Will Smith Was Concerned About His Wife’s Band Playing Ozzfest in 2005
Will Smith was apparently very concerned about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, playing Ozzfest in 2005 with her band, Wicked Wisdom. This news surfaced via Metal Hammer which cites Smith’s 2021 memoir…
Will Smith was apparently very concerned about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, playing Ozzfest in 2005 with her band, Wicked Wisdom.
This news surfaced via Metal Hammer which cites Smith's 2021 memoir Will. He would write, "Ozzfest...featured all the metals: Thrash, industrial, hardcore punk, deathcore, metalcore, post-hardcore, alternative, death, gothic and nu. Sharon [Osbourne] had seen Jada's band and some part of her understood. She and Jada became friends, and Sharon put Wicked Wisdom on Ozzfest in summer 2005."
Will wrote of the iconic metal festival, "Ozzfest is the least African American event outside of that broom-and-big-ass-hockey puck thing they do at the Olympics. 'Babe, are you sure you don't wanna do some R and B?' I asked softly, but I meant it hard. '[Metal] is the music I feel,' Jada responded softly, but she meant it hard. So we packed up our children and headed down the black brick road to the land of Ozz."
However, Will was pleasantly surprised by the Ozzfest crowd writing, "Ozzfest is a purist audience, and what began as skepticism and dismissal, with every show was transformed first into silence, and ultimately into respect...Jada's appearance at Ozzfest was so successful that Guns N' Roses asked her to open for them on their upcoming tour."
While Wicked Wisdom had to decline GN'R's offer and the group would disband in 2006, it's nice to see that metalheads ended up proving Will wrong. Let's face it: If the Ozzfest crowd mistreated Jada and Wicked Wisdom, we all know Will would've jumped into a pit and slapped everyone. (Kidding, of course. Or are we?)
Ozzfest kicked off its first year on October 25, 1996.
The festival was famously founded by Sharon Osbourne after Lollapalooza turned down Ozzy Osbourne for a spot on their lineup. Ozzfest would later expand to a touring festival traveling throughout the United States and have stints in Europe and Japan.
Scroll through the gallery below to see past lineups from the history of Ozzfest.
1996
George De Sota/Liaison/Getty ImagesMain stage: Ozzy Osbourne, Slayer, Danzig, Biohazard, Sepultura, Fear Factory, Neurosis, Narcotic Gypsy.
1997
George De Sota/Liaison/Getty ImagesMain stage: Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, Marilyn Manson, Pantera, Type O Negative, Fear Factory.
1998 (U.K. Edition)
Scott Gries/Getty ImagesMain stage: Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, Foo Fighters, Pantera, Soulfly, Slayer, Fear Factory, Therapy?
1998 (U.S. Edition)
George DeSota/Newsmakers/Getty ImagesMain stage: Ozzy Osbourne, Tool, Megadeth, Limp Bizkit, Soulfly, Sevendust, Coal Chamber, Motorhead.
1999
Jo Hale/Getty ImagesMain stage: Black Sabbath, Rob Zombie, Deftones, Slayer, Primus featuring Buckethead, System of a Down, Godsmack.
2000
Scott Gries/ImageDirect/Getty ImagesMain stage: Ozzy Osbourne, Pantera, Godsmack, Static-X, Incubus, Methods of Mayhem, P.O.D., Queens of the Stone Age, Black Label Society, Apartment 26.
2001 (U.K. Edition)
Scott Gries/ImageDirect/Getty ImagesMain stage: Black Sabbath, Slipknot, Tool, Papa Roach, Soulfly, Hed PE, Raging Speedhorn.
2001 (U.S. Edition)
Scott Gries/ImageDirect/Getty ImagesMain stage: Black Sabbath, Marilyn Manson, Slipknot, Papa Roach, Linkin Park, Disturbed, Crazy Town, Black Label Society.
2002 (Germany & Belgium edition)
Kevin Winter/Getty ImagesOzzy Osbourne, Tool, System of a Down, Bad Religion, P.O.D., Drowning Pool, Black Label Society Oomph!, Such a Surge.
2002 (England edition)
Matt Cardy/Getty ImagesMain stage: Ozzy Osbourne, Tool, System of a Down, Slayer, Lostprophets, Millencolin, Cradle of Filth, Drowning Pool, The Mad Capsule Markets, Black Label Society, AntiProduct
2002 (Ireland edition)
Getty ImagesMain stage: Tool, System of a Down, Slayer, Therapy?, Lostprophets, Drowning Pool, Cyclefly, Black Label Society.
