Ten Metal Musicians Who Could Write a Great New Ozzy Osbourne Album
It’s official: Ozzy Osbourne plans to record a new solo album after completing Black Sabbath’s farewell tour next year.
This, of course, begs the question: who will help Ozzy write that album?
Ozzy has collaborated with some spectacular songwriters over the years (Tony Iommi, Randy Rhoads, Jake E. Lee, Zakk Wylde, etc.)… but he’s also worked with some not-so-spectacular songwriters over the years (Kevin Churko, Adam Wake Wakeman, etc.). Who should take the reins for this, his eleventh solo studio recording?
As usual — we’ve got ideas! So let’s do some fantasy casting, shall we? We shall! Here we go…
1. Gus G.
Sadly, my gut tells me that Mr. G is going to be the next Joe Holmes — the dude who gets to tour with Ozzy for a substantial amount of time, but never gets to write anything for him (at least Gus, unlike Holmes, has recored with Osbourne). But I’m guessing that if he ever did get the chance to write for Ozzy, he’d do a pretty good job with it. Hopefully he gets to be more than a session musician on the new album.
2. Dave Grohl
I remember when word got out that Grohl had been commissioned to write some material for the album that would become Down to Earth. Zakk Wylde was so upset, he threatened to kick Grohl’s ass, and the fans, of course, followed suit, protesting the idea of an Ozzy song that sounds like the Foo Fighters. Funny enough, Down to Earth ended up being totally mediocre, while Grohl recorded the songs he’d written for Ozzy as part of his Probot project, with King Diamond and Trouble’s Eric Wagner on vocals (below)… and they’re both really good! That’ll teach us to listen to Zakk Wylde, eh? So now might be a swell time to re-enlist Grohl and see if he has a few more good straight-up-metal songs in him. I’d wager that he does.
3. – 6. The Sword
Who better to compose some new tunes for Ozzy than the world’s foremost Black Sabbath cover band?
7. Jerry Cantrell
I’m kinda shocked Cantrell was never recruited to play for Ozzy during the overlap in time when Zakk Wylde wasn’t around and Alice in Chains were broken up. Cantrell, like The Sword, writes killer Sabbath riffs, even if, unlike The Sword, he also bothers to inject some of his own personality into those riffs.
8. Devin Townsend
At this point, I’m assuming there’s no style of music Townsend couldn’t write, and write damned well. The guy’s body of work is just so crazy diverse. Not only do I suspect Heavy Devy would write a great Ozzy record, I suspect he’d write one of the best Ozzy records ever. Just a hunch.
9. Synyster Gates
Like the dudes in The Sword, Gates has a real talent for mimicry. If he were to write an Ozzy album, I’m sure it would basically end up being Still Out of Tears, and I’m sure none of us would complain.
And, finally, of course…
10. Scott Hull’s Drum Machine
Hey… it couldn’t do any worse than Kevin Churko, right?
