Zakk Wylde Roasted by Corey Taylor and Sharon Osbourne

Zakk Wylde gets roasted at the Guitar World's Rock and Roll roast of Zakk Wylde at City National Grove of Anaheim.

Guitar World magazine honored guitarist Zakk Wylde last night in Anaheim, California with its first ever Rock & Roll Roast. Before Wylde took the throne of honor and was skewered by the likes of Corey Taylor, Duff McKagan, Anthrax's Scott Ian, wrestler/Fozzy frontman Chris Jericho and others, his friends warned Rolling Stone it was gonna be merciless for everyone involved.

"We’ve all known each other for a while, we all love each other. So let’s just rip the crap out of each other, " Taylor told us.

Comedian Brian Posehn had to scale back his material a bit. "As I’m writing some of these jokes I’m like, 'Oh, I can’t say that if I want to ever go backstage to any of their shows again,'" he told us. But it didn't stop him from shredding Jericho in a hilarious bit.

"Comedy is hard, isn't it?" Posehn asked the wrestler as he started. "Stick to sucking at everything else."

Yeah, it was brutal. Comedian Jim Norton got in one of the best zingers on Scott Ian when he said, "You look like Ben Kingsley eating a raccoon," referencing the Anthrax guitarist's trademark beard.

Ian knew what to expect. "I’m sure I’m gonna get torn up tonight, but my attitude is go ahead and say whatever you want," he said. "I’m short, I’m bald, I’m Jewish, who cares? There’s nothing you can say about me that I probably haven’t already said about myself."

Setting the tenor for the night was roastmaster Sharon Osbourne, and she told Rolling Stone exactly what she had in mind. "I’ve got to be step on his balls tonight," she said of Wylde. "I’ve known him since he was 18. He calls me 'mum,' and I feel like his mom. So I can be disrespectful, horrible, mean to him for two hours and get away with it."

For Osbourne though, it was all done with a great deal of love. "My kids grew up with Zakk. Jack was about eight months old when Zakk first came to the band. My son is now 26 and having a child, so that’s how long he’s been with us," she said. She also spoke on behalf of her husband, Ozzy, who was scheduled to be there, but is now in England working on the Black Sabbath album. "Ozzy is very proud of Zakk – very, very proud. He’s proud of the man he’s become – he's sober and fabulous."

It apparently took some time for Wylde to get there, however. A popular refrain from the night, for multiple speakers, was mention of Ozzy confronting Wylde on his drinking. Several different people asked how fucked up someone would have to be to have Ozzy lecture someone on substance abuse.

But Wylde took it all in stride, laughing often as people made jokes about his trademark beard and pointed out his wife Barbaranne. A video bit featured Wylde's wife emerging from under a table and a very pleased William Shatner teasing Wylde. Also speaking via video were Judas Priest's Rob Halford and James Durbin, among others.

All agreed Wylde was a great first roastee because of his good nature, and he showed that off. "I’m a good Catholic boy, I’m a nice person, I have no idea what they can be making fun of," Wylde told us on the red carpet.

Guitar World hopes to make the roast an annual event, so we asked people who'd like they to see skewered in future. "Everybody around here is a cartoon character anyway," said Wylde. "[If] anybody walks away from the table, we can sit there for about three to five hours taking the piss out of them the whole time – in a loving way, mind you," Wylde said.

Coming from a comedy background, Posehn offered a detailed breakdown of potential future honorees. "I think Ozzy would be a good one, I think Lemmy [Kilmister, Motorhead] would be good. There’s a lot to make fun of and he seems like he has a sense of humor," he said. "Lars [Ulrich, Metallica]  would be good, James [Hetfield, Metallica] would be horrible. You could not go after James Hetfield. [Megadeth's Dave] Mustaine might be good. I’d be a little afraid of him, depends on what day you catch him."

Ulrich and Osbourne were popular choices. But Sharon Osbourne had a different metal icon in mind for next year, one that we would pay to see. 

Asked who she'd like to see roasted in 2013, she replied, "I think Axl Rose, and I’m the woman to fuck him."

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Zakk Wylde Roasted by Corey Taylor and Sharon Osbourne

Zakk Wylde gets roasted at the Guitar World's Rock and Roll roast of Zakk Wylde at City National Grove of Anaheim.

Guitar World magazine honored guitarist Zakk Wylde last night in Anaheim, California with its first ever Rock & Roll Roast. Before Wylde took the throne of honor and was skewered by the likes of Corey Taylor, Duff McKagan, Anthrax's Scott Ian, wrestler/Fozzy frontman Chris Jericho and others, his friends warned Rolling Stone it was gonna be merciless for everyone involved.

"We’ve all known each other for a while, we all love each other. So let’s just rip the crap out of each other, " Taylor told us.

Comedian Brian Posehn had to scale back his material a bit. "As I’m writing some of these jokes I’m like, 'Oh, I can’t say that if I want to ever go backstage to any of their shows again,'" he told us. But it didn't stop him from shredding Jericho in a hilarious bit.

