“Ozzy knew that I was Randy’s favorite guitar player, so he thought I’d be the perfect fit, but it wasn’t the right time.”

Michael Schenker recently revealed how he made Ozzy Osbourne turn him down as his new guitarist.

In an interview with Classic Rock, Schenker explained he’d been creating material with the Michael Schenker Group, early in its run. During this time, he received a phone call from the Prince of Darkness: “I got a phone call from Ozzy Osbourne in the middle of the night, stuttering, asking me to help him out because Randy Rhoads had died in that plane crash.

“I loved Sabbath, and I should have been delighted to join. I instantly had visions of Ozzy dragging me across the stage by my hair, but a voice in my head said, ‘Michael, follow your vision.'”

The guitarist continued, noting he desired to get away from the spotlight at the time: “I’d left UFO and Scorpions because I didn’t want to go any further with the fame thing, and I wanted freedom and peace, so I felt it would be crazy to join. Ozzy knew that I was Randy’s favorite guitar player, so he thought I’d be the perfect fit, but it wasn’t the right time. We were already rehearsing the Assault Attack album with Graham Bonnett.”

Schenker concluded by revealing the ingenious plan he’d concocted to force Ozzy to turn him down: “The only way I could think of getting out of the Ozzy gig was by making outrageous demands, so that’s what I did. In his book [“I Am Ozzy”] Ozzy said I asked for a private jet, and that’s true, but it was only so that he’d turn me down.”