After that, Dave got me an audition tape to Ozzy, and helped get Sebastian in Skid Row. That was a crazy wedding.<\/p>\n

Dimebag Darrell<\/p>\n

The first time I met Dime was at Donington [Monsters Of Rock festival, 1994] when Pantera and Pride & Glory were both playing, and then we met again in Japan when we were both doing the cover of a guitar magazine. We bonded over Randy Rhoads<\/a> and Eddie Van Halen<\/a> and Tony Iommi and Jimmy Page.<\/p>\n

Dime\u2019s energy was so contagious. He\u2019d just walk in the room, and he\u2019d be the life and soul of the party. It was nothing but a good time all the time with him. He\u2019d get people that were completely sober drinking again: \u201cWhat? I\u2019m just getting this guy a drink.\u201d \u201cBro, he\u2019s a major alcoholic, you can\u2019t do that!\u201d Or if somebody had a gambling problem, he\u2019d get them playing poker without knowing: \u201cWhat? Nobody told me!\u201d Playing those songs with the Pantera celebration is one of the great honours of my life.<\/p>\n

Dave Grohl<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never had beef with Dave Grohl<\/a>. What happened was that years ago, Ozzy\u2019s record label said: \u201cWe\u2019ll get Dave Grohl to come in and write songs for Ozzy, we\u2019ll get the guys from The Offspring<\/a>.\u201d I was like: \u201cIf that\u2019s where we\u2019re at, why don\u2019t you just get Justin Bieber in.\u201d That got interpreted as me taking a shot at Dave. Nah. Dave\u2019s awesome, man. He\u2019s super-talented and he\u2019s a sweetheart on top of it.<\/p>\n

I had the same thing with Black Label Society. The label went: \u201cWell, Zakk, maybe if you were a little bit more like Limp Bizkit<\/a>, that\u2019ll help sell records.\u201d What, like I\u2019m gonna make believe I never played with Ozzy? I\u2019m not gonna fucking act like I\u2019m something I\u2019m not.<\/p>\n

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\"Zakk\n<\/p>\n

Zakk Wylde, Dave Grohl, Lemmy, Taylor Hawkins and Slash at Grohl\u2019s birthday bash at The Forum in Inglewood, California, on January 10, 2015. (Image credit: Kevin Mazur\/WireImage)Jake E Lee<\/p>\n

I always say if Randy Rhoads is God, then Jake E Lee is Pope. I met him when I first joined Ozzy\u2019s band, and I\u2019ve always spoken highly of him. I have great memories of listening to Bark At The Moon and seeing him.<\/p>\n

He was there at the Back to The Beginning show, which was just like a class reunion with everyone you\u2019ve ever met. The most surreal moment at that day was running into Ronnie Wood in the bathroom. I was going in to take a piss and he was coming out. Did I shake his hand? No, man. There\u2019s a time and place for that, and that wasn\u2019t it.<\/p>\n

Elton John<\/p>\n

I remember seeing him doing Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds on The Sonny & Cher Show in 1975 when I was eight. He\u2019s the guy who made me want to get into music, even before I\u2019d heard Black Sabbath. I got an Elton picture book for Christmas when I was a kid. Me and Barbaranne renewed our vows for the 685th time, and we all went to Vegas and saw Elton when he was doing a residency thing.<\/p>\n

Because Mom and Ozzy know Elton, they arranged to go backstage and see him afterwards. I actually had that picture book I got for Christmas with me, and I showed it to Elton for him to sign. He was looking through it, like: \u201cOh wow\u2026\u201d I\u2019m thinking: \u201cI\u2019m here with the two people who are the reason I play music, this is storybook shit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Axl Rose, Slash & Duff McKagan<\/p>\n

I met Slash and Duff when I first joined Ozzy, just hanging round and going to the Rainbow and clubs. I played with those guys [in the mid-90s]. Gilby Clarke had just left the band, and they were trying to work out what to do and I think my name came up.<\/p>\n

They were trying to make up their minds what they wanted, and Ozzy was calling: \u201cAre you playing with the guys? Are you doing this thing? I can\u2019t wait until the last moment, and then you\u2019re gonna decide to go with that and I\u2019m stuck with nothing.\u201d I was trying to get an answer from the guys, and they didn\u2019t know what to do, so Ozzy got Joe Holmes in the band, who is a great guy.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019d been writing riffs the whole time, and we demoed a few of them at Duff\u2019s house, cos he had a little studio. I had all these riffs laying around, so I was like: \u201cWell if I\u2019m not gonna be playing with Oz or Axl and the Guns guys, I may as well use them for something and sing over them myself.\u201d That\u2019s how Black Label Society was born.<\/p>\n

Black Label Society – Ozzy’s Song (Official Music Video) – YouTube
\n\"Black<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a>
\nThe Allman Brothers <\/p>\n

They were another group I grew up listening to, and I got to play with them once, just after the No More Tears tour. My agent was friends with their agent, and one day my wife got a call: \u201c[Allmans guitarist] Dickey Betts can\u2019t do the show, the guys don\u2019t want to cancel, Zakk\u2019s a huge Allman Brothers fan, could he do it?\u201d It was like: \u201cYeah.\u201d Butch Trucks was a sweetheart, Gregg Allman, all of them. Did I fanboy out? Without a doubt.<\/p>\n

Billy Cox<\/p>\n

He\u2019s another one of those guys who has seen it all and has got the stories to prove it. I\u2019ve got to meet him through the Experience Hendrix tour, which I\u2019ve done. He\u2019ll sit around and tell you stories about playing with Jimi and being at Woodstock<\/a>. He\u2019s like a living piece of history. He\u2019s in his eighties now, but he\u2019s got all his faculties, he rides his motorcycle, all that kind of stuff. I hope I\u2019m that cool when I\u2019m eighty.<\/p>\n

Engines Of Demolition is out now via Spinefarm. Black Label Society tour the UK from May 28 to 30. For full dates and tickets, visit the Black Label Society website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zakk Wylde has been on this planet for 59 years, and he\u2019s been famous for nearly 40 of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":642635,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,216],"class_list":["post-642634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=642634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}