2002 (Poland & Czech Republic edition)
Jo Hale/Getty ImagesMain stage: Ozzy Osbourne, Tool, Slayer, AntiProduct, Decapitated, Metalium, Royal Playboy Cartel, Black Label Society, Skwor, Astro Metro.
2002 (Netherlands edition)
George De Sota/Liaison/Getty ImagesMain stage: Ozzy Osbourne, Tool, Slayer, Within Temptation, Kittie, Ill Nino, Drowning Pool.
2002 (Portugal edition)
Steven Ferdman/Getty ImagesMain stage: Tool, Slayer, Ill Nino, Kittie, Drowning Pool, AntiProduct, 500 & Crave Ramp.
2002 (United State edition)
Scott Gries/Getty ImagesMain stage: Ozzy Osbourne, System of a Down, Rob Zombie, P.O.D., Drowning Pool, Adema, Black Label Society, Tommy Lee.
2003
Robert Mora/Getty ImagesMain stage: Ozzy Osbourne, Korn, Marilyn Manson, Disturbed, Chevelle, The Datsuns.
2004
Dave Etheridge-Barnes/Getty ImagesMain stage: Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Slayer, Dimmu Borgir, Superjoint Ritual, Black Label Society.
2005 (U.K. Download Festival edition)
Ned Dishman/Getty ImagesMain stage: Black Sabbath, Velvet Revolver, HIM, Anthrax, Alter Bridge, A, Bowling for Soup, The Mad Capsule Markets, The Dwarves, Trivium.
2005 (United States edition)
MJ Kim/Getty ImagesMain stage: Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Mudvayne, Shadows Fall, Black Label Society, In Flames, Velvet Revolver, Slipknot, Drowning Pool.
2006
Jo Hale/Getty ImagesMain stage: Ozzy Osbourne, System of a Down, Disturbed, Avenged Sevenfold, Hatebreed, Lacuna Coil, DragonForce.
2007
Mark Metcalfe/Getty ImagesMain stage: Ozzy Osbourne, Lamb of God, Static-X, Lordi, Black Tide.
2008
Kevin Winter/Getty ImagesMain stage: Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, Serj Tankian, Hellyeah, Jonathan Davis, Cavalera Conspiracy, Shadows Fall, Apocalyptica, In This Moment, All Star Dimebag Darrell Tribute.
2010 (United States edition)
Charley Gallay/Getty ImagesMain stage: Ozzy Osbourne, Motley Crue, Halford, Devildriver, Nonpoint.
2010 (U.K. edition)
Kevin Winter/Getty ImagesMain stage: Ozzy Osbourne, Korn, Murderdolls, Steel Panther, Skindred.
2010 (Israel edition)
Ian Hitchcock/Getty ImagesMain stage: Ozzy Osbourne, Korn, Soulfly, Betzefer.
2013 (Japan edition)
Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesSlipknot, Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, Deftones, Maximum the Hormone, Man with a Mission, Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Treatment, Namba 69, crossfaith, Galneryus, Momoiro Clover Z, Knock Out Monkey, Artema, Black Sabbath, Tool, Stone Sour, Dir En Grey, Anthem, coldrain, Steel Panther, Mucc, AA=, Ningen Isu, Head Phones President, and fade.
2015 (Japan edition)
Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesKorn, Evanescence, Bullet for My Valentine, Noisemaker, VAMPS, ONE OK ROCK, Crossfaith, Corey Taylor, MEANING, Crystal Lake, SiM, Ozzy and Friends, Jane's Addiction, Hatebreed, A Day to Remember, Black Label Society, Babymetal, Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas, 9mm Parabellum Bullet, Her Name in Blood, Ningen Isu, and OLDCODEX.
2016 (Ozzfest Meets Knotfest)
Kevin Winter/Getty ImagesMain stage (aka: Lemmy Stage): Black Sabbath, Disturbed, Megadeth, Opeth, Black Label Society, Rival Sons, Slipknot, Slayer, Amon Amarth, Anthrax, Trivium, Motionless in White.
2017 (Ozzfest Meets Knotfest
Emma McIntyre/Getty ImagesMain stage: Ozzy Osbourne, Prophets of Rage, Deftones, Children of Bodom, Orange Goblin, Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson, Stone Sour, Eighteen Visions, Prayers.
2018
Kevin Winter/Getty ImagesMain stage: Ozzy Osbourne, Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson, Jonathan Davis, Body Count.
