- 7/24/2025
The Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan joins Klein.Ally.Show. to share memories of Ozzy Osbourne after his passing.
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00:00This is the world-famous K-Rock.
00:04K-Rock on a Wednesday morning, impactful day, and that song that we just enjoyed together from the Smashing Pumpkins may have never actually come out if it was not for the career of an Ozzy Osbourne, but I can't say that.
00:15Let's ask Billy Corgan himself, lead man, front man, of course, not only friend of Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, but of course of K-Rock, and now when we were talking about who we could possibly talk to,
00:26it just sheds some light on the impact that Ozzy's had on so many.
00:30We said, we've got to get Billy, and Billy was nice enough to accept our request, and here he is, and it's good to see you again, the great Billy Corgan on K-Rock.
00:37Thank you. It's nice to see you. I'm sorry it's on a sad occasion, but I think the beautiful thing is, you know, there's been such an incredible outpouring of tributes.
00:48I've been sitting on social media, and literally everybody I follow, I mean, I don't care if it's a clothing company, I don't care if it's a pedal maker,
00:55everybody's paying tribute to Ozzy today. I think it's so amazing that he had this connection with people, and you see it.
01:05And I just went through it, of course, a few weeks ago in London, or at Birmingham with the concert, but now to see this, it's like even more overwhelmed.
01:15Do you remember, did you get to chat with Ozzy at the final show, and what was the interaction like, and how did he seem?
01:22You know, I kind of let him be because there were so many people wanting to talk to him, and there were people he hadn't seen for years.
01:32And Sharon and I had been discussing, ever since Sharon appeared in my podcast, that I was going to go over to their house in L.A. and interview Ozzy.
01:41So in my mind, I was like, I'm just going to wait, I'm going to have that conversation when I see him after this.
01:48I'd like to share one special moment, though.
01:51I don't want to say who the other person is. It's somebody from a very famous alternative band.
01:56But when Black Sabbath soundchecked two nights before the actual concert, there was literally nobody in the arena, the stadium, except security.
02:04And me and this person from another famous alternative band.
02:08And we were literally watching Black Sabbath soundcheck with Ozzy, you know, for the last time.
02:14And Ozzy saw us down there and did the famous Ozzy, you know, sitting in his chair, but he did the famous Ozzy peace sign to both of us down and smiled.
02:22And that's the moment I'll always hold on to, because it was in that private moment where it was just us in the band, basically.
02:30And both me and the other person, this is why I don't want to say who the person is.
02:35We both started crying because we couldn't believe this magical dream of this band in our lives was coming to an end.
02:43Billy, you first connected with Black Sabbath, I believe, when you were eight. Is that right?
02:48Yeah, my uncle was a drummer, and he had a very progressive kind of rock collection.
02:53And my grandmother, for some reason, let me play his records.
02:55And the first record in the stack was Master of Reality.
02:58Never heard of the band, had no idea.
02:59And the first song I ever heard by them was Sweet Leaf.
03:02And it had such an impact on me.
03:04The sound of his voice, I couldn't understand what was happening.
03:08It was like Quicksilver through me.
03:09And then, of course, Tony's guitar.
03:11And I'm not saying anything, if you're a Sabbath fan, that sounds new.
03:14But when you're eight years old and you have no context for that, it was so shocking.
03:18And the feeling of them has never left me.
03:22And it's had such a huge influence on my music and my approach to music.
03:26So, to be with them on that day, it was like a magical dream.
03:31And it's been such a high.
03:33I think everybody involved, Metallica, Tom Morello, I mean, everybody, we've been talking.
03:38And it was such an amazing event to be part of.
03:41It was the greatest musical event I think I've ever been a part of.
03:43Wow.
03:44It's a sort of a one-day thing.
03:45It was so incredible.
03:46Everybody was on their best behavior.
03:48Everyone was playing their hearts out.
03:49Because there's so much love for Ozzy and the band.
03:52And I saw it.
03:53I mean, I saw it behind the scenes.
03:54I saw it when the cameras were on.
03:57And so, to be coming off that high and then have somebody run in a room last night and say, oh, my God, Ozzy just died.
04:02It was like, wait, the movie's not supposed to end like this, you know?
04:05Yeah, so was it pretty shocking?
04:07Even though, you know, obviously he wasn't in the best health for a long period of time.
04:10And, you know, the news kind of broke yesterday.
04:12It seemed like a long time coming for some people.
04:14But then it also still seemed like such a huge shock.
