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Count Five: Ozzy Osbourne's Favorite Hard Rock Bands

Talking to Ozzy Osbourne about hard rock is like talking to Tony Soprano about crime, Tiger Woods about golf, Jessica Alba about beauty -- you get the idea. The point being that the man known as the Prince of Darkness practically invented the genre with Black Sabbath, then perfected it during the past three decades, culminating with the recently released 'Back Rain' album. Osbourne has been a witness on the front lines of hard-rock history, as evidenced by his insanely colorful stories about meeting Robert Plant, Kurt Cobain and many more rock icons. Here then are Osbourne's favorite hard-rock bands as they could only be described by the Godfather of Metal himself.

1. Led Zeppelin: The first two Zeppelin albums had a magic about them. I can remember walking through Birmingham with Geezer Butler, the bass player from Sabbath, and he knew Robert Plant. Plant was walking through the subway and I'd heard his voice. And Geezer says to him, "What are you up to?" Plant says, "Well, they asked me to join a band called the New Yardbirds." And that was it. Then the next thing I know we're doing a club in London, and in between the sets they keep playing these songs. I said to [the DJ], "What's the name of this band?" He went, "Led Zeppelin." And I went, "Oh, f**k, I must be mistaken." I went back and I said, "Now tell me the name of the singer." He goes, "Robert Plant." The first two albums had such an impact on my voice, and on my life, similar to the Beatles when I first heard them, similar to when I heard 'You Really Got Me,' by the Kinks. I played it to death.

2. Motorhead: Lemmy's just great. In the '80s, anybody with, like, one blond and three black-haired guys were called heavy metal. That term "heavy metal" used to really piss me off, because it just had no musical connotations. So you're in Poison and you've got Black Sabbath on the road, or Motorhead, you're typecast. "Oh, you're one of those heavy lads, aren't you?"

3. Black Sabbath: Up to 'Sabbath, Bloody, Sabbath' -- I think it's really hard. I don't think any of us said, 'You know what? I'm going to go into the studio and make a bad album.' One of the things with Sabbath: We had full control over what we were doing and how we wanted it laid out. People would come in the studio and give us a suggestion and we'd go, "Would you f***ing get out of here right now?" We had full artistic control.

4. Nirvana: Apparently I met [Kurt Cobain], 'cause I was talking to Dave Grohl and he said, "You probably don't remember this, but when you were in Devonshire Studios in the [San Fernando] Valley, me and Kurt were in the room where they had a pool table. When you walked in we were like, 'F***ing hell.'" They'd both written "OZZY" on their fingers in indelible ink. They're playing pool and he said, "We were both trying to hide our hands."

5. Green Day: My album of the last year was ['American Idiot']. I thought it was f***ing brilliant.

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Marstars - Luv you Converse!

Wow. Okay then. I may be the only person on this list that doesn't like Green Day. I'm really sorry people but Green Day is up there on my hate list along with Justin Bieber, Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift and... I feel like I'm forgetting someone... Or something.... Twilight Saga.
I'm 14 years old and this is honestly what I think. I love Nirvana though. They are soooooo awesome. Kurt Cobain is hot and has a hell of an awesome voice... He is smart and everything. Too bad he killed himself.

September 22 2010 at 10:24 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
LC

ok
ozzy osborne
is f**king amazing the man is a legend
i love that he has the balls to put his own band on there hahah.
and i love love love nirvana and greenday and black sabbath and well pretty much all of them on there.
and the reason people arnt 'pissing themselves' about Nirvana being alternative rock well first there not ALT rock, OR hard rock there Grunge, considering they pretty much created it. and second of all sadly the '12 year old girls molesting this page' dont no who Nirvana is. and well any of the others on there. and when you dont no who those AMAZING bands are then dont go f**king commenting on music forums
mmmk thanks.

April 14 2008 at 7:38 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Cirlenna

I don't like talking about music genres just like you do, cuz it makes stupid conversations such like "They're rock? So, they're ok then. You say they're punk? They're not punk at all, ergo they sucks". :-)
I really enjoy, what Ozzy said, and I like Green Day, whatever you say. Nirvana was truly great, and other bands are good too :-)
If I can say anything about these genres you're fighting for, I'll say, bands like Exploited were punk, and GD is punk-rock, cuz they have rock music influences, in text or melody.

September 26 2007 at 12:04 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
jovana

no tolia i am not from montenegro i am from serbia. why are you asking...

August 16 2007 at 6:10 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
jovana

no tolia, i am not from montenegro, i am from serbia. why are you asking?

p.s. i love kurt cobain

August 16 2007 at 6:08 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
SixStringSlayer

Green Day suck!! Ramones,Clash,The Jam, Iggy, and The Sex Pistols are punk! Green Day is pop-crap made specially for teeny-boppers and malls. Anyway, great picks on the others,OZZY!

I would have personally put Soundgarden, S.Pumpkins, Deep Purple,AC/DC,Hendrix,and for metal, Priest, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Anthrax, EARLY Metallica(they suck nowadays), Testament, Slayer, Mastodon,and Tool (maybe a few others, can't remember!) Dave Mustaine OWNS!!!

August 14 2007 at 9:45 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
lonesome owl band

ozzy and robert plant are both incredible creative singers who really did so much for hard rock. the cool thing is they were so different. they blended into the sound of their bands so u kind of have to compare led zeppelin vs. black sabbath. . . . and again they are so different - volume IV or led zeppelin IV .... you can't go wrong. just depend on your ever changing mood swings what works - and when.

August 14 2007 at 6:20 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
%u738B%u65ED

Love green day!!!
i agree with the floor of 15.Punk Pop =green day
my favarite %uFF1Agreen day

August 07 2007 at 10:58 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Cheyenne

Yay ! Ozzy likes Green Day =D !
We have a lot in common ! XD XD
Oh yea , Zepplin are fucking gods.

But Green Day arent like hard rock.. they're like light punk/ pop rock (I know that there isnt a genre of light punk but oh well , i made it up now so stfu )

Go Green Day ! =D =D

August 07 2007 at 10:45 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Tolia

Jovana are you from Montenegro

July 31 2007 at 2:25 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply