Former Michael Jackson guitarist Jennifer Batten discussed experiencing sexism in rock in a new Ultimate-Guitar interview.
“I’ve gotten comments over the years. A lot of guys will say you, ‘You play pretty good for a girl.’ Or, the best one, this guy said, ‘You play just like a boy.’ What does that even mean? Yeah, millions of male guitar players, some are great and some suck, so it has no meaning. But you kind of have to look at the energy that’s coming at you, and he meant it as a positive thing.
“I remember, specifically, before the Jackson thing came up, I was trying to get an audition with Ozzy Osbourne. And they were of auditioning everybody in LA at the time. And I know my audio got to the right people, and I didn’t even get a chance. Looking back, it’s a super macho gig, and they probably wouldn’t even consider a female for that. Having said that, if it was the same thing today, I think it’d be a whole different story. You get somebody like Nili Brosh – you could slay in a gig like that. She has incredible chops, great tone, great attitude, everything. It’s a different world. It is a very different world now.”
Ozzy said on SiriusXM recently that he won’t reunite with Black Sabbath, “Well, it’s kind of, like, how many times do you wanna do the same… it’s the same format, you know? It was very successful for a lot of years, and people wanted to see us. I did that farewell tour. And the only thing about that which was sad [was that original Sabbath] Bill Ward wasn’t there. But I’ve spoken to Bill since. He’s all right. I would work with any of them individually. But as Black Sabbath, I think it’s [over]. We couldn’t really beat what we’ve already done.”
