In an interview with BraveWords this summer, Geezer Butler reflected on the time they toured with Van Halen, and also revealed how Van Halen’s David Lee Roth would often drive Ozzy Osbourne crazy.
“But then, as the tour went on, Dave Lee Roth started copying, became like an Ozzy clone,” Butler started explaining. “It was really upsetting Ozzy at the time, because, whatever Ozzy did one night, Dave Lee Roth had said the same thing the next night. It was upsetting Ozzy, and then, Eddie was doing these extended solos, so Tony had to have a word of him about that.”
Other than Roth’s acting, there was one more thing the band didn’t appreciate. “But what pissed us off is that Warner Bros. completely concentrated on Van Halen, and it was almost like we were the support band,” the rocker said in the same interview. “Warner Bros. were like, ‘You’re an old hat’, kind of stuff. ‘This is Van Halen of the future.’ So they did everything for Van Halen, nothing for us. There was no promotion for us whatsoever. But they were great guys, a great band, and we [enjoyed] long-lasting friendships, especially Tony and Eddie.”
The 1978 ‘Never Say Die!’ tour is remembered as one of the final chapters in Black Sabbath’s original era of success, but it was also an important moment in Van Halen’s rise to fame.
Even with their contrasting styles, Black Sabbath and Van Halen formed a lasting friendship after touring together in the late 1970s. Even though Van Halen often stole the spotlight as the opening act, the friendship between the bands remained solid.
