Earlier this month, the death of Eddie Van Halen surprised and saddened the worlds of rock and metal. Eddie wasn’t just an amazing guitarist, but a bonafide rock star, one of those guys who redefined what it was to be cool. And at the end of the day, there’s no bigger rock star move than getting wasted, calling up Ozzy Osbourne, and offering him a frontman job.
In a new interview with Sirius XM, Ozzy recalls the time Eddie Van Halen dialed him up and asked him to sing for Van Halen after having one too many. “He phoned me up one time and asked me if I wanted to sing in his band — way after Sammy [Hagar had left the band]. I think he was a bit drunk. We’ve all done one of them — calling at four o’clock in the morning, going, [makes unintelligible sound].”
Not even a drunk dial could ever sour Eddie’s reputation in Ozzy’s heart, however. “You think you’ve seen it all — then out of the blue, somebody comes out with such a revolutionized way of playing,” recalled the Prince of Darkness. “To watch Eddie play was, like — his hands would turn into a spider. It was remarkable. He always made it look like it was so easy.”
As recalled by Ultimate Classic Rock, Ozzy keyboardist Don Airey remembered when the Sabbath frontman first walked into a venue where Van Halen was playing — and how stunned he was after hearing Eddie’s guitar playing. “He got to the first gig. Ozzy said they walked in as ‘Eruption’ was going on. Ozzy said, ‘We just went into the dressing room. We sat there going, That was incredible. And we sat there like this, and then it finished, and we were just too stunned to speak.'”
Ozzy recently announced the postponement of his European tour, so get ready for 2022(!) by blocking off one of the following dates:
Jan 26 Berlin Mercedes-Benz Arena, Germany
Jan 28 Prague O2 Arena, Czech Republic
Jan 31 Zurich Hallenstadion, Switzerland,
Feb 02 Budapest Arena, Hungary
Feb 05 Madrid WiZink Center, Spain
Feb 08 Bologna Unipol Arena, Italy
Feb 11 Mannheim SAP Arena, Germany
Feb 14 Hamburg Barclaycard Arena, Germany
Feb 17 Helsinki Hartwall Arena, Finland
Feb 19 Stockholm Friends Arena, Sweden
Feb 21 Dortmund Westfalenhalle, Germany
Feb 24 Munich Olympiahalle, Germany
Feb 27 Nottingham Motorpoint Arena, UK
Mar 01 Dublin 3Arena, Ireland
Mar 04 Birmingham Resorts World Arena, UK
Mar 07 London The O2, UK
Mar 09 Manchester AO Arena, UK
Mar 12 Newcastle Utilita Arena, UK
Mar 14 Glasgow The SSE Hydro, UK
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Words by Chris Krovatin
