During a recent appearance on the “Beardo & Weirdo” podcast, Korn guitarist Brian “Head” Welch discussed Ozzy Osbourne – who passed away last week (July 22nd) at the age of 76 – and the impact that the late Black Sabbath singer had on him.
“If Angus Young and AC/DC was the band that lit the fire, Ozzy and [late Ozzy guitarist] Randy Rhoads poured the gasoline on that fire,” Welch said of Osbourne’s influence on his musical upbringing.
“I had Ozzy posters on my wall… What those two records did for me in sixth grade, ‘Diary Of A Madman’ and ‘Blizzard Of Ozz’, that’s when the obsession came with music,” he added.
Welch went on to talk about the strange timing of Osbourne’s death – which happened just days after his and Black Sabbath’s final show “Back to the Beginning.”
“I think we’re all just like tripping right now that [he died] 17 days later [after his farewell concert on July 5th]. I know he was struggling, but nobody probably predicted this was gonna happen so soon,” Welch said.
“I’m a spiritual person, and I look at it like the kindness of God. Because the timing’s shocking. And it’s, like, he could have passed before the concert. It just looks like kind gesture that the circumstances — call it what you want, but the circumstances were incredible that he was able to do that one last time with all of his closest friends.”
Although a cause of death has yet to be announced, Osbourne had been battling a number of health issues over the last few years, including Parkinson’s disease.
