Performance Notes

Ozzy Osbourne’s longtime guitarist Zakk Wylde on the making of their classic track “No More Tears”

- Nick Bowcott

Editor’s Note: We’ve decided to devote this month’s Performance Notes space to rerunning the following insightful and colorful interview with Zakk Wylde from 2005, wherein the burly, industrious guitarist talks at length about the writing, recording and performance of the song that elevated him to Guitar God status, Ozzy Osbourne’s “No More Tears.”

“THAT’S THE LAST song I thought would ever be on the radio, let alone become a hit,” laughs longtime former Guitar World columnist and “No More Tears” co-writer Zakk Wylde. “I mean, it’s too goddamned long, and it ain’t exactly a pop song! ‘Mama I’m Coming Home’ I get, but I never thought ‘No More Tears’ was gonna be the song off that record,” the guitarist adds. However, many years after its release, the title track from one of Ozzy’s most successful albums remains a staple of rock radio.

“It was the very last song we wrote for the record,” Zakk recalls. “We were dicking around one day, and Mike Inez started playing the opening bass riff [see bar 1 in the transcription]. Randy [Castillo, drums] came in exactly like he does on the record, and John [Sinclair, keyboards] started writing that keyboard intro while I was coming up with the intro slide melody [see bars 10-18