For his last studio album, Ozzy Osbourne assembled a who’s who of electric guitar heroes, calling upon the likes of Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Zakk Wylde and many more for one of 2022’s biggest blockbuster records.
If he were forced to refine his six-string selection, though – as he was made to do in the new issue of Metal Hammer – which guitarists would the Prince of Darkness choose for his dream supergroup?
That was the question put to Osbourne by Metal Hammer Guest Editors Jack Black and Kyle Gass, who quizzed the Black Sabbath icon over who – alive or dead – he would want to collaborate with.
“I’d love to do something with John Lennon or Hendrix," he answered. “I’d love to do something with Randy Rhoads again. I’d love Paul McCartney to play on one of my albums. He’s a great bass player.”
As for drums, the sticks were given to Osbourne’s current drummer Tommy Clufetos, who has been working with the vocalist since 2010.
We know we’re not the only ones thinking that a supergroup comprising Osbourne, Hendrix, Lennon, Rhoads, McCartney and Clufetos would have made for one ridiculous link-up, not least in part because of the eclectic styles each party would bring.
Hendrix’s blues-y pentatonic licks and Rhoads’ virtuosic solos over a Beatles-based backline delivered by Lennon’s pop progressions and McCartney’s melodic low-end lines? All underneath Osbourne’s mountainous metal vocals?! You’d have to have a wild imagination to even comprehend what that would sound like.
Elsewhere in his conversation with Black and Gass, Osbourne gave further credit to the Beatles by name dropping She Loves You as the song that inspired him to pursue a career in music.
“The song that made me decide what I want to do in my life was She Loves You by The Beatles," Osbourne reflected. “I had this blue transistor radio – I remember it like it was yesterday – and I went, ‘Fuck... what is this?’ It was so profound!
“They just fired my imagination. I wanted to be a Beatle. I wanted Paul McCartney to marry my sister! My bedroom wall was covered in fucking Beatles pictures.”
Head over to Magazines Direct to pick up the Tenacious D takeover edition of Metal Hammer.