04:18Well, you know, I was around him.
04:20And obviously people were paying a lot of attention to the shape that he was in.
04:24He was obviously not at 100%.
04:27But, like, if anybody's seen those group photos where we were all, it's like me and Metallica and, you know, so many of the artists playing, we were in this group photo.
04:36And the photographer is Ross Halfman, very famous rock photographer.
04:39And we've all shot with Ross for years.
04:41And he's been shooting Ozzy for 45 years.
04:44And Ozzy was cussing him out, just like you would hear in an episode of the Osborne.
04:50So I saw nothing in his spirit that told me that he was anywhere near the end of his life.
04:58And, you know, talking about it with the band, you know, we were almost thinking that maybe this concert was the thing that kept him going.
05:06Maybe the idea that there was this rainbow at the end of this particular road, maybe that kept his spirits up.
05:14And I'm not saying once it was over, he was over.
05:17I'm just saying is maybe the concert actually elongated his life because he had something to fight for, something to strive for.
05:24And to see how much that show and those artists meant to him.
05:28I mean, we all watch through our phone these days, but I was there.
05:33I was watching, you know, everybody turn into a little kid again because for a hard rock and, you know, you got Tool there, you got Morello there.
05:41You know, for bands like us, Sabbath has always been an alternative band.
05:46You know, we never saw them as just a metal band.
05:48So the greatest rock stars in the world, we were all there for one reason.
05:53And there's so much love for Ozzy when you see it in person.
05:57It was so humbling to be a part of that.
06:00Billy Corgan is on with us right now, Smashing Pumpkins.
06:03You can watch this.
06:03We're live on YouTube, of course, doing the show on K-Rock as well.
06:07And even the text line saying Ozzy literally threw and attended his own funeral.
06:10That is something only a true legend can do.
06:13But I don't know if, you know, look, to be there and to be in that room.
06:17And I wonder because he's a guy that you've always admired.
06:19Was he a guy that you ever went to at any point in your career for advice?
06:23Like when Smashing Pumpkins was going through stuff or you were going through stuff because he had experienced pretty much everything.
06:28Were you at that point with him?
06:30No, you know, it was interesting because my relationship was always more with Sharon because Sharon at one point managed us.
06:36And then we had a big falling out and then we made up not too long thereafter.
06:39And we've been, you know, on good terms for many, many years.
06:44And it was when Sharon had filmed my podcast, I guess, eight, nine months ago.
06:48She said, we're going to do this last concert and I would really like you to be there.
06:51I know it would mean a lot to Ozzy.
06:53So I've always kind of interacted with Ozzy through Sharon.
06:57So it really would be Sharon I would go to advice for.
07:00And I want to say something really quickly.
07:02And obviously this is about Ozzy.
07:04And I think you see it also with this last show.
07:09There would be no Ozzy, the icon, without Sharon.
07:12Sharon was his rock.
07:14Sharon was his motivation.
07:15Sharon was the woman he loved with all his heart.
07:20And as much as I've been thinking about Ozzy and as much as I've been thinking about the band having just been with everybody,
07:26I'm also thinking a lot about the family and of Sharon because he was the center of their universe.
07:31And so please put your prayers out for the family as well because they're going to need this kind of support.
07:38You know, he was a huge, huge figure.
07:41And this conversation that Billy keeps talking about, by the way, his podcast, The Magnificent Others, you can see this conversation.
07:47I watched the whole chat with you and Sharon yesterday.
07:49It's truly, really remarkable, all of the things that you cover in that.
07:53And it did feel so two friends for a long time having a conversation about universal love for this man, Ozzy Osbourne.
08:01And I question this, and I think the answer is pretty obvious, but like of all of the K-Rock artists, yourself included,
08:07how many of these artists wouldn't even be here today if it was not for kind of the impact that Ozzy, Black Sabbath had on just everything?
08:15See, that's the funny thing.
08:16You know, you get these kind of categories thrown around, but you can draw direct lineages between Sabbath and Rage Against the Machine, Tool, Pumpkins, Nirvana.
08:27I mean, Alice in Chains.
08:31I mean, half of the great artists that K-Rock had played through the years were directly descended from Black Sabbath's music and philosophy.
08:39So I don't think the influence there could be understated.
08:42This is a huge moment for all of us because I don't think, you know, it's easy to say, oh, you'll never see the likes of him again.
08:50You will definitely never see another Ozzy.
