Photo: Getty Images
Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne's final performance event Back to the Beginning was unbelievably successful, and several high profile acts helped commemorate the band's impressive career throughout the day on July 5; however, there were a few faces notably absent: the surviving members of Soundgarden.
Over the weekend, the grunge legends took to their Nudedragons Instagram account to honor Black Sabbath and explain why they missed the performance.
"Congratulations to Black Sabbath on the grand and final pealing of their vesper bells!" the message began. "Thank you for an astounding career that provided us and your legion of fans with a lifetime of beauty, horror, love, power, happiness, melancholy and a profoundly sublime, yet viscerally rocking transcendence informed by both doom and hope. Your majestic brilliance has inspired greatness in scores of other bands, musicians and songwriters. However, the crown will forever remain yours!
"We are very grateful to Tony, Ozzy, Geezer and Bill, as well as Sharon Osbourne and music director, Tom Morello for the honor and invitation to Soundgarden to perform at the Back to the Beginning festival!" it continued. "We are super bummed and regret that we were unable to coordinate the schedules of our individual and collective projects to attend and contribute to the festival. The warmth, love and support from the Black Sabbath team has been a continuing source of encouragement and strength throughout our career."
The post also shared a carousel of photos, including one of the Black Sabbath and Soundgarden members — including the late Chris Cornell — at the Download Festival in 2012. See the post below.