Metal Musician Plays Amazing Rendition of the National Anthem Audio Ink Radio

Metal Musician Plays Amazing Rendition of the National Anthem

2024-11-04

Watch a metal version of the National Anthem performed before the Seattle Seahawks vs. Los Angeles Rams game. – Author: Anne Erickson, Photo via Anne Erickson

Football season is in full swing, and it’s not uncommon to see high-profile metal musicians performing the National Anthem at NFL games during the season.

Ahead of the Seattle Seahawks’ game against the Los Angeles Rams in Seattle on Sunday, November 3, the great Zakk Wylde of Ozzy Osbourne’s band and Black Label Society did the honor of performing the National Anthem, and he put on a shred-heavy show. The Rams won that game, by the way, 26-20 in overtime.

Metal Musician Zakk Wylde Totally Rocks the National Anthem

Wylde performed the National Anthem before the Seahawks’ game at Lumen Field. Wearing a Seahawks jersey and standing next to a wall of Marshall amps, Wylde shredded through the famous, reverent song giving a version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” that nobody had heard before. He even put a little Jimi Hendrix spin on the song with some improvising and noodling, as Hendrix used to do. Hendrix, of course, is from Seattle, so it was a tribute to the late guitar legend.

Wylde isn’t from Seattle, so it might seem like an odd fit, but he did appear and perform on the majority of the dates for the recent Experience Hendrix tour. Wylde only missed a few dates at the end of the tour, due to his commitment with Ozzy Osbourne to perform at Ozzy’s second Rock Hall induction in October.

Wylde likes to keep busy. Fresh off the Hendrix run, he and his Black Sabbath tribute band Zakk Sabbath will hit the road on a winter tour with Led Zeppelin cover band Zoso and The Iron Maidens. That trek runs in December and January, which is usually a time musicians take off from touring to enjoy the holidays. Wylde will also appear on Pantera’s Winter 2025 U.K. and European tour and open for Metallica in spring 2025.

Check out professional footage of Zakk Wylde rocking the National Anthem ahead of the Seattle Seahawks game below.

Zakk Wylde Compares Guitars and Gear to Pizza

Wylde is a guitar expert and enthusiast. During a recent appearance on Ultimate Guitar’s “On the Record” podcast, Wylde talked about his love for all things guitars.

“There is no bad pizza. But out of that, the same thing goes with gear,” he said. “I’ve never met a guitar I didn’t like or an amp I didn’t like. It’s just all about whatever you like. That’s all, that ends it. That’s all that matters at the end of the day.”

Wylde added that he’s never used plugins or Fractals on his albums.

“No, I’ve never needed it,” he said. “The things that I’ve heard, I mean, they sound great. But you’re profiling and you’re sampling basically out of a real Trainwreck or a Dumble or a Marshall or a Soldano or all these amazing amps I just mentioned — a Fender Twin Reverb or Bassman or whatever. We’re all guitar nerds and we love equipment and gear. That’s what makes it fun.”

He added, “It’s like stamp and coin collecting, or toy collecting, or collecting Spider-Man stuff. But, no, I’ve never really needed to use it because I’m always using tube amps. I’ve always used my Marshalls, the JMPs, the master volumes, or my Wylde Audio heads.”

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Anne Erickson

Meet the expert - Author, writer and editor Anne Erickson is a Detroit-based reporter and radio host. She has written for the USA Today Network, Consequence.net, Blabbermouth.net, and many more. Anne holds a master's degree from Michigan State University. Contact Anne at anne@audioinkradio.com.