During an interview with The Metal Voice , guitarist Michael Schenker spoke about the invitation he received in the 1980s to join Ozzy Osbourne's band.
According to Schenker, Ozzy declined the invitation because he wouldn't have the artistic freedom to express himself as he wished, as he would only be a hired musician.
"Throughout my career I've heard the phrase: 'What if you had joined Ozzy Osbourne?' Well, he would have regretted it, because I did a lot of things," Michael said in the interview.
“I’ve made acoustic instrumental albums, electric instrumental albums, covers, you name it. It’s been fifty years of my career, I’ve done everything I wanted to do, so I can relax and focus on the things I love most in rock, and that’s exactly what I do these days.”
Schenker said he almost accepted the offer, but believes that from that moment on, he learned to protect himself from such invitations and "end up doing something I shouldn't have done and which I would regret doing later.".
“I thought about it this way: ‘Why did you leave Europe and Scorpions ? Well, it’s for those same reasons that you shouldn’t join Ozzy Osbourne, Motörhead , Deep Purple , Ian Hunter , or any other band that invites you to join them.’ Besides, I would have to copy everything those bands did to make their live shows work, and I hate copying; it wouldn’t be Michael Schenker expressing himself, and it simply wouldn’t make any sense for who I am,” he concluded.
Currently, the musician is with the band MSG ( Michael Schenker Group ) and will release his new studio album, titled Universal , on May 27th via Atomic Fire Records.
Listen to the full interview (in English) below.