"Comedy is hard, isn't it?" Posehn asked the wrestler as he started. "Stick to sucking at everything else."

Yeah, it was brutal. Comedian Jim Norton got in one of the best zingers on Scott Ian when he said, "You look like Ben Kingsley eating a raccoon," referencing the Anthrax guitarist's trademark beard.

Ian knew what to expect. "I’m sure I’m gonna get torn up tonight, but my attitude is go ahead and say whatever you want," he said. "I’m short, I’m bald, I’m Jewish, who cares? There’s nothing you can say about me that I probably haven’t already said about myself."

Setting the tenor for the night was roastmaster Sharon Osbourne, and she told Rolling Stone exactly what she had in mind. "I’ve got to be step on his balls tonight," she said of Wylde. "I’ve known him since he was 18. He calls me 'mum,' and I feel like his mom. So I can be disrespectful, horrible, mean to him for two hours and get away with it."

For Osbourne though, it was all done with a great deal of love. "My kids grew up with Zakk. Jack was about eight months old when Zakk first came to the band. My son is now 26 and having a child, so that’s how long he’s been with us," she said. She also spoke on behalf of her husband, Ozzy, who was scheduled to be there, but is now in England working on the Black Sabbath album. "Ozzy is very proud of Zakk – very, very proud. He’s proud of the man he’s become – he's sober and fabulous."

It apparently took some time for Wylde to get there, however. A popular refrain from the night, for multiple speakers, was mention of Ozzy confronting Wylde on his drinking. Several different people asked how fucked up someone would have to be to have Ozzy lecture someone on substance abuse.

But Wylde took it all in stride, laughing often as people made jokes about his trademark beard and pointed out his wife Barbaranne. A video bit featured Wylde's wife emerging from under a table and a very pleased William Shatner teasing Wylde. Also speaking via video were Judas Priest's Rob Halford and James Durbin, among others.

All agreed Wylde was a great first roastee because of his good nature, and he showed that off. "I’m a good Catholic boy, I’m a nice person, I have no idea what they can be making fun of," Wylde told us on the red carpet.

Guitar World hopes to make the roast an annual event, so we asked people who'd like they to see skewered in future. "Everybody around here is a cartoon character anyway," said Wylde. "[If] anybody walks away from the table, we can sit there for about three to five hours taking the piss out of them the whole time – in a loving way, mind you," Wylde said.

Coming from a comedy background, Posehn offered a detailed breakdown of potential future honorees. "I think Ozzy would be a good one, I think Lemmy [Kilmister, Motorhead] would be good. There’s a lot to make fun of and he seems like he has a sense of humor," he said. "Lars [Ulrich, Metallica]  would be good, James [Hetfield, Metallica] would be horrible. You could not go after James Hetfield. [Megadeth's Dave] Mustaine might be good. I’d be a little afraid of him, depends on what day you catch him."

Ulrich and Osbourne were popular choices. But Sharon Osbourne had a different metal icon in mind for next year, one that we would pay to see. 

Asked who she'd like to see roasted in 2013, she replied, "I think Axl Rose, and I’m the woman to fuck him."

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Week in Rock History: Ozzy Osbourne Bites the Head Off a Bleedin' Bat

Ozzy Osbourne performs at the Alpine Valley Music Theater in East Troy, Wisconsin, in 1982.

This week in rock history, Lesley Gore played a Batvillain, Jimi Hendrix recorded one of rock's greatest covers, the Beatles' White Album was played in the Manson Family's Sharon Tate murder trial, Ozzy Osbourne bit the head off a live bat and Tom Waits won a lawsuit against a snack manufacturer.

January 19, 1967: Lesley Gore appears on an episode of Batman as Catwoman's sidekick, Pussycat
Teen queen Lesley Gore conquered the charts at 16 years old with her very first single, the 1963 pop classic "It's My Party," and she followed it up with a landmark feminist anthem, 1964's "You Don't Own Me." As she continued to release hits well into the late 1960s, she also enjoyed an interesting diversion: playing a villain on Batman.

In 1967, the pop star appeared as Pussycat, an underling to Catwoman, on two episodes of the hit television series. In between thwarting the caped crusader's latest do-goodery, she lip-synched two songs, "Maybe Now" and her last chart hit, "California Nights." It was an interesting crossover moment between feminine teen idolatry and television, especially in the age of the Monkees and Beatlemania.

After the 1960s, Gore turned much of her attention to gay and lesbian rights advocacy, including her return to television as the host of the PBS documentary program In the Life.

January 21, 1968: Jimi Hendrix records "All Along the Watchtower"
Deemed the greatest cover song of all time by Rolling Stone readers, Jimi Hendrix's volcanic take on Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" was no easy feat. Recorded over several days at Olympic Studios in London, the sessions were so drawn-out and dissatisfying that Hendrix's bassist, Noel Redding, quit midway.

