The BRIT Awards are not known for tasteful guitar moments. They are known for Jarvis Cocker crashing Michael Jackson's set and a long, distinguished history of completely ignoring anything that involves a Marshall stack. So when Zakk Wylde walked out — bull horns on the Les Paul, pentagrams intact, pinch harmonics loaded and ready — it was the most metal thing to happen at a British pop awards show since Tony Iommi existed.
The Only Man Who Could Have Done This
Zakk Wylde has been Ozzy Osbourne's lead guitarist on and off since 1987 — the formative years, the sobriety years, the "I can't believe he's still touring" years, and finally the Parkinson's diagnosis that Ozzy announced publicly in January 2020, which eventually ended his life on the road. When you need someone to stand in for the Prince of Darkness at one of the most-watched music ceremonies in the UK, there is a short list. Then there is a very long gap. Then there is everyone else.
Wylde's bullseye Les Paul Customs — produced with both Epiphone and Gibson over the years — have become as recognizable as the man himself. That paint job is not decoration. It's a signal: you're about to hear something that sounds like a very fast wall collapsing in the most enjoyable way possible. His pinch harmonics are practically a personal signature. You hear one and you know who it is before the camera cuts.
Why This Mattered
Guitar tributes at awards shows fail in one of two directions: too polished and corporate (the guitar tone sounds like it was approved by three committees), or too tentative (everyone is slightly afraid to really commit in a room full of people who mostly listen to pop). Wylde committed. That's the whole review.
Ozzy Osbourne belongs to a very small group of artists whose influence on the guitar world is structural rather than stylistic — he didn't play guitar himself, but the players he put in front of him (Randy Rhoads, Jake E. Lee, and then Zakk for most of three decades) shaped what heavy guitar could sound like. Having Wylde lead the tribute was not a nostalgia move. It was the correct editorial decision. The BRIT Awards made the right call, which surprised essentially everyone.
Source: Guitar World, March 9, 2026.
And if you've ever tried to cop Zakk's tone and found your left hand falling apart under the pressure, the answer is almost certainly the same as it is for every other style of guitar: technique before gear. Also, for the record, the pick matters more than you think — Wylde plays Dunlop Ultex Sharp 1.0mm picks, and if you've ever wondered why his attack cuts through a Marshall stack at full tilt, that's part of the answer.