Zakk Wylde Discusses 'The Song Remains Not the Same'

Photo: Ari Michelson

With acoustic guitar in hand, Zakk Wylde covers a handful of classic rock hits and recasts some Black Label Society originals on his latest BLS offering, The Song Remains Not the Same.

GUITAR WORLD: “Bridge Over Troubled Water” is a pretty tough song to pull off. And it’s not something I would think the typical Black Label Society fan would be into.I don’t know. That’s like saying Alice in Chains fans don’t like it when Jerry Cantrell does “Black Gives Way to Blue” or something. A killer song is a killer song.Agreed. But there’s a pretty wide gulf between a mellow Alice in Chains song and an Art Garfunkel piano ballad.Sure. But it’s still a dark song. There’s nothing cheesy about it. It’s like, to me, an '80s power ballad is different from a Chris Cornell ballad, which has weight and depth to it. When Zeppelin did stuff like “Going to California,” there was weight and depth to it. And “Bridge” has weight and depth to it.A good song is a good song is a good song.Yeah. Other than that I couldn’t care less. I mean, “Heaven” by Warrant? That’s a great song. You can’t listen to that and go, “I could never see that being a hit.” If you heard Jani Lane sing and play that on acoustic guitar you’d go, “Dude, that’s fucking killer!”To read the rest of this interview, check out the July issue of Guitar World magazine – on newsstands now.