Zakk Wylde reflects on Ozzy Osbourne's life.

During his conversation with the Los Angeles Times, Zakk Wylde, who’d been part of Ozzy Osbourne’s band on and off since 1987 and performed at Black Sabbath’s Back to the Beginning farewell show, reflected on his time working with the Prince of Darkness, beginning with the making of 2007’s Black Rain. It marked Wylde’s first album with Ozzy since 2001’s Down to Earth and his last until 2022’s Patient Number 9. Notably, it was also Ozzy’s first sober record.

“What always struck me was his fortitude to just keep going forward,” Wylde said, praising Ozzy’s resilience through challenges like being fired from Black Sabbath and losing Randy Rhoads. He continued:

“Like I said, I always feel like he was my hero for his toughness as well. Even down to the last show, he willed himself, like, ‘I’m going to do this show.’ And he did it. He had that one thing alone, like, ‘We’re not going to quit.’ And I told him, after the gig when I texted him, I was like, ‘Ozzy, you never quit, man. You did great.’ So, yeah, without a doubt, man, it just is toughness alone. . . . If he was a fighter, a boxer, no matter how lumped up he was, he would just continue.”

Wylde also celebrated Ozzy’s trademark humor, saying: “Oh, my God. [He was] so hilarious, man. He always made fun of himself all the time. I always said it was a miracle any work ever got done just because we’d always be on the floor crying, laughing.”

He went on to describe Ozzy’s generosity and compassion, calling him someone who “had the biggest heart in the world”:

“He hated seeing people being upset and things like that. So, yeah, he had a heart of gold. And all the best qualities you could ask for in somebody — super giving, had a heart of gold and just tough as nails. And to carry on without a doubt. Those are all redeeming qualities. They’re just awesome.”

When the topic turned to Ozzy’s “sense of wonder” and his legendary partying, Wylde was candid yet affectionate. “When I joined the band, it was still beyond silly. But it never got in the way of shows, and he would never drink before the gigs,” he recalled, adding:

“There’s only one time in Japan where we got beyond blasted above the berserker radar. And I remember the next day, he was like, ‘Zakk, you got any beers?’ I remember that was on the train on the way to the gig. I hooked him up, but aside from that, we were actually in the bathroom. I remember he was just like, ‘I’ll meet you in the bathroom.’ Because I was just like, ‘What, are you trying to get us both fired?’
So, I end up going into the bathroom and actually I’m in one bathroom stall. He goes into the other bathroom. He’s like, ‘All right, Zakk. I’m ready,’ and I toss over a Kirin beer. He downs it in one [makes gulping sounds], slides the can back over like, ‘All right, Zakk, have a good show.’ Just hilarious, man, and I’m just thinking, ‘If people only knew what’s going on.’ It’s like we were 14 years old trying to sneak it from your parents. But that was his gift to himself, like, ‘After we get done with the show, now I can have a cocktail.’ But yeah, no matter how lumped up he got it never got in the way of gigs.”

Wylde added that Ozzy “loved doing gigs” because the stage was “where he wanted to be,” which is why he was “always smiling” and “always happy” in photos.

Reflecting on the Back to the Beginning performance, Wylde said Ozzy was determined to go through with it despite his health struggles. “I would text Sharon [Osbourne]. And I would just say, ‘Hopefully the game plan is we do this show, Back to the Beginning. Then it goes over great. And then we just book a tour and then just have the chair, have the throne. So, it’s hydraulic,’” he told the Los Angeles Times.

He elaborated:

“I was like, ‘Man, I wonder if we’re going to do this gig’ before it even happened because it was so far out, like a year. And then Oz was like, ‘Oh, man, my neck is still killing me. I can’t walk.’ And I was just like, ‘Man, I wonder if this thing’s even going to get off the ground.’ But he was just adamant about doing it.”

On whether Ozzy and Sharon knew the show would truly mark the end of his career, Wylde said:

“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.”

Wylde admitted that Ozzy always seemed invincible to him:

“Even when we were doing [Back to the Beginning], 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 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.’ . . . 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.”

Wylde reflected on Ozzy’s enduring legacy: “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.”