In a deeply personal new interview, longtime guitarist Zakk Wylde has reflected on the profound shock of Ozzy Osbourne‘s death, explaining that he had always viewed his friend and mentor as a real-life “Evel Knievel”—an indestructible figure who would always survive the next crash, a belief that made the finality of his passing all the more stunning.
Speaking on the Waste Some Time With Jason Green podcast, Wylde, who joined Osbourne’s band in 1987, described the mindset that he and others in Ozzy’s inner circle had developed over decades of watching the rock icon defy the odds.
“Whenever any of this stuff [about Ozzy’s health issues] would always come up… it would just be, ‘Oh, it’s just another bump in the road or another hurdle. We’ll get through it,'” Wylde said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). “It’d be like Ozzy being Evel Knievel — it’s, like, he survives, he makes a jump, or even if he gets into an accident, we get him to the hospital, [and] he’ll be fine. And then he gets out and he’s all right, and then we’ll do another jump. So you never think, like, ‘This is the end.’ You’re just, like, ‘Ah, Ozz will be fine.'”
This perception of invincibility was shattered when Wylde‘s wife, Barbaranne, called him on the road with Pantera to deliver the news. Wylde believes that Ozzy‘s last great stunt was willing himself to live long enough to perform the historic “Back To The Beginning” concert on July 5.
“Truly it was just like he willed himself to hang in there long enough to knock that [final] show out,” he mused. “‘Cause I was just saying, like, what happens if the show was [scheduled to take place] this month [in August]? He doesn’t make it. That’s what’s crazy about the whole thing.”
In an earlier interview with Guitar World, Wylde shared the details of his unintentional final goodbye with the man he considered “almost like an older brother.” After the chaotic final show, he didn’t get a chance to connect with Ozzy backstage. He later received a text message from his boss and friend.
“The last text I got from Ozz was saying, ‘Zakky, sorry, it was like a madhouse back there. I didn’t see you.’ He goes, ‘Thanks for everything.’ It was just us talking, saying, ‘I love you, buddy.’ That was it,” Wylde revealed.
Wylde‘s reflections come in the weeks following Osbourne‘s death on July 22 from a heart attack at the age of 76. He was one of the 110 close friends and family members who attended the private funeral service at the Osbourne family’s English estate on July 31. His heartfelt tribute paints a vivid picture of a man who seemed truly indestructible, a rock and roll daredevil who “never had any quit in him,” making the loss of his “older brother” a reality that is still difficult to comprehend.
