Zakk Wylde doesn’t take life too seriously, but then he learned from the best. The Black Label Society guitarist was plucked from obscurity as a fresh-faced 20-year-old by Ozzy Osbourne, with whom he played with, on and off, for more than 35 years. That cavalier attitude extends to the albums he says changed his life – does he really break the speed limit to 70s Swedish pop or want Lionel Ritchie played at his funeral? He may well be joking, but you never know.
The First Album I Bought
Black Sabbath – We Sold Our Souls For Rock’N’Roll (1975)
“The first rock album would be by Black Sabbath. Before that it was 45s, stuff like Donny and Marie, Olivia Newton John, Barry Manilow… Then life ended when I bought We Sold Our Souls… I fell into the world of cool music and hard rock guitar.”
The First Album I Had Sex To
Pink Floyd – The Dark Side Of The Moon (1973)
“I remember listening to Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon one time while making out with a chick. At parties and skating rinks, though, there’d be Bob Seger or The Cars playing, Bee Gees, shit like that.”
The Album I Break The Speed Limit To
ABBA – Arrival (1976)
“I don’t speed, ’cos I don’t want to get tickets. My wife calls me fucking ‘grandpa’ when I’m driving, and I say, ‘Yeah, a grandpa with no fucking tickets!’ But for driving fast it’d be Abba’s Dancing Queen. Yeah, why not? Look at me, I am a dancing queen!”
Judas Priest – Screaming For Vengeance (1981)
“I’d give him Screaming For Vengeance by Judas Priest. Kick-ass songs, great production… yeah, just killer songs – there’s not a bad one on there.”
The Album That Should Not Be
Black Label Society – Sonic Brew (1999)
“The first Black Label album! No, any Black Label album! Ha ha ha! I recorded the whole thing but when I listen to it I’m thoroughly disgusted, feeling suicidal… and then I break out my Donnie and Marie and Olivia Newton John albums and feel uplifted again. I honestly never hated any records by bands
I loved, though. I remember our bass player, he was a huge Kiss fan, he told me when he bought Dynasty (when they were doing disco) he smashed it and all his other Kiss records!”
The Album I Wish I’d Made
Led Zeppelin – IV (1971)
“Well the residuals from White Christmas are still coming in, so that or the soundtrack to Grease would be pretty fucking good too, I reckon – we’d be sitting in my Learjet right now! I’m trying to think of records I really love… I would say any Black Sabbath or Led Zeppelin album, you can really pick any one.”
The Best Album Artwork
Black Sabbath – Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973)
“Sabbath Bloody Sabbath was killer. I remember the sleeve photos on Sabotage, and Ozzy saying [adopts Birmingham accent], ‘Look at the state of me in this fucking outfit; I look like a fucking homo in a kimono’. I told him, ‘I always thought you were Bill Ward,’ ’cos I didn’t know who was who on the photo!’ Zeppelin had great covers – IV is so iconic. And Priest’s Rocka Rolla or Nirvana’s Nevermind. But Sabbath Bloody Sabbath is just awesome.”
The Album No One Will Believe I Own A Copy Of
Lady Gaga – The Fame (2008)
“I think Lady Gaga is fucking awesome. Have you ever seen her play piano? She’ll sit down and really throw down something. Aside from all the crazy outfits, she’s a really fucking good musician and she writes all that shit too. Check out YouTube, ‘Lady Gaga Led Zeppelin’. It’s her with dark hair playing in a little club in a cover band, before she became Lady Gaga.”
The Album I Want Played At My Funeral
Helen Reddy – I Don’t Know How To Love Him (1971)
“It would be a song like Helen Reddy’s I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar! That would be a good one. Or Lionel Ritchie, Three Times A Lady. It’d be like, ‘Three times a lady… not anymore!’ then ‘I am woman, hear me roar… not anymore, he’s dead!’”
The Album I Want To Be Remembered For
Black Label Society – The Blessed Hellride (2003)
“For the artists that I love, it’s not a specific record, it’d be everything they did. For BLS it’d The Blessed Hellride. Ozzy remembers an album if he had a good time making it, rather than if it did well.”
Originally published in Metal Hammer issue 209 (August 2010)