Metal drummer Vinnie Appice recently spoke about himself when he was young and revealed why he had refused to join Ozzy Osbourne.
Ozzy Osbourne is known to be one of the rock stars that symbolized the stereotypical rock and roll lifestyle. His addiction fueled him to be in the most absurd situations, which appeared in his biographies and other musicians’ documentaries and biopics like Mötley Crüe’s ‘The Dirt.’
Vinnie Appice once had the opportunity to join Ozzy Osbourne’s band, but after thinking about it and talking to his brother for advice, he decided not to join the singer. However, a while later, he joined Black Sabbath, so his Osbourne rejection did not affect him badly.
He stated that he chose not to join Ozzy because of his reputation as a person who did crazy things. His brother Carmine told him a story of Ozzy where he fell asleep on his spaghetti plate, and these reasons were enough to make Ozzy not join him.
When asked why did he turned Ozzy Osbourne down, Vinnie Answered:
“I got a call from Sharon Osborne, and she told me, ‘We’re putting a band together around Ozzy. Right now, Ozzy is in England, and he heard about you. We’re willing to fly you to England and have you hang out with Ozzy.’ They wanted to see how I got along with him and the guys and if it would work.
The thing is, I was young. I was probably nineteen or twenty years old and had heard crazy stories about Ozzy. God bless him. So, I asked my brother, and I said, ‘Carmine, I got an offer to play with Ozzy in England. What do you think?’ Carmine said, ‘Yeah, I confirm he’s pretty crazy.’
Carmine went on to tell me some stories, and basically, he said, ‘The last time I was with him, we were at the Rainbow Bar and Grill in Hollywood, and we were having a drink and eating. Someone called me, and I turned my head. When I turned back around, Ozzy passed out on his plate of spaghetti.’ So, I was like, ‘Okay. Maybe I shouldn’t do this.’ It’s hard to remember, but those are the main reasons I didn’t take that offer.”
He continued:
“But then, luckily, a couple of months later, I got an offer from Sabbath while they were in L.A. They needed a drummer right away. So I went down and met Tony Iommi, and it worked out well. Tony and I got along great, and he invited me down the next day to play with the band and see how it went. I remember they only had four total days before the tour picked up again because Bill Ward had just quit during the ‘Heaven and Hell’ world tour.
So, it worked out well, and my relationship with Ronnie was incredible. We got along so well, we became like brothers, and that led to Dio down the road. It’s crazy to think about now, but me passing on the Ozzy gig was a good move in that way. That was a good move for me for a lot of reasons. But either way, Ozzy lasted a long time too. His career was on top forever. It still is, you know?”
Appice joined Black Sabbath in 1980 when he was 23 and had a successful career with the band. He later joined Ronnie James Dio’s band, Dio. Meanwhile, Ozzy’s career rose rapidly, becoming known as The Prince of Darkness.
