Back in 2005, the Iron Maiden frontman had a not so pleasant experience while playing Ozzfest.
It was a particularly rocky performance for Iron Maiden, especially at one point when the crowd began throwing eggs at the band. Allegedly, Ozzfest founder Sharon Osbourne arranged for these eggs to be thrown, supposedly because the Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson had made some comments on stage she was not a fan of.
Reportedly, Osbourne had gotten upset over comments Dickinson had allegedly made about the Osbourne’s reality TV show.
As reported by Blabbermouth, during a March 3rd spoken word event, Dickinson was asked if Black Sabbath can exist without its founding drummer Bill Ward. The Iron Maiden frontman shared that he feels Black Sabbath doesn’t “exist at all now;” in expressing this sentiment, Dickinson also got to the point as to why he believes this.
He first starts by talking about his admiration for Ward’s skills:
“I’m a massive lover of Bill Ward’s drumming style; I think it’s inspired. ‘Cause he’s not really a rock drummer; he’s more like a jazz drummer playing rock. And I love that kind of style; it’s kind of like drums that kind of wander around the rhythm and everything else. But he’s on it; he’s brilliant. And I met him. He’s a lovely bloke as well. Slightly mad, but very nice. But then aren’t we all? All of us are on the madness spectrum a little bit.”
Making his way back to the original question, Dickinson said the following:
“Does Black Sabbath exist without Bill Ward? Well, it’s not a matter of… I don’t think Black Sabbath exist at all now. I think Sharon’s made sure of that.”
Bill Ward is one of the founding members of Black Sabbath; he, Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, and Geezer Butler formed the band back in 1969. In 2011, the band had came back together for a new record and set out on a new tour; however, Ward ended up leaving after a few months over financial issues. *** Words by: Michael Pementel
