Think about Van Halen, however now, with two essential lineup additions: Ozzy Osbourne and Chris Cornell. Properly, in keeping with Alex Van Halen, that just about occurred. 

In an interview with Rolling Stone, the retired drummer confirms that the band had appeared into swapping out David Lee Roth for both Osbourne or Cornell.

Flashback to circa 2001, Sharon Osbourne, supervisor and spouse of Ozzy Osbourne, wrangles up a plan to have the Black Sabbath lead entrance a Van Halen album – and Alex is on board with it. 

“If you get a canine, you don’t anticipate it to be a cat,” he says. “If you get an Ozzy, you get Ozzy. Play the music, he’ll sing, and it’s gonna be nice.” Proper earlier than they have been set to start out work, the Osbournes took a gathering with MTV, and their actuality present [The Osbournes] occurred as an alternative.”

You don’t need to take simply Alex’s phrase for it both. Osbourne additionally confirmed discussing plans to affix Van Halen, through electronic mail, to Rolling Stone, writing: “Sure, we have been discussing it. It’s one thing that if it had come to fruition, would have been phenomenal.”

He continues, “Eddie and Alex have been nice buddies of mine for a really very long time and it’s a remorse of mine that we by no means acquired it collectively. The Osbournes acquired in the best way of making new music at the moment, sadly.”

Nonetheless, this setback didn’t cease Alex from contemplating alternate options. The drummer recollects hitting up Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell after the 2 discovered themselves in an impromptu jam session, as Eddie briefly stepped out. 

“Chris was in a really fragile a part of his life, so to talk,” he remembers. “I acquired behind the drums, and he began enjoying bass. We performed for 45 minutes. This motherfucker acquired so into it he began bleeding. I mentioned, ‘That is the person you need.’ After which he died.”

Reflecting on his time with a full band, Alex admits there was a time when Van Halen felt at its fullest: “The center and the soul and the creativity and the magic was Dave, Ed, Mike, and me,” he says. 

Roth is effectively often called the lead for Van Halen, stepping in for the band between 1974-1985, 1996, and 2006-2020. Nonetheless, plans for additional a reunion have been foiled because the vocalist refused to pay respects to the late Van Halen guitarist, in keeping with Alex.

“The factor that broke the camel’s again, and I may be sincere about this now,” Alex tells Rolling Stone, “was I mentioned, ‘Dave, sooner or later, we have now to have a really overt – not a bowing – however an acknowledgement of Ed within the gig. When you have a look at how Queen does it, they present previous footage.’”

“And the second I mentioned we gotta acknowledge Ed, Dave fuckin’ popped a fuse.… The vitriol that got here out was unbelievable.”

Regardless of this, Alex states he holds no remorse over the comeback tour that didn’t occur. “It’s too dangerous on one hand, however it’s wonderful on the opposite,” he says. “As a result of now, on reflection, enjoying the previous songs is just not actually paying tribute to anyone. That’s identical to a jukebox, in my view.… To discover a substitute for Ed? It’s simply not the identical.”