ZAKK WYLDE On Artificial Intelligence In Music: 'Everyone's Terrified Of It', But 'To Me, It's No Big Deal'

In a new interview with Qobuz, Zakk Wylde once again weighed in on a debate about people using an A.I. (artificial intelligence) music generator as a tool to create melodies, harmonies and rhymes based on artificial intelligence (A.I.) algorithms and machine learning (M.L.) models. The BLACK LABEL SOCIETY frontman and longtime Ozzy Osbourne guitarist said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET):  "To me, it's no big deal, 'cause whoever the artist is that you love, whether it's LED ZEPPELIN or BLACK SABBATH, you'll never be able to replace what's gonna come out of Tony's [Iommi] riffs, what Geezer's [Butler] gonna write lyrically, what Bill's [Ward] gonna play, what melodies Ozzy's [Osbourne] gonna sing, because they're creating it. But I get it. I mean, if A.I., it listens to all of Ozzy's melodies and gets a feel for what Ozzy's style is, and then hears Tony's riffs and then it could hear the tendencies Bill plays, certain fills he does, and the way Geezer plays bass, and it listens to the lyrics, and it takes in the lyrics of what Geezer [writes] about — a lot about religion, about war, about things like that — and it comes up with something [new]. It'd be no different than a songwriter trying to come up with something that BLACK SABBATH would write.

"Everyone's terrified of [A.I.]," Zakk continued. "I just think you can't take away what's in the mind of Jimi Hendrix, what Jimi Hendrix is gonna write. So you can try and emulate it. All I look at it is the computer is just giving a compliment to the sound of whatever band that they're trying to [emulate], like THE EAGLES or something, that's gonna write a song that's like a 'Desperado' kind of song, or 'Hotel California'. No, it doesn't bother me, 'cause I'm still gonna buy the record from THE EAGLES."

Zakk previously offered his views on A.I. this past January during a question-and-answer session at the HMV store on Oxford Street in London, United Kingdom. He said at the time: "A.I. is fine. It would almost kind of be like if me and you were sitting around going, 'Hey, guys, can you write a song you think BLACK SABBATH would write?' So it's no different than that. But you're never gonna be able to replace what is coming out of Ozzy's mind, what's coming out of Tony Iommi's mind, what Geezer's thinking when he's gonna write lyrics, and how Bill's gonna approach the drums on a riff, what kind of drum beat he's gonna play. 'Cause when you get a record from whatever your favorite artist or your favorite band [is], you're getting a piece of them. So you can't ever replace that. It's just like saying you're gonna write A.I. PANTERA. You can't replace what was going on in Dime's [PANTERA guitarist Darrell Abbott] mind and what Vinnie's [Paul Abbott, PANTERA drummer] gonna play. PANTERA is those four guys — so it's Philip [Anselmo, PANTERA singer], Rex [Brown, PANTERA bassist], Dime and Vinnie. And that's that. I mean, that's PANTERA. So, just like any other band is… That's who it is. You can't replace what's coming out of Elton John's mind, what he wants to sit down and play on a piano and what Bernie Taupin's gonna write lyrically. That's the beauty of the human element of music."

Wylde continued: "But, I mean, A.I. is fine. It's fun, in regards, though, if it's gonna write something that sounds like what LED ZEPPELIN would write or what BLACK SABBATH would write. And it's just, like, 'Oh, wow. This came out pretty cool.' I mean, with BLACK LABEL, we always start with the ZEPPELIN-SABBATH mashup. And I think it's great. I remember when Ozzy heard it the first time, he was, like, 'Oh my god. Zakk, have you heard this thing?' I'm, like, 'Yeah, I think it's great.' It's 'Whole Lotta Love', and then you stick in Ozzy singing 'War Pigs' over the riff, and then Robert Plant comes in on the solo. I'm, like, 'Dude, this is the coolest thing ever.' So, it's having fun with it. But you're never gonna replace Ozzy coming up with that melody, Tony coming up with that music, and Geezer coming up with those lyrics. And then 'Whole Lotta Love', Jimmy Page playing that riff and then Robert Plant singing the 'Whole Lotta Love' scream over the top of it. 'Cause that's the real thing. You can never replace the real thing." He then quipped: "My wife has no problem replacing me with various other people and things, but as long as she's happy, that's all that matters."

BLACK LABEL SOCIETY's new album, "Engines Of Demolition", will be released on March 27 via MNRK Heavy. The follow-up to 2021's "Doom Crew Inc." contains 15 tracks, including the four previously released singles, "Name In Blood", "Broken And Blind", "The Gallows" and "Lord Humungus", as well as a tune titled "Ozzy's Song", which is a tribute to the BLACK LABEL SOCIETY guitarist/vocalist's longtime bandmate, the iconic BLACK SABBATH singer Ozzy Osbourne.

Wylde formed BLACK LABEL SOCIETY in 1998 and has kept the band busy in between touring and recording with Ozzy Osbourne, whose backing group he first joined nearly four decades ago.

BLACK LABEL SOCIETY's "Order Of The Black" (2010) and "Catacombs Of The Black Vatican" (2014) both broke into the Top Five on the hard rock album charts.

Since first joining Ozzy, Zakk had played on all of the BLACK SABBATH singer's solo albums except for 2020's "Ordinary Man", including such classic efforts as "No More Tears" (1991),"Ozzmosis" (1995) and "Black Rain" (2007).