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Extreme<\/a><\/strong><\/strong>‘s Nuno Bettencourt<\/strong>, recently revealed a surprising twist in his musical journey. Speaking to Rick Beato<\/em>, Bettencourt<\/strong> remembered that he once had the chance to join rock royalty \u2013 Ozzy Osbourne<\/a><\/strong>. In a story filled with teenage ambition and maybe a touch of hindsight-fueled regret, Bettencourt<\/strong>‘s path took a different turn.<\/p>\n Bettencourt<\/strong>, a teenager with dreams of shredding alongside the Prince of Darkness, stumbled upon an audition ad in a magazine in 1983. Armed with borrowed equipment and unbridled enthusiasm, he submitted a cassette tape containing his rendition of Ozzy<\/a><\/strong>‘s classic “Crazy Train.” <\/p>\n “The first time I ever played through a proper cab was when the Circus Magazine<\/em> put out an ad; I think it had come out when Randy<\/strong> passed away unfortunately, and we were all devastated. And I think, at the moment, they were looking for a guitar player\u2026 There was like a little cutout thing, like, almost like an ad; ‘Send your tape here, Ozzy<\/a><\/strong> looking for a guitar player.'”<\/p>\n “And I’m like, ‘This is my gig! I can do this!’ I’m in this four-family home in Hudson, Massachusetts, and the ad says, I don’t know, ‘Send ‘Crazy Train’ on cassette to this address.’ And I’m all in, man. I call my buddy saying, ‘Can I borrow your Marshall?’, and I put it in my bedroom. I can’t do without a cabinet, and I borrowed a 4\u00d712; I had never played through one before\u2026 I also borrowed some harmonizer and I didn’t even know how to run it, and I’m like, ‘That’s it!’,” Nuno<\/strong> remembered.<\/p>\n “I’m playing the song, probably horribly; I’m doing the solo\u2026 I didn’t tell anybody. I took the solo, wrote down the address, licked the stamp, brought it to the post office, and I was just like, ‘Okay, now I wait. But I’m getting this gig.'”<\/p>\n However, his youthful ambition wasn’t enough to land him the coveted spot.<\/p>\n “Weeks have gone by, and I’m getting really upset. Then, I read that Brad Gillis<\/strong> is filling in, and I’m like, ‘Oh man, they better not keep him, because this is my gig.’ I believed I was going to do it\u2026 I’m waiting, and months have gone by. And then, I heard they got Jake E. Lee<\/strong>. I might have shed a tear because I thought that was my gig.” <\/p>\n Fast forward a decade, to 1993. Bettencourt<\/strong> is now a seasoned musician touring with Extreme<\/a><\/strong>. Enter fate, in the form of Extreme<\/a><\/strong><\/strong>‘s booking agent Rod MacSween<\/strong>, who brings Nuno<\/strong> an offer. Ozzy<\/a><\/strong>‘s team, impressed by his talent, is offering him the very same guitarist position he once auditioned for \u2013 this time without the need for a homemade tape.<\/p>\n “He pulls me out and we’re in a hallway. I’ll never forget this. He’s facing me, and Rod<\/strong> says, ‘Nuno<\/strong>, Sharon Osbourne<\/strong> called me. Ozzy<\/a><\/strong> wants you to be his guitarist.’ And then, he says, ‘What do you think?’ And all I could say was, ‘They heard the cassette?’, and he’s like, ‘What are you talking about?’\u2026 I was literally thinking about the cassette I sent when I was 12. That’s how much trauma I had.”<\/p>\n Here’s where things get ironic. Bettencourt<\/strong>, loyal to his band and determined to carve his own path, declined the offer. Ironically, just weeks later, Extreme<\/a><\/strong> disbanded.<\/p>\n “It finally worked, and I turned it down, because I was in a band, and I was doing my job. And that was the stupidest thing I ever did. Why? Because I left Extreme<\/a><\/strong> about two weeks later. I was like, ‘I’m an idiot.’ I could have toured with Ozzy<\/a><\/strong>, and been on the next album\u2026 Because, playing with Ozzy<\/a><\/strong> was almost a rite of passage, like you were the chosen one\u2026 If Ozzy<\/a><\/strong> chose you, you were somebody\u2026 But, I was trying to carve my own path, and be my own person. I don’t know what I was thinking; I should have done it.”<\/p>\n \n