There was a point in the mid-1980s, after David Lee Roth left Van Halen, when Eddie Van Halen was going through his Rolodex, asking people to join one of the world’s biggest rock bands. He asked Patty Smyth, she explained to Stereogum earlier this year. He asked Journey’s Steve Perry too, he said in a Rolling Stone tribute. He eventually, of course, tapped Sammy Hagar. (We’re sure he never asked David Crosby.) And, Ozzy Osbourne revealed on his radio show, Eddie once asked him to join too, after Hagar’s stint in the band. Speaking on his SiriusXM radio show “Ozzy Speaks,†the former Black Sabbath singer remembered a phone call from the guitar legend, who died earlier this month. “He phoned me up one time and asked me if I wanted to sing in his band,†Osbourne said. “Way after Sammy. I think he was a bit drunk. We’ve all done one of them calls at four o’clock in the morning.†Sure, but we haven’t all been on the receiving end of such a call from Eddie Van Halen.
Osbourne also reflected on when Van Halen opened for Black Sabbath back in 1978, off their debut album Van Halen. “You think you’ve seen it all. Then out of the blue, someone comes out with such a revolutionized way of playing,†Osbourne said. “To watch Eddie play, it was like his hands would turn into a spider. He always made it look like it was so easy.†Isn’t that the truth.