08:53He was a one-of-a-kind personality.
08:55He was a one-of-a-kind voice.
08:57And what was so amazing, and you hear it again and again in the last few hours, and you'll hear it for the next few weeks, he was a humble man.
09:06You know, to be that guy and not somehow be affected by it is, I think, probably the most remarkable part of all.
09:14We've all had our rock star weirdnesses, but somehow he stayed himself through the whole thing.
09:20There's an interview just went up today with Tony Iommi, I think, talking to the BBC, and he said he was always the same since we were in school together.
09:29And he's the same guy at the end.
09:31I mean, to have lived what he lived and still come out the other side that guy, I think that's maybe the greatest tribute.
09:38And a family man, he loved his kids and his grandkids.
09:42I mean, I saw it.
09:43It's very hard to, I guess, straddle the worlds between having some intimate contact with the family and knowing what they're going through and at the same time be a fan and have been part of the show.
09:56And the whirlwind of emotions over the last 24 hours are almost hard to categorize, and I put feelings into words for a living, you know?
10:03If there are people going on a deep dive today with Ozzy's music, Black Sabbath, etc., what's one song that they have to have on their playlist today?
10:15See, that's tough because, you know, Ozzy lived many musical lives depending on who was in the band, you know?
10:22So if you're a Sabbath fan, I think you would want to listen to Changes, which Youngblood did such an amazing cover of.
10:30I mean, he just destroyed it at the gig, but Ozzy's the king of it, you know?
10:35And so I think the emotion of that song, and then I think Mom, I'm Coming Home from his solo career because that shows the heart of the man.
10:44Billy, we can't thank you enough for spending some time with us this morning.
10:47Your thoughts, obviously, you know much more.
10:49You were there.
10:50You got to be a part of that final show, and some people are wondering if there's any talk about you and those guys you played with on stage.
10:58Oh, doing more?
11:00Maybe keeping the legacy alive by doing some more stuff potentially down the line.
11:05Any conversation about that or way too soon?
11:07You know what?
11:08There hasn't been, but I said something after the show, and I didn't say it to Sharon, but I said it to someone in Sharon's world.
11:15I almost think there should be an annual Ozzy concert where we come together and we just do a charitable event.
11:24Yeah, because he raised so much money.
11:26That final show between Parkinson's, Children's Hospital, Acorn Children's.
11:31I mean, he's even on the way out, did so much good, and that's what I think everyone thinks of the guy that ate the bat that was rock and roll and a badass, but the amount of good he did was wild.
11:40I think I would, do you have a second for me to sort of talk about this?
11:44I don't want to.
11:44Yeah, yeah, of course.
11:45As long as you want to give us, Billy.
11:47Here's what I would say.
11:50When you have the biggest artists in the world coming to play in tribute to somebody, and they're playing truncated sets.
12:00Tool played 20 minutes.
12:02You know, GNR played for 35 minutes.
12:05I mean, headlining bands are not used to playing small sets.
12:09Everybody worked together to make a one-of-a-kind monumental event, and what an amazing way to continue to pay tribute if we could get together every year in Birmingham, or Sharon could pick a site, and the legacy of that togetherness would continue.
12:27I can't imagine the list of artists that wouldn't want to be involved.
12:31And let me say one other thing, and this is a bit selfish, but it sort of goes with this idea.
12:36When you see the power of rock music, and I'm obviously including Alternative here, you had guys in their 20s and guys in their 70s working together in the same direction.
12:49Pop could never, ever compete with what we saw that day.
12:54Pop is massive, and we get it, and we know it, and everybody runs around and talks about it because it's the gossip.
13:00But rock cannot be beat.
13:01And a guy like Ozzy showed us the way.
13:06Somehow his magical life brought us all together.
13:09I mean, Jakey Lee was there who had been, you know, estranged from his world for 30 years.
13:14I mean, there was so much peacemaking going on.
13:17So I love the idea that maybe in Ozzy's memory and in tribute, we could have a once-a-year event where we know we're going to go in and raise hundreds of millions of dollars and show the whole world what rock can do when we're all pointed in the same direction.
13:33Just one day a year.
13:35I'm sure that would be amazing.
13:37Billy Corgan.
13:37He would love it.
13:38We love you.
13:39Thank you for joining us again on K-Rock.
13:41And we appreciate it.
13:42Let's get on some Ozzy right now, which we don't get to do as often as we should.
13:45The great Billy Corgan.
13:46Thanks so much.
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