Zakk Wylde on hearing Black Sabbath’s music for the first time: “I was beyond terrified“

Longtime Ozzy Osbourne contributor Zakk Wylde has opened up about the first time he listened to Black Sabbath’s music as a kid, saying that the experience “terrified” him.

• READ MORE: Ozzy Osbourne says Eric Clapton tried and failed to get him to change lyrics about ‘losing faith’ in Jesus

Discussing his relationship with Osbourne in a new interview with Revolver, Wylde recalls the moment he first came into contact with the Prince Of Darkness’ music.

“I remember being in art class,” he says. “My one buddy Tommy — he must have been like 11 years old — he had a sculpture of a jawless skull, which is basically the Black Label skull now: Skully. It was a jawless skull with a lightning bolt going through it that said, ‘Black Sabbath 666.’”

“I was like, ‘Wow, what is that?’ And he goes, ‘Oh, it’s just a rock band my older brother listens to.’ And I thought it looked so cool. I just wanted to figure out what it was. So, I was at the mall with my mother and my mom was like, ‘You can get a record.’ OK, so obviously, I ended up buying We Sold Our Soul for Rock ‘n’ Roll — but we know it’s a double album.”

“I had never heard a Sabbath song before in my life,” Wylde continues. “So, I put the record on and I was beyond terrified the whole time I listened to the album.”

“I was Catholic when I first put the needle down on it, and halfway through the second LP, I was a full-blown Satanist. And by the end of the album, I converted back to Catholicism just so I could thank God for creating Black Sabbath.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Wylde also spoke about how working on Osbourne’s latest record Patient Number 9 was like a dream come true: “If you would’ve told me when I was 15 years old to imagine someday I actually was on a record with Ozzy, Lord Iommi, Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, forget about it.”

“It’s definitely beyond an honour to be on the record with all of them, and then playing guitar behind him, without a doubt, man.”