Zakk Wylde recently reflected on the possibility of joining Guns N’ Roses during the mid-’90s, in a recent interview. He also discussed how it resulted in missing Ozzy Osbourne’s comeback tour.
The long-time Ozzy Osbourne collaborator’s unsuccessful talks about joining Guns N’ Roses remain one of the most poignant “what ifs” in recent rock history. However, Zakk Wylde himself has said that the collaboration would have made GN’R sound more like The Velvet Revolver, as he stated in 2005.
Although the situation had a positive side — Wylde said in 2019 that the experience led him to establish Black Label Society, which is now releasing its twelfth album, “Engines of Demolition” — the negotiations that stalled over joining Axl Rose & Co. cost him a spot on Ozzy’s “Retirement Sucks” farewell tour, which followed his 1995 album “Ozzmosis.”
Looking back on the ordeal in a recent interview, Wylde said. Zakk Wylde recalled that Guns N’ Roses were considering him as a guitarist, and he jammed with members like Slash, Duff McKagan, and Matt Sorum after being invited by Axl Rose.
They casually worked on riffs together, but nothing was finalized. Meanwhile, Ozzy Osbourne pressured Wylde to commit, as he needed certainty for an upcoming tour. Because Guns N’ Roses hadn’t made a decision, Ozzy warned he would find another guitarist instead of waiting indefinitely.
“So, the guys were looking for another guitar player. I knew Slash, Duff [McKagan, bass], and Matt [Sorum, ex-GN’R drummer] at the time, and it was just like, ‘Let’s ask Zakk if he wants to jam with us.’ So Axl called me up, and I had never spoken with Axl before. He says, ‘Zakk, you want to get together and jam?’ I said, ‘Yeah, sure. Why not?’ So, we were noodling on ideas and demoed a couple riffs over at Duff’s house, and then we’re all jamming. The guys are all great guys. They’re awesome.”
“So we’re noodling on stuff, and nobody was making any decisions or anything, like, if we’re going to do this or not. And then, Ozz was like, ‘Zakk, you playing with the fellas or you jamming with me? What are we doing? We’re getting ready to do the tour.’ I said, ‘Ozz, let me try and find out what’s going on with the fellas.’ And it was just, everything was up in the air. And Ozz was like, ‘Zakky, I gotta find another guy, because I can’t be sitting around wondering whether you’re jamming with the guys.'”
Zakk Wylde said that Ozzy Osbourne ultimately hired Joe Holmes, leaving Wylde without a band. With no immediate gigs, he decided to use his unused riffs himself—leading to the creation of Black Label Society, where he took on vocals and launched the project.
He added:
“So, Ozz ended up getting Joe Holmes. I’m friends with Joe. Joe’s awesome. And then Oz was playing with Joe. I wasn’t playing [anybody], everything was just sitting around. I was like, ‘I gotta do something.’ And then, right after that, that’s when Black Label was born. I got all these riffs sitting around. I said, ‘I’ll just sing on them myself.’ And that was it.”