Hendrix was manic about "All Along the Watchtower." Blown away by a tape of Dylan's original (reportedly given to him by publicist Michael Goldstein), he recorded dozens of psychedelic guitar parts and experimental chord variations in January, only to overdub them that summer while in New York. He would also later do the same to the bass part; that's him playing the final, funky line in the released cut of the song.

However, Hendrix's tunnel vision paid off. "He found things that other people wouldn't think of finding in there," said Dylan to The Fort-Lauderdale Sun Sentinel in 1995.  "He probably improved upon it by the spaces he was using. I took license with the song from his version, actually, and continue to do it to this day."

January 19, 1971: Prosecutors for the Sharon Tate murder trial play the Beatles' White Album in the courtroom to determine if it incited Charles Manson and his followers to violence
Once a struggling folk musician who reedily sang misanthropic odes called "People Say I'm No Good" and "Don't Do Anything Illegal," Charles Manson established himself as the leader of the murderous Manson Family cult in the late 1960s. He told his followers that a race war was underway, and he displayed his proof in an unexpected form: the Beatles' White Album.

Manson claimed that the album "spoke" to him, especially the raucous jam "Helter Skelter" and the garbled harmonies of "Piggies" (he claimed it would be the establishment who received the song's "damned good whacking"). Manson incited his cult to murder the couple Leno and Rosemary LaBianca and actress Sharon Tate in 1969 (the latter married to director Roman Polanski and pregnant). His "Helter Skelter" apocalypse theory was tested by lawyers in the ensuing murder trial, and Manson and his associates eventually received lifetime prison sentences (some reduced from death sentences due to a shift in California state law). Manson and numerous members of his "family" remain behind bars.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Week in Rock History: Ozzy Osbourne Bites the Head Off a Bleedin' Bat

Ozzy Osbourne performs at the Alpine Valley Music Theater in East Troy, Wisconsin, in 1982.

This week in rock history, Lesley Gore played a Batvillain, Jimi Hendrix recorded one of rock's greatest covers, the Beatles' White Album was played in the Manson Family's Sharon Tate murder trial, Ozzy Osbourne bit the head off a live bat and Tom Waits won a lawsuit against a snack manufacturer.

January 19, 1967: Lesley Gore appears on an episode of Batman as Catwoman's sidekick, Pussycat
Teen queen Lesley Gore conquered the charts at 16 years old with her very first single, the 1963 pop classic "It's My Party," and she followed it up with a landmark feminist anthem, 1964's "You Don't Own Me." As she continued to release hits well into the late 1960s, she also enjoyed an interesting diversion: playing a villain on Batman.

In 1967, the pop star appeared as Pussycat, an underling to Catwoman, on two episodes of the hit television series. In between thwarting the caped crusader's latest do-goodery, she lip-synched two songs, "Maybe Now" and her last chart hit, "California Nights." It was an interesting crossover moment between feminine teen idolatry and television, especially in the age of the Monkees and Beatlemania.

After the 1960s, Gore turned much of her attention to gay and lesbian rights advocacy, including her return to television as the host of the PBS documentary program In the Life.

January 21, 1968: Jimi Hendrix records "All Along the Watchtower"
Deemed the greatest cover song of all time by Rolling Stone readers, Jimi Hendrix's volcanic take on Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" was no easy feat. Recorded over several days at Olympic Studios in London, the sessions were so drawn-out and dissatisfying that Hendrix's bassist, Noel Redding, quit midway.

Hendrix was manic about "All Along the Watchtower." Blown away by a tape of Dylan's original (reportedly given to him by publicist Michael Goldstein), he recorded dozens of psychedelic guitar parts and experimental chord variations in January, only to overdub them that summer while in New York. He would also later do the same to the bass part; that's him playing the final, funky line in the released cut of the song.

However, Hendrix's tunnel vision paid off. "He found things that other people wouldn't think of finding in there," said Dylan to The Fort-Lauderdale Sun Sentinel in 1995.  "He probably improved upon it by the spaces he was using. I took license with the song from his version, actually, and continue to do it to this day."

January 19, 1971: Prosecutors for the Sharon Tate murder trial play the Beatles' White Album in the courtroom to determine if it incited Charles Manson and his followers to violence
Once a struggling folk musician who reedily sang misanthropic odes called "People Say I'm No Good" and "Don't Do Anything Illegal," Charles Manson established himself as the leader of the murderous Manson Family cult in the late 1960s. He told his followers that a race war was underway, and he displayed his proof in an unexpected form: the Beatles' White Album.

Manson claimed that the album "spoke" to him, especially the raucous jam "Helter Skelter" and the garbled harmonies of "Piggies" (he claimed it would be the establishment who received the song's "damned good whacking"). Manson incited his cult to murder the couple Leno and Rosemary LaBianca and actress Sharon Tate in 1969 (the latter married to director Roman Polanski and pregnant). His "Helter Skelter" apocalypse theory was tested by lawyers in the ensuing murder trial, and Manson and his associates eventually received lifetime prison sentences (some reduced from death sentences due to a shift in California state law). Manson and numerous members of his "family" remain behind bars.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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