Our friends at Ultimate Classic Rock published an article listing five legendary bands who deserve an Ozzy Osbourne-inspired ‘Back To The Beginning’ celebration of their own. Below is what they say about why one of the bands should be Van Halen. Be sure to check out their full article for the rest of the bands that deserve such treatment!
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame had a long run as the biggest honor a rock star can aspire to. But the bar has just been raised.
Saturday night’s Back to the Beginning concert, honoring the work of Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne while serving as the singer’s last-ever live performance, set a new standard for rock and roll career celebration.
For nine hours, the biggest names in hard rock and heavy metal – including Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, Slayer and Pantera – paid tribute to the guests of honor by playing dozens of Sabbath and Osbourne covers in addition to their own most popular songs.
Osbourne and the original lineup of Black Sabbath concluded the evening with brief sets of their own – naturally saving classics such as “Crazy Train” and “Iron Man” for themselves.
Perhaps best of all, instead of sharing the spotlight and an audience with a half-dozen or more other artists from diverse genres like Osbourne did at his recent Rock Hall induction, all 45,000 people at the concert (held in the band’s birthplace of Birmingham, England) were there strictly to celebrate Ozzy and Black Sabbath. An additional five million people reportedly watched it all go down live via streaming pay-per-view.
To put it simply, this event was a home run, so the next natural question is, “who else can we do this for?” Of course, only the most popular and influential artists could draw the audience and peer support to compete with the scale of Back to the Beginning.
Van Halen
Nearly five years after his death, the lack of a posthumous tribute concert for Eddie Van Halen has been equal parts unimaginably frustrating and completely understandable. The fractured relationships between many Van Halen alumni is obviously a major obstacle.
Alex Van Halen, who is currently recovering from a back injury that is keeping him from playing drums, said he attempted to arrange a tribute tour with founding singer David Lee Roth, former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted and Joe Satriani in 2022, but that Roth torpedoed the notion of actually acknowledging Eddie at each show.
In 2024, Satriani instead joined Sammy Hagar and founding bassist Michael Anthony on a tour celebrating Hagar’s decade as Van Halen’s frontman, but Hagar and Alex Van Halen are not on each other’s Christmas card lists, to say the least.
Meanwhile, Eddie’s son Wolfgang is several years and nearly three albums into launching a very successful musical career of his own. He has said that the notion of touring Van Halen music would be “very hollow,” and that the best way he can honor his father is by pursuing his own muse.
So… none of those puzzle pieces really seem to be fitting together, do they? All we can do is hope against hope that everybody can make peace and make this happen someday. Can you imagine the roster of guitarist heroes and Van Halen disciples that would descend on their hometown of Los Angeles for this one?
What other bands do you think deserve the honor? Be sure to check out the entire Ultimate Classic Rock article for the rest of the bands that deserve such treatment!
Van Halen’s Balance turns 30 this year, and Rhino is celebrating with an expanded edition of the band’s multi-platinum tenth studio album.
Available in three formats — 2 LPs, 2 CDs, and a Deluxe, Limited Edition Boxed Set.
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