Van Halen has had numerous singers through the years. Among these thought of for the function, drummer Alex Van Halen says, had been Ozzy Osbourne and Chris Cornell.

In roughly 2001, singer-less Van Halen eyed Osbourne. Both Alex and Eddie Van Halen met with the Black Sabbath singer’s spouse and supervisor Sharon Osbourne to debate a possible album with Ozzy as lead singer.

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

But not lengthy after that, the Osbourne’s launched their actuality present and the Van Halen plans went unrealized.

“Yes, we were discussing it,” Ozzy confirmed to Rolling Stone. “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.”

Another Option

Alex additionally mentioned Cornell appeared like a strong possibility at one level. Though he wasn’t capable of recall precisely when, he remembered jamming with Cornell and pondering the Soundgarden frontman may very well be a very good match for Van Halen.

“Chris was in a very fragile part of his life, so to speak,” he mentioned. “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.”

READ MORE: When Van Halen Played Their First Show on the Sunset Strip

Of course, in the long run, Sammy Hagar rejoined the band for just a few years, adopted by the return of David Lee Roth. And as Alex sees it, Van Halen’s 1974 to 1985 lineup is the irreplaceable one: “The heart and the soul and the creativity and the magic was Dave, Ed, Mike [Anthony], and me.”