Pedal to the Metal, Pedal too Far?

I don’t do posts reporting things, but for this I have to start! Picture the scene: I log into my twitter account, I hadn’t been on twitter for a few days and so I started reading down the list of tweets to catch up on anything I had missed. Turns out it was quite alot! I mean, any normal day on twitter I end up reading tweets from Bill Bailey talking about malteasers or knitted Praying Mantises (or is that “Manti”?!)…but today…

Story of the Week!

This is actually a combination of two things that shocked me, one after the other. First, as I’m reading through the tweets, I come across the last tweet by Zakk Wylde…and all I can make out is something about being on tour and maybe pulling a muscle. “That sucks!” I think to myself, but as I continue to read the plot thickens.

Zakk continues in two very long tweets thanking everyone for the “get well soon” messages- and I’m scrolling down about four pages of tweets now, trying to get to the bottom of this. How could I miss this happening? I noticed a few re-tweets and I’m thinking “maybe this is about one of his crew?”. Don’t get me wrong, that would also be harsh, but I totally didn’t expect this…

Hospitalized

Yes, thats right, Zakk Wylde has been hospitalised, during the “Pedal to the Metal” tour, with blood clots in his lungs- I couldn’t believe it either! He originally thought he had hurt his calf muscle- but an ultrasound found blood clots behind his knee. The clots then moved on to his thigh and both lungs!

From what I can make out, he is out of hospital now, but having to check back in every 48 hours to check his blood. He can’t sing because, as he puts it “pushing can cause an embollism”. So it sounds like he’s over the worst of it, but what does this mean for the music?

Questions

When I read about this, two things came to mind: first, I’m glad hes alive and I wish him all the best for recovery in the future; secondly, there are many questions that now hang over the future of Black Label Society and the great man. He can’t sing now, but will he be able to sing in the future? If he can’t sing anymore surely this means that Black Label Society as we know it may be no more.

The other question that I have, is something that effects all of us. Its been well publicized that Zakk loves his beer- are the two connected? I always thought of Zakk as quite a healthy person- he works out, gets plenty of exercise, and those accounts of his drinking must be exaggerated, right?

There is a line between enjoying beer and being an alcoholic, and I honestly don’t know where Zakk was on this line. If he has to give up drinking then wouldn’t this affect his image? How much was he drinking? What will happen now?

Ozzy Osbourne

And as I was reading up on this story, I found more news that surprised me today- Zakk Wylde has been replaced in Ozzy Osbournes band by some guy called “Gus”. I haven’t remembered his full name, because I’m not sure if I care or not at this stage. First Zakk almost dies, and then he is replaced in Ozzy’s band- either this has been one hell of a bad month for Zakk, or he’s giving up the music business.

Neither of these two things are something I ever wanted to hear, and I hope I am wrong about it. Zakk is one of my favourite guitarists, and a huge influence on me, I don’t want to see him go just yet. I really hope he doesn’t give up- on music, or on life!

Here is the story on Blabbermouth.net (along with a pic of Zakk in a hospital gown- YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!)

August 31, 2009 at 2:16 pm | Music News and Opinions | 1 comment

One Response to “Pedal to the Metal, Pedal too Far?”

1. Firewind of Oz… | Chainsaw Guitar Tuition says:

   15/02/2010 at 5:05 pm

   [...] = {url: 'http://chainsawguitartuition.net/blog/firewind-of-oz/',size:'large'} A while ago, in this post about Zakk Wylde having to cut short his “Pedal to the Metal” tour due to a rare blood [...]

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