In a recent interview with Classic Rock, Michael Schenker revealed his plan to avoid joining Ozzy Osbourne’s band after the passing of Randy Rhoads in 1982. He recalled:
“I got a phone call from Ozzy Osbourne in the middle of the night, stuttering, asking me to help him out because Randy Rhoads had died in that plane crash.”
But the German guitarist, freshly out of UFO and Scorpions at the time, couldn’t accept the offer:
“I loved Sabbath, and I should have been delighted to join – I instantly had visions of Ozzy dragging me across the stage by my hair – but a voice in my head said, ‘Michael, follow your vision.’ I’d left UFO and Scorpions because I didn’t want to go any further with the fame thing, and I wanted freedom and peace, so I felt it would be crazy to join.”
The Things Schenker Did To Turn The Singer Down
Although Osbourne thought Schenker would be a great replacement for Rhoads, the guitarist was busy with his own project, ‘Assault Attack.’ This was another reason why he didn’t think it was the right time to join a new band. So, he came up with a plan to reject the offer:
“The only way I could think of getting out of the Ozzy gig was by making outrageous demands, so that’s what I did. In his book, Ozzy said I asked for a private jet, and that’s true – but it was only so that he’d turn me down.”
Being In Osbourne’s Band Wouldn’t Work Out, He Says
During that period, Schenker turned down several offers from other bands like Deep Purple and Motörhead. He believed joining these groups, as well as Osbourne’s, would prevent him from expressing his musical style. In a previous interview with Metal Voice, the artist said:
“I came up with this thing, like, ‘Michael, why did you… leave the Scorpions? For the same reasons, you should not join Ozzy Osbourne, Motorhead or, Deep Purple or, Ian Hunter, or any of those people who asked me.’ For the same reason, because I would have to copy all of the stuff for live shows they had done before. I hate copying. It would not be Michael Schenker expressing himself, and it would just not make any sense to what my mission is.”
He also mentioned that working with the Black Sabbath vocalist might not have been good for either of them:
“If I would have joined Ozzy Osbourne he would have been sorry because I did so many things. I did acoustic instrumentals, electric instrumentals, covers, you name it. Fifty years later, I did everything I wanted to do out of my system. So now I can relax and focus on the stuff I love most, the rock music that I do these days.”
You can check out Michael Schenker’s recent interview here.
