Two of the heaviest bands that appeared in the United Kingdom in the late 60s, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin were both formed in 1968 and changed the course of Rock and Roll in the following years. Zeppelin presented Hard Rock music to the world and Sabbath shocked the public even more creating what would became known as Heavy Metal.
Over the decades the Black Sabbath co-founder and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne talked about many of his peers and gave his opinion on other groups. One of them was Led Zeppelin and their vocalist Robert Plant.
What is Ozzy Osbourne’s opinion on Led Zeppelin
The Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin members already knew each other before fame and talking with Lauch Radio Networks in 2007, Ozzy Osbourne recalled that he was walking in 1968 in the streets of Birmingham and they went to the subway. There, the two musicians saw the singer Robert Plant, who was a friend of Geezer.
They asked him what he was doing at the moment and he told them he had just accepted the invitation to join a band called The New Yardbirds. That group was the first version of what would become Led Zeppelin. The name came from The Yardbirds, band that Jimmy Page was a member and had been dissolved not long before.
The two first Zeppelin albums were a huge influence for Ozzy
In that conversation Ozzy talked about how important those first Zeppelin were. “The first two albums had such an impact on my voice, and on my life. Similar to The Beatles when I first heard them.”
He had said almost the same thing in 1995, in an interview for the documentary “History Of Rock and Roll” (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage). Ozzy said that Zeppelin’s debut album was a “breath of fresh air”.
“I remember listening to the first Zeppelin album. It was like such a great breath of fresh air for somebody doing something acceptable but yet so different”.
In 2004 he was asked by Rolling Stone to list some of his favorite songs of all time and one he mentioned was “Dazed and Confused” from Zeppelin’s self-titled debut album released in 1969. “My world stood still the first time I heard this,” Ozzy Osbourne said.
Those two records were an inspiration for Black Sabbath that didn’t had recorded their first album yet to also become a song that player a heavier kind of Rock and Roll. Ozzy said that he told the band’s co-founder and guitarist Tony Iommi that Zeppelin were really heavy and the musician replied saying that Black Sabbath would be heavier than them.
The Led Zeppelin album Ozzy Osbourne chose as one of his favorites
But even though he loves the first two albums Led Zeppelin released, he told Rolling Stone in 2017, that “Led Zeppelin IV” (1971) was one of his favorite Heavy Metal albums. “I’ve always been a huge Led Zeppelin fan. All of their studio albums are classics but this is one of my all-time favorites,” Ozzy Osbourne said.
That record has many classic songs like “Black Dog”, “Rock and Roll”, “Stairway To Heaven”, “Going To California” and “When The Levee Breaks”.
The album was a critical and commercial success and it remains as their best-selling record. It sold an estimated amount of more than 37 million records worldwide.
Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin played together once in the studio
Even after both groups became successful, their members continued good friends. They even had the opportunity to once play together in the studio. It happened in 1973, when Black Sabbath was in the middle of the recording of their praised album “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath”.
The band’s guitarist Tony Iommi recalled that moment in an interview with Classic Rock in 2019. Curiously, the drummer Bill Ward wouldn’t allow Zeppelin’s John Bonham to play his drum kit. The reason was that he would hit it so hard that would always damage the instrument.
“We were really good mates with Led Zeppelin. Especially Robert Plant and John Bonham who came from the Midlands. Zeppelin had wanted us to be on their label, Swan Song. But we couldn’t make it work out. During the recording of the Sabbath Bloody Sabbath album, Zeppelin came into the studio for a jam.”
“John wanted to play “Supernaut” (Released on their previous album ‘Vol 4’). But we jammed instead. We were in the middle of recording so it fucked up the session. I know that it was recorded. I’d love to hear it. The tape must be around somewhere.”
Ozzy Osbourne and John Bonham were friends
Led Zeppelin came to an end in 1980, after their legendary drummer John Bonham tragically died at the age of 32. Ozzy was a good friend of Bonham and they used to hang out together a lot in the 70s as he recalled in an interview with Planet Rock back in 2005 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).
“John Bonham was a great dear friend of mine. I used to go out and drink with him sometimes. I was in Liverpool, I just fold it up. And I was going through a divorce and all these stuff when John died.”
“I was in bed in my ex-wife’s house. The doctor comes, because I wanted to say that I was unfit for work. The guy goes ‘Did you know John Bonham?’ (If you keep) drinking you gonna end up just like him. And I was like ‘what?’ I was just plastered,” Ozzy Osbourne said.
Ozzy once texted Robert Plant because he was looking for his cat
Ozzy loves cats and dogs but is still not very good with technology and he revealed in an interview with Conan O’Brien back in 2017 that he accidentally texted Robert Plant once when he was looking for his cat.
“I try (To use the phone), but I end up sending the wrong message to the wrong person. I can’t work a bloody digital watch, never mind a phone.”
Jack Osbourne, Ozzy’s son continued, chimed in saying: “He once sent Robert Plant a text message like, ‘I can’t find the cat.’” And Ozzy said that Plant replied, saying: “You can’t find the cat?”.
