The 1990s weren’t Black Sabbath’s strongest period, but Eddie Van Halen’s uncredited solo on “Evil Eye,” from the group’s 1994 album, Cross Purposes, has become the stuff of legend. And according to Tony Iommi, Van Halen hero deserves all the credit.
In a new interview, Iommi recalls how the pair’s surprise collaboration came about in 1993, when Van Halen invited himself to a Sabbath rehearsal. Iommi — who will release his fourth solo album, From the Dark, on October 23 — tells Planet Rock how a friendly invitation turned into a rare meeting between two of rock’s greatest players, complete with a last-minute trip to a music store.
“We had a house that we rented that we used to use for rehearsal,” Iommi recalls. “I’d always see him if he came to England, or when I’d be in L.A.; we’d always go out for dinner.”
On one particular occasion, however, Iommi’s schedule didn’t allow it.
“He called me up and I said, ‘We’re rehearsing tomorrow. I can’t,’” Iommi says. Van Halen saw an opportunity. “He said, ‘Oh, I’d love to do that.’”
“Do you want to come then?” Iommi asked. “All right, I’ll pick you up at the hotel and then we’ll go and get a guitar and whatever else. And that’s what we did.”
As Iommi explained in 2024, the pair stopped at a local music store to pick up one of Van Halen’s own signature guitars. Once they arrived at the rehearsal space, the guest guitarist soon found his way into the music.
“We started playing a new song we were working on,” Iommi recalled (via Guitar World). “He started playing a solo.”
The performance became part of “Evil Eye,” which appeared on Black Sabbath’s 1994 album Cross Purposes. Contractual complications prevented Van Halen from receiving an official credit, but his solo survived on the finished recording. It remains the only known studio collaboration between the two guitarists.
There may be more from that day, too. Iommi has said a tape of the pair jamming on Black Sabbath riffs is somewhere in his home, although he apparently hasn’t tracked it down.
The session with Van Halen sounds like an uncomplicated meeting of musical minds. However, Iommi’s account of recording 13, Black Sabbath’s 2013 reunion album with Rubin, is another story entirely.
According to Iommi, Rubin largely communicated with the band through him, leaving the guitarist responsible for relaying instructions to his bandmates.
“We didn’t have time to absorb what we’d done because Rick wouldn’t talk to the others,” Iommi tells Planet Rock. “He talked to me, and I’d have to tell them.”
That indirect approach sometimes left the other musicians in the dark. On one occasion, Rubin asked Iommi to come up with a song inspired by Sabbath’s “Planet Caravan” over a weekend, ready to record on the Monday.
“We were in Los Angeles, and I came back from the weekend off,” Iommi explains. “Rick phoned me on the fly and said, ‘Oh, could you come up with a song like ‘Planet Caravan’ to record on Monday?’ I thought, ‘Blimey!’”
Iommi worked on an idea and agreed to record it, but apparently nobody had told the rest of the band. When they arrived at the studio on Monday, Rubin announced that they would be recording Iommi’s new song.
“Rick said, ‘We’re going to put this song down,’ and Geezer [Butler, bass] went, ‘What song?’ ‘Well, Tony’s done a song. We’re going to put that down.’ Geezer went, ‘I don’t even know what it is!’”
They went ahead with the recording, but the process left a lasting impression on Iommi.
“We ended up putting it down,” he says, “but it was such an awkward situation.”
Elsewhere, Metallica’s James Hetfield — facing criticism over recent onstage comments that left Roger Waters frothing at the mouth — has called Iommi “the riff lord.”
And Iommi’s new bassist, Becky Baldwin, has revealed that she initially thought an invitation to work on his new solo album was a hoax.
