Tony Iommi talked about Ozzy Osbourne and Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham
The talented guitarist and co-founder of the regarded band Black Sabbath was guested in a radio program, recently. During his conversation, Tony Iommi talked about past days, recalling how they first considered Ozzy Osbourne, along with discussing why John Bonham couldn’t remain in most of the bands he served.
While the talented guitarist of Black Sabbath has been promoting a new song along with perfume, both titled Scent of Dark, he also attended an interview recently, where he looked back, remembering the Midlands scene and the very foundation of Black Sabbath as he shared a memory with Ozzy Osbourne. Tony Iommi also discussed why John Bonham got fired from the most bands until he joined Led Zeppelin, after being asked about the “exciting” time of the mid-’60s and “the roots” of so many future rock icons.
“It was a good little scene in Birmingham at the time. There was, as you say, the move. And there was the Band of Joy, which was Robert Plant’s band, and John Bonham’s. And I used to see John regularly every few weeks because we used to do an alternate week at this venue. And every other week in between there was another band.
“Quite more often than not, John Bonham was in the new band because he lasted for a week because they fired him as he was too loud. We would turn up again and he’d be in another band,” Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi explained why Led Zeppelin drummer couldn’t manage to remain in a band.
Right after, Iommi was also asked about the beginning of the Black Sabbath, and whether Ozzy put an ad somewhere, or was he looking for a gig.
“Yeah, we went to a music shop looking for a singer, and we saw this advert, ‘Ozzy Zig requires gig.’ I said to Bill, ‘I know one Ozzy from school, it can’t be him.’ I never knew he sang or anything,” started Tony Iommi recalling those very first days as the regarded band Black Sabbath was being formed.
“Sure enough, we went to Ozzy’s and his mum answered the door, ‘Johnny, it’s for you,’ and he came walking down the hall, and I saw him, and said to Bill, ‘Forget it, I know him.’
I didn’t know for a minute he could sing, I thought it was a joke,” reflected Tony Iommi how they started considering Ozzy Osbourne.
“So basically, we talked a little bit with him and left. And Bill said, ‘What’s wrong?’ I said, ‘Well, I used to go to the same school with him. As far as I know, I never heard of him singing. I think it’s a wind-up.’ And then, a few days later, Ozzy came around with Geezer to my house looking for a drummer. Bill was there at the time and I said, ‘Well, Bill’s a drummer.’
So basically, we said, ‘OK, let’s have a go.’ And that’s what we did. We decided to have a go and see what happened. And it was such a racket,” told Black Sabbath co-founder, as he looked back those days, and continued.
“We had this gig that Bill and I got, we got so many gigs because from where we were up in the north, we were going big with that band. So I talked to the promoter who was up there, it was a woman, and she said, ‘Yes, it’s OK, we’ll give you a go.’ So I said to the others that we could get some gigs up there. So we did go up there often. She said, ‘Do you want to play some pop songs?’ ‘Yeah, yeah…’
Well, we weren’t, we were doing a sort of blues really. But he’d really come on and Geezer really came on bass because he really never played bass before, he was a guitar player.”
On the other hand, it’s not long since Tony Iommi spoke about his relationship with Brian May, appearing in an interview. And apparently, Black Sabbath guitarist has also been wanting to join forces with Queen guitarist, who Iommi also described as his Rock God during an interview, recently. You may find out more about what the Black Sabbath guitarist said in his previous interview, here.
You can also hear out the whole interview of Tony Iommi on the radio, as he talks about how they first considered Ozzy Osbourne, along with discussing why John Bonham couldn’t remain in most of the bands he served, and more, down below.
