From Randy Rhoads, to Zakk Wylde and Jake E. Lee, Ozzy Osbourne has performed with a stellar line-up of guitar players over his decades onstage and in the studio. Now he named the player he considers to be the best guitarist he’s ever performed alongside.
Speaking on his new podcast, The Madhouse Chronicles (alongside Billy Idol / Circus Diablo guitarist Billy Morrison), Osbourne says fellow Black Sabbath icon Tony Iommi is the pick of the bunch.
“A band like Black Sabbath: we came from the streets and we knew our stuff,” says Osbourne.
“Tony Iommi was and is the best fucking guitar player I've ever played with. It’s like the Beatles, they wouldn’t have been the same if any one of them had been replaced, or the Rolling Stones if Mick Jagger left.”
Morrison chimes in to say how, with truly iconic artists, “you can play the exact same notes” but other musicians still can't quite capture their energy.
Osbourne agrees: “I've played [Black Sabbath songs] Paranoid, I've played Children of the Grave and War Pigs [with other guitarists]. They do the notes, but it's not the same.”
Osbourne concludes by asserting that “a lot of American guys play too fast.” However, “Tony Iommi, for whatever reason, is fucking great.”
Osbourne and Iommi respectively handled Black Sabbath's vocals and guitar duties between 1968 and 1977, then again from 1997 until the group's disbandment in 2017.
In 2022, Osbourne and Iommi made a surprise appearance when they performed together at the closing ceremony of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, UK. In the same year, Iommi contributed to Osbourne's solo album Patient Number 9, playing guitar on two tracks, Degradation Rules and No Escape From Now.
Hopes for a Black Sabbath reunion were high, but Osbourne announced his retirement from touring in 2023 due to health issues. However, earlier this year, his wife and manager Sharon Osbourne revealed plans are in place for the Prince of Darkness to play two final shows in his Birmingham.
Meanwhile, Tony Iommi announced the release of a Black Sabbath box set of Tony Martin-era albums. The box set, titled Anno Domini 1989–1995, will be released on May 31 and includes remasters of Cross Purposes, Tyr, and Headless Cross.
