In his first interview since Eddie Van Halen‘s 2020 passing, Alex Van Halen revealed that Ozzy Osbourne and Chris Cornell were both under consideration to front VAN HALEN at different times when the band was in between singers.

While speaking with Rolling Stone to promote his new memoir, “Brothers”, set for release on October 22, Alex said Osbourne was approached in 2001, two years after Gary Cherone‘s exit from VAN HALEN, and prior to Sammy Hagar‘s return in 2003. According to the drummer, he and Eddie met with the BLACK SABBATH frontman wife and manager Sharon Osbourne to discuss a potential album with Ozzy as lead singer. But the plan was abandoned when the Osbourne family launched its groundbreaking MTV reality show.

“When you get a dog, you don’t expect it to be a cat,” Alex told Rolling Stone. “When you get an Ozzy, you get Ozzy. Play the music, he’ll sing, and it’s gonna be great.”

When contacted by Rolling Stone, Ozzy confirmed the story, telling the magazine via e-mail: “Yes, we were discussing it. It is something that if it had come to fruition, would have been phenomenal. Eddie and Alex were great friends of mine for a very long time and it’s a regret of mine that we never got it together. ‘The Osbournes’ got in the way of creating new music at that time, unfortunately.”

Alex couldn’t remember the exact time when Cornell came into the picture, but it wasn’t long before the SOUNDGARDEN vocalist’s death in 2017. Recalling a jam session between him, Eddie and Chris, Alex said: “Chris was in a very fragile part of his life, so to speak. I got behind the drums, and he started playing bass. We played for 45 minutes. This motherfucker got so into it, he started bleeding. I said, ‘This is the man you want.’ And then he died.”

In a recent episode of “Ozzy Speaks” on SiriusXM’s Ozzy’s Boneyard, Ozzy recalled when VAN HALEN opened for BLACK SABBATH in 1978 on the European leg of the latter band’s “Never Say Die!” tour.

“I just couldn’t believe it,” Ozzy said. “Eddie Van Halen made it look so fucking easy. They outshone us. They blew us off the stage.

“Eddie was a great guy,” Ozzy added. “He was always nice with me. He was a lovely man to be around, and Alex (Van Halen). I took all of them down to my local pub… That was fucking great.”

Osbourne previously discussed his memories of touring with VAN HALEN in an October 2022 interview with Revolver. He said at the time: “Eddie Van Halen was such a great guy. They came to our local pub and it was good fun. But David Lee Roth, he’s lost a couple of nuts and bolts. When you meet him, it’s like, ‘What’s wrong with him?’ He’s like somewhere else, you know?”

Ozzy also discussed the supposed cross-town rivalry Randy Rhoads, the first guitarist Osbourne worked with after BLACK SABBATH, had with Eddie Van Halen.

“They were arch enemies,” Ozzy remembered. “Randy didn’t have a lot to say about Eddie. They were very, very similar guitar players. Eddie took that tapping thing to another level. Randy could do that, but he liked people like Leslie West.

“It amazes me that you get Eddie, you get Randy, and you go, ‘No one’s ever gonna top that.’ But there’s a new thing round every corner.”

Rhoads‘s pre-Ozzy band QUIET RIOT had been gigging on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California at the same time as VAN HALEN. Although both Rhoads and Van Halen later became some of the most influential guitarists of the 20th century, playing with a similar flare and incorporating finger-tapping into their fleet-fingered solos, Eddie found commercial success before Rhoads, due in part to the fact that VAN HALEN landed a record deal years before QUIET RIOT did.

The rivalry between Rhoads and Van Halen was explored in the documentary “Randy Rhoads: Reflections Of A Guitar Icon”, which was released in May 2022. The film contains archive audio of Van Halen discussing Rhoads, saying, “He was one guitarist who was honest, anyway. Because he said everything he did he learned from me.

“He was good,” Van Halen continued. “But I don’t really think he did anything that I haven’t done. And there ain’t nothing wrong with it. I’ve copied some other people, you know?”