Slash Says He and Ozzy Osbourne Had Planned to Record Together Before Osbourne’s Death

Slash has disclosed that he and Ozzy Osbourne had settled on getting into the studio together in the weeks after Osbourne’s farewell performance at Back to the Beginning, a plan that never came to pass. The Guns N’ Roses guitarist made the revelation in an interview with Rolling Stone Australia & New Zealand, recalling a phone conversation with Osbourne roughly a week after the Villa Park concert. Osbourne died 17 days after that show, at age 76.

• Slash says the studio conversation with Osbourne happened about a week after the Back to the Beginning concert.
• Back to the Beginning, held at Villa Park, stood as the final live performance of Ozzy Osbourne’s and Black Sabbath’s careers.
• Osbourne performed the show seated on a custom-built throne due to ongoing health problems.
• Guns N’ Roses played the event as a five-piece, the first time the lineup had appeared that way since 1990.

What Slash Said About the Phone Call With Ozzy Osbourne

Slash described the exchange with Osbourne as casual, framing it as two longtime collaborators simply agreeing to reconnect. “I talked to Ozzy. Ozzy and I have been buddies for a long time, and I recorded with him a bunch of times, and performed with him and stuff,” Slash said. “And so we talked on the phone about getting together to do it. He said, ‘Yeah, we should get together soon.’ And that was the conversation we had on the phone. I guess it was maybe a week after the gig.”

Slash said he did not treat the call as anything unusual at the time, expecting the two would simply schedule studio time once his touring commitments cleared. “I was sort of like, ‘Okay then, at some point we’ll converge on a studio somewhere.’ And that was it!” he said. “Then I went off. I was on the road with Guns, so we went off and finished what we were doing. And then, all of a sudden, I got that fucking phone call. I was like, ‘Jesus Christ!’ It was unbelievable.” Slash said this phone call turned out to be the last conversation he had with Osbourne before learning of his death.

What Happened at Back to the Beginning

Slash called the Back to the Beginning show one of the most remarkable moments of his career, describing it as unlike anything he had witnessed before. Guns N’ Roses took the stage without keyboard and synth players Dizzy Reed and Melissa Reese, marking the band’s first five-piece appearance since 1990.

The band’s set paid tribute to Black Sabbath with four songs from the group’s catalog: a trimmed rendition of “It’s Alright” that flowed into “Never Say Die,” followed by “Junior’s Eyes” and “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.” Guns N’ Roses then closed with two of their own signature tracks, “Welcome to the Jungle” and “Paradise City.”

Backstage at the event, Slash made a point of visiting Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi. He also brought Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose to meet Osbourne in person for the first time, noting the two had never crossed paths before that night. “Everybody wanted to go back and pay homage to Ozzy,” Slash said. “I got Axl back there to meet Ozzy for the first time, ‘cos they never met each other. And Axl, obviously, was always a fan of Ozzy, but what Axl didn’t know was Ozzy was a huge fan of his, and so it was nice to see them actually meet.”

Slash and Ozzy Osbourne’s Musical History

Slash and Osbourne had crossed paths on record well before the planned reunion in the studio. Both guitarists appeared as guests on Alice Cooper’s “Hey Stoopid” and on Motorhead’s “I Ain’t No Nice Guy,” each lending a hand to the other’s project.

Osbourne also sang on Slash’s track “Crucify the Dead,” featured on Slash’s self-titled 2010 solo album. Slash returned the favor a decade later, contributing guitar to two songs on Osbourne’s 2020 album “Ordinary Man,” playing on “Straight to Hell” and joining Elton John on the album’s title track.

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• “I was on the road with Guns, so we went off and finished what we were doing. And then, all of a sudden, I got that phone call”: Slash says he and Ozzy Osbourne had plans to go into the studio together | MusicRadar