Ozzy Osbourne looked back on Metallica opening for him back in 1986 for “The Ultimate Sin Tour.” The North American leg also served as the initial dates on Metallica’s extensive 1986/87 “Damage, Inc. Tour.”
Ozzy was quoted by LouderSound.com as remembering, “Everybody used to stay at L.A.’s Sunset Marquis, so I ran into them there. Not long after, we had them out on tour with us. They came right out of their box; people loved them. They brought along a great following, which helped them take off down the line. They were all nice guys, so I was happy when my old bass player (Rob Trujillo) ended up playing with them.”
He remembered how he discovered what big fans they were of his: “They were opening the show. I remember walking past the dressing room and they were playing Black Sabbath — I had no idea they were big fans, I thought they were taking the piss!”
Ozzy went on to recall a major moment for both him and Metallica: “While we were on tour, I’d keep seeing James (Hetfield) hanging about, like he wanted to ask something. Eventually he walked up and said, ‘We want to play ‘Paranoid’ with you,’ and we were like, ‘Sure!’ — then they showed just how big Sabbath fans they were. Cliff (Burton) had a massive smile on his face the whole time. Of course, it all came back round when I got up to do it with them at the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame (at Sabbath’s 2009 induction), which was brilliant too.”
When pressed if the band lived up to their hard-partying image on those ’86 dates, Ozzy revealed: “No, to us they were just a nice bunch of guys! The wildest we had from them was James, who must have broke his arm three f***ing times on that tour skateboarding.”
- Metallica North American tour dates (subject to change):
May 27 – Napa, CA -BottleRock at Napa Valley Expo
May 29 – Boston, MA – Boston Calling at Harvard Athletic Complex
July 28 – Chicago, IL – Lollapalooza at Grant Park
August 11 – Buffalo, NY – Highmark Stadium
August 14 – Pittsburgh, PA – PNC Park
FAST FACTS
- On August 9th, 2008 Metallica debuted “Cyanide” during its headlining set at Ozzfest, which took place at Pizza Hut Park in Dallas, marking the first time that the band had performed any material in concert from its then-forthcoming album, Death Magnetic.
- The rest of Metallica’s 17-song Ozzfest set featured a number of the band’s classic tunes as well as a medley of songs from underground metal act Mercyful Fate, for which they were joined onstage by that Danish act’s singer, King Diamond.
CHECK IT OUT: Metallica with Ozzy Osbourne in 2009 performing “Iron Man” and “Paranoid” live at Black Sabbath’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction ceremony: