Mick Stingley of Metal Edge magazine recently conducted an interview with guitarist Zakk Wylde (BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, OZZY OSBOURNE). A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Metal Edge: It's been a while since you and Ozzy wrote together.

Zakk: "Well, we didn't… With the last album [2001's 'Down to Earth'], I didn't even write anything on it, you know what I'm saying? So, with 'Ozzmosis' [1995], it was… The way that one was written, we were all over the place, you know? It wasn't like we sat down and wrote the thing. The way it is now, we're just going over to Ozzy's studio and knocking it out there. You know, I just come in and start jamming some riffs, and that's it."

Metal Edge: Was there pressure on Ozzy from his record company to use outside writers? To write "hits?"

Zakk: "I don't know about record company pressure for hits. I mean, as far as hits go, look at 'No More Tears'. 'No More Tears' ended up being a hit song, on radio, but if you really listen to the song, it's so friggin' long. I would have never thought that thing would've gone on the radio. 'Mama I'm Coming Home', if it's like a ballad, obviously it's going to have, you know, odds are that it would be a better choice as to what gets played on the radio. But with Ozz, the last album was already written, so I was more or less like a studio guitar player on that record. Everything was already done, so I just came in, and I was able to do my own thing, put my treatments on there, whatever, my squeals, and pings, and this and that, and yadda yadda yadda. I put my own stamp on it, but everything was already written. Ozzy had been writing with a bunch of different guys and stuff like that, and he was like, 'Zakk, I dig the material, but I don't want to sit around for another five months writing songs.' He was like, 'Enough is enough. I just want to record the thing and get out on the road."

Metal Edge: What did you think about that Rolling Stone issue a couple of years ago, with a list of top guitarists?

Zakk: "Oh, God… That thing was pathetic. I mean, dude, I think they had Eddie Van Halen at, like, 70-something, Randy Rhoads almost didn't even make the list. I was like, 'You gotta be kidding me!' Then they had Kurt Cobain, he's like, 12??? God bless his soul, Kurt was a great songwriter — you know what I mean? — who happened to be playing guitar. He would have been laughing his balls off, above Eddie Van Halen and Randy Rhoads. Yngwie wasn't even on the friggin' list! Steve Vai wasn't on the list. I don't even know if Slash was on the list, and we're not even talking about rock guitar players. Danny Gatton, Albert Lee, none of these guys were on that list. I mean, I don't know who figured out that list."

Metal Edge: Were you bothered that you weren't on the list? Certainly your fans were…

Zakk: "Nah… It's Rolling Stone. I just laughed. Their audience would vote Dave Matthews the best guitar player on the planet, you know what I mean? And that's that audience, and there's nothing wrong with that — it is what it is. I could understand if the guitar magazines had a list, and Yngwie wasn't on it, gimme a break. It was unbelievable…"