"It was super duper heavy!" The story behind the Dave Grohl song that Ozzy Osbourne rejected, which found a home on one of the most unexpected heavy metal albums ever released

Features
By ( Classic Rock, Louder, Metal Hammer ) published

My Tortured Soul could have been a very different song

Dave Grohl and Ozzy Osbourne
(Image credit: Gary Miller/Getty Images | Larry Busacca/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival)

Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl has revealed that he once wrote a song for Ozzy Osbourne, but the Prince of Darkness chose not to record it.

Speaking with Kerrang! Radio DJ Sophie K, Grohl also revealed that the song wasn't wasted, and in fact re-emerged on one of the most intriguing and unexpected metal albums of the 2000s.

"Sharon was kind of calling out to different people to see if they wanted to help write songs with Ozzy," Grohl explained. "And so I wrote this instrumental that was almost “And so I wrote this instrumental that was almost like a Melvins song, it was super duper heavy, and I thought, this could be so cool if Ozzy sang over it. And they never picked it, they never used it.”

Given that Osbourne's 2001 album Down To Earth featuring co-writing credits for Foreigner guitarist Mick Jones, former Black Grape member Danny Saber, ex-Jellyfish vocalist Andrew Sturmer and frequent Aerosmith collaborator Marti Frederiksen, it's fairly safe to say that this was the album where Grohl song could have ended up.

Ozzy's loss, however, was cult stoner metal frontman Eric Wagner's gain, for the former Trouble vocalist ended up writing lyrics for the song, My Tortured Soul, and singing it on Dave Grohl's 'surprise' underground metal album, Probot.

“The whole thing started in February of 2000," Grohl revealed while promoting the record. "Foo Fighters had made There Is Nothing Left to Lose in 1999, which was a pretty mellow record for us. We went out and played a lot of those songs live. I would find myself listening to Sepultura’s Chaos A.D. before going onstage, and then singing a song like Learn To Fly. Which I thought was kind of funny - like, ‘What am I doing with my life, man?’

"When I was young, my favourite bands were fucking Bad Brains, Void, Minor Threat, MDC, D.R.I., Corrosion Of Conformity, Slayer, Trouble, Voivod, Venom, The Obsessed and Mercyful Fate, and here I am playing music that sounds like the fucking Eagles or something!”

Probot became Dave Grohl's love letter to the underground metal bands that he first fell in love with as a teenager. With different vocalists on every song, the album featured contributions from Lemmy from Motörhead, Sepultura’s Max Cavalera, Snake from Voivod, King Diamond, Cronos from Venom, former Napalm Death vocalist Lee Dorrian (then fronting Cathedral), Celtic Frost’s Tom G. Warrior, D.R.I.’s Kurt Brecht and ex-Obsessed frontman Wino, among others.

Speaking to Metal Hammer in 2023, Grohl's Probot collaborator Matt Sweeney (Chavez/Zwan) revealed that the Foo Fighters leader had also originally hoped to feature Slayer's Tom Araya and Pantera frontman Phil Anselmo on the record, but that things didn't work out.

Probot emerged via indie record label Southern Lord in 2004.

“Major labels would have taken this record," Grohl said, "and slapped my name real big on a sticker on the front of the CD - ‘Dave Grohl’s fuckin’ metal band.’ And that would have ruined everything, because, to me, the focus should be on these vocalists. Some of the people at labels were asking who these singers are and why they should be on the record, and it was important that I give the album to someone who understood these people and this kind of music and who wouldn’t take advantage of the easy sell.”

Watch a rare performance of My Tortured Soul, below.

Paul Brannigan
Paul Brannigan
Contributing Editor, Louder

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.