Former Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman recently came back to one of the biggest “what ifs” of his early career: the late-’80s audition for Ozzy Osbourne’s band. In a new interview with Argentina’s TCDG Guitar Lessons, he laid out the situation as he remembers it: down to the clothes, the scene, and the feeling that he walked into the wrong movie.
“They actually called me when I lived in San Francisco. I was in Cacophony at the time and completely broke, almost homeless. But [Ozzy’s wife and manager] Sharon Osbourne called me up and said if I wanted to go to L.A., they’d fly me out to L.A. to audition. I’m, like, ‘Wow, that’s cool.’ So, I did the audition and played,” Friedman remembered (via Blabbermouth)
“I thought I did a good job. But I didn’t really match the vibe of the band very much. They were full-on L.A.-metal type of guys with handcuffs in their belts and Jack Daniel’s t-shirts, and they were all decked out for rehearsal. And I understood doing that for a show, but at rehearsal, they wore cowboy hats and all kinds of necklaces and jewelry. And they were full-on Sunset Strip rock mode. And I came in a t-shirt and jeans. I looked like a regular guy waiting for a bus or something,” Friedman added.
From his side, the playing part felt solid. He learned the material, ran through the set, and left thinking it sounded fine. The bigger issue came from everything around the notes: who fits, who hangs, who looks like they belong in that specific machine.
“I played, and I thought it went well. And it did sound fine to me, and it was no problems. I learned, like, four songs, and we did ’em bam, bam, bam, and it was fine. But we were in this rehearsal hall. There were all kinds of envelopes with cassettes and resumes, and so they were probably trying hundreds of guys. And so I never heard back from them. And then finally Zakk Wylde got the job. And he was just perfect. He was so much better than I would’ve been for that gig. He was just right, and he plays really well. So I understood it, but at the time I thought, ‘Well, I did a good job, but I don’t think those guys are gonna [pick me].’ They probably went out drinking and partying right after rehearsal, and I was a real good-boy type of guy. Really boring.”
That same story came up again when Friedman talked about it publicly at Rock ’N’ Roll Fantasy Camp’s Metalmania III event in November 2023 in Los Angeles. His takeaway stayed consistent: the performance side held up, but the image and chemistry carried more weight than most players want to admit: “I failed miserably. I think it was probably because of the way I looked.”
“I was practically homeless at the time, living with my then-girlfriend and dealing with the rent and all that stuff, as California rock musicians do. And I was so happy to get the call. So I learned the music, went down to L.A. — they flew me down to L. A. to play with the band. And it was, I guess, the guys who were in the band at the time. And I thought I played everything absolutely just fine, and I thought it sounded great. Everybody was friendly enough. But our images were very different. It wasn’t like these three guys are gonna get together and jell, even though it sounded fine, I thought. I mean, I thought I played everything correctly.”
For metal and hard rock fans, it’s an honest reminder of how many moving parts exist behind a “dream gig.” You can walk in prepared, nail the parts, and still miss because the band wants someone they instinctively click with. Friedman put it in blunt terms: vibe first, chops second.
“Being in a band is so much more than playing. And, actually, the playing is kind of down on the list. If you have the same kind of vibe with the people, you can just kind of smell it: ‘This is the guy I wanna hang out with.’ And it was different on that level… They smelled like L.A., and I smelled like San Francisco, which was a different smell. Neither of us smelled very good. But they were cool. Everybody played everything great. They were auditioning thousands of guys. So I didn’t get it,” Friedman mused.
“A band is just… It’s more about the personalities between the people. Because there are so many great players who can play every gig, you know what I mean? It’s really about who you wanna hang out with? I would have loved to have gotten the gig, but they were probably just getting ready to go back out drinking, and I’m not a very big drinker, so it wouldn’t have jelled so well. But at the time I was, like, ‘Oh, I played it perfectly. Why didn’t they call me back?’ But I get it [now].”
The irony, of course, is that missing that audition never slowed him down. He helped shape shred guitar alongside Jason Becker in Cacophony, became a defining piece of Megadeth’s rise in the classic thrash era, and built a solo catalog that leans hard into his “Marty-esque” phrasing and the mix of Eastern and Western ideas; fifteen solo records and counting.
