Paul McCartney on Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath

When Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin were formed in 1968, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and John Lennon released their ninth studio album, “The Beatles”, also known as the “White Album”. They had yet to release “Yellow Submarine” (1969), “Abbey Road” (1969), and “Let It Be” (1970), but they were already the biggest band in the world. Zeppelin and Sabbath represented a new wave of British music that was heavier and like The Beatles, would also influence generations to come.

McCartney had the chance to see that scene evolve up close, since, at the time, musicians had to go to London not only to record their albums but also to play for audiences that included people from all over the world. During his career, the Beatle talked about those bands and shared his thoughts on their music.

Paul McCartney on Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath

McCartney is an admirer of both Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath and has praised them over the years, although he has talked more about the band featuring John Bonham, one of his favorite drummers of all time. The Beatle had the chance to meet Ozzy Osbourne and praised Black Sabbath when interviewed in the documentary “God Bless Ozzy Osbourne”.

“I mean, listening to it now it doesn’t sound that crazy at all but then it was quite sort of off the wall. In life we know about the dark side and the light side, the good side and the bad side. I think that’s probably the attraction is that it hadn’t been done until Black Sabbath started dealing with it. And people go ‘Oh yeah this is great, well cool’. It’s like the attraction of Dracula or vampires. It’s a rich source for exploration, I think,” Paul McCartney said (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).

There is no information on whether he ever had the chance to see Black Sabbath perform live, but he did go to see Led Zeppelin play a couple of times in the 1970s. “(To do a) show is hard. If you go on and do a show, you’ve got to know how people are doing it today. Because I went to a Led Zeppelin gig. Zeppelin goes on and they do a good show because they have the thing together as a band. They’ve got absolute confidence in each other. You get a band that hasn’t played together for 10 years and pass up will, well, then it’s difficult, he told Los Angeles Times in 1974.

In his opinion John Bonham is the second best drummer of all time

Although he praised the band as a unit, he was a big fan of John Bonham, whom he considered the second-best drummer of all time, behind Ringo Starr and ahead of Keith Moon. “John Bonham was a good friend of mine and I was a great admirer of his. I really liked the power of John. I remember (someone) asking him once ‘How do you want your tom-toms to sound?’ He said: ‘Like cannons!’ That is true. If you listen to something like ‘Kashmir’. There’s a power and he was a very powerful guy,” Paul McCartney said in an interview (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).

When asked by the Brazilian newspaper Estadão in 2019 to name the lineup of his dream band, John Bonham was McCartney’s choice for the drums. The rest of the group would be formed by Billy Preston, John Entwistle, Jimi Hendrix and Elvis Presley.  He had the chance to record with Bonham when he invited the drummer to play in Wings’ records. He appeared on the demo of “Beware My Love” (1975) and in two songs of “Back To The Egg” (1979): “Rockestra Theme” and “So Glad to See You Here”.

When answering fan questions on Twitter in 2014, he was asked what it was like to play with Bonham. He said: “It was fantastic! He was always on my top 5 drummer list. (It was) a great friend and ballsy drummer!”

Ozzy Osbourne once invited Paul McCartney to play bass on one of his songs

Paul McCartney and Ozzy Osbourne first met in 2001 in a funny moment that was captured on camera. They were in the same building to record separate appearances on The Howard Stern Show, and while McCartney was giving an interview in another room, Ozzy appeared to finally meet him. But before Sabbath’s vocalist entered the room, Paul was asked by the interviewer about the track “Dreamer”, on which Ozzy had invited him to play bass. “I was just saying about the ‘Dreamer’ track. Good track, but I said I didn’t want to do the bass line.” According to Osbourne, Paul later explained that he felt he could not top Rob Trujillo’s bass playing on the track.

When Paul noticed Ozzy entering the room, he promptly joked: “Oh God, no! You’re not letting him in! (laughs). Oh bloody hell, hello darling, finally we get to meet, f*cking hell. I was just saying to the guys why I didn’t do the bass, because I didn’t want to blow your guy out. I only would have played what he played and because you were threatening to sing on mine (laughs).” After that, Ozzy told him that it was The Beatles who made him want to become a musician. Then Paul replied: “After the burglary? (laughs) I love that story (about you) wearing gloves with no fingers,” he said (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage). After that, during his conversation with Stern, he talked about their encounter.

He said:

“(I met him down the hall), we finally met. He is a cool guy”. (Did you understand a word he said?) “Oh, sure. I love the way he talks”. (You like his music?) “Yeah, he’s great. (I like) all of it,” Paul McCartney said. “Dreamer” was part of Osbourne’s album “Down to Earth” (2001).  It was recorded at the Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California from April, 2000 to August, 2001. It was the same location where McCartney recorded “Driving Rain” from February to June, 2001. In 2008 it was The Osbourne family who introduced Paul at the BRIT Awards for his “Outstanding Contribution”.

The Beatles were Ozzy’s favorite band and he covered “In My Life” on his 2005 album “Under Cover”. He also used to daydream when he was a kid that Paul McCartney would marry his sister and he would finally be able to meet him. He recalled in his book “I Am Ozzy”, how special it was to meet Paul. “Of all the people I got to meet, though, the most special was probably Paul McCartney. I mean, I’d looked up to that man since I was fourteen. But what the fuck are you supposed to talk to him about, eh? It’s like trying to strike up a conversation with God. Where’d you start? ‘Oh, I see you made the Earth in seven days. What was that like?’”

One of McCartney’s favorite Led Zeppelin songs

There are no records of McCartney mentioning a Black Sabbath song as one of his favorites, but he did reveal which Led Zeppelin track he likes. When praising John Bonham in an interview, he mentioned “Kashmir” as an example of one of their powerful songs.

“John Bonham was a good friend of mine and I was a great admirer of his. I really liked the power of John. I remember (someone) asking him once ‘How do you want your tom-toms to sound?’ He said: ‘Like cannons!’ That is true. If you listen to something like ‘Kashmir’. There’s a power and he was a very powerful guy,” Paul McCartney said (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).

McCartney never recorded with Zeppelin’s guitarist and producer Jimmy Page but he did mention him in a Wings song. In the lyrics of “Rock Show,” from the album “Venus and Mars,” (1975) he sings: “Tell me. What’s that man movin’ cross the stage? It looks a lot like the one used by Jimmy Page. It’s like a relic from a different age.”