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Life in the fast lane
A pretty comprehensive documentary on the life of Cozy Powell, who weaved in and out of the Purple family much of his career, and had played with… Perhaps it would be easier to list whom he hadn’t played with. It is lovingly put together from archival footage, contemporary and posthumous interviews with the people who knew him well. Enjoy!
Thanks to Edtrader Music & Entertainment for posting it and to Uwe for bringing it to your attention.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Thanks or posting this video, will commence watching it a little later. The Barbarian at the Gates (not my words, he he he). Cheers.
June 12th, 2025 at 02:31Yes, it is I who brought you a documentary of the (actually gentle) Barbarian at the Gate, all ye Cozy nutters! I am atoning for my sins having criticized your (hopefully only second-) favorite skinbeater in the past. 😆
Seeing him in a full-body condom dressed as a sunflower and reciting a children’s rhyme softened my heart, you have to see it for yourself (and trust me, you will never be able to unsee it afterwards 😂).
I didn’t know he was adopted. And never made that contact to his birth mother though the idea haunted him. Wrote postcards to the folks who adopted him while on tour. It puts his journeyman image into a new light, maybe he did want to belong after all.
It’s one of the best documentaries on a rock musician I have personally seen, it grabbed my attention that I actually watched all of it although I had other things to do.
That was one silly, unnecessary car accident death, let me tell you. Don’t drink and drive and for chrissakes wear a seat belt!
June 12th, 2025 at 02:35Cozy is my favourite drummer, after Ian Paice. He has (had) this great power when he hits. When playing live he tends to be a bit too fast, though.
June 12th, 2025 at 06:00Having played on Rainbow’s “Rising” makes him automatically a myth.
And do NOT talk on a mobile phone whilst driving either. I read that that is one of the reasons amongst the others you mentioned Uwe. Probably aquaplaned when hitting water, but that is back to point one and the two fast issue too. I seriously think that a seat belt would not have saved Cozy, by the sound of it. A shame indeed as many accidents are. He was a rebel no doubt Cozy, I can just imagine him telling Ritchie a thing or two back in the day, meaning ‘where to go’ etc. Thanks for digging this up Uwe, you have been partially absolved of a sin or two. Cheers.
June 12th, 2025 at 08:42He was catapulted out of the car at a high speed – that did it. Had he been secured in his Saab, a car that generally offered some crash security, who knows. Yes, the darn cell phone and the stress of consoling his significant other who was having marital issues (not with Cozy). It was all things at once – he wasn’t speeding on a rainy night just for the heck of it.
Who know if his tires were still any good either, at that point in his career his cashflow wasn’t great – like most drummers, Cozy didn’t write so royalties were scant + at the time of his death it had been a while since he had been with a well-paying band and I don’t believe you can play yourself rich backing a mentally ailing Peter Green on the UK club circuit. Add to that how Brits in general are lackadaisical re tire changes.
In the last seconds of his life a drummer lost grip – ironically tragic. 🙁
I always thought Cozy looked extremely cool with his haircut, sideburns and chiseled features. Those handsome cheekbones alone would have ensured him a job with Oasis had they been around. And the way he used (not always) traditional grip while hammering away was cool too.
Outside of Priest circles his work with Glenn Tipton is probably not well known, so here is an example
https://youtu.be/_970wFwdL4o
Mind you, Tipton‘s voice though pleasant and tuneful is not really heavy metal roadworthy, but Cozy‘s drumming was of course made for music like this.
June 12th, 2025 at 12:19Hello !
This is kind of yesterday´s news I think…better late…
…is there anyone other than Uwe wake nowadays?
: )
A true legend and very hard hitting master of the drums. Unfortunately I saw him only once live on stage.
Before I forget (courtesy of JL) …
…is this document somehow “official” ?!
I mean there was an official document coming years and years, under the name
“Dance With The Devil : The Legend of Cozy Powell”….?
https://cozypowellfilm.com/
I watched this video some months ago, and somehow it feels that some parts are from that “official” document project…?
They did have some teasers online (of the forthcoming document) of some interviews they did for it (Suzi Quatro, Roger Glover and Don Airey for example).
Whatever the situation is, it would be really important and fare to get the OFFICIAL
program done, so we all could purchase a DVD or Blu-Ray and if there´s someone related left to the late legend, they would get somekind of royalties maybe, too, if You understand what I mean.
One of my favorite personal meetings ever with the names kind of involved with the topic here, is the hard hitting drummer himself, Mr Bobby Rondinelli.
It´s years since, but when I asked him, what did he think of the “touch” of Cozy´s drumming, he straight away was the same opinion as I : Cozy did hit HARD.
At the Ruis-Rock Festival in Turku 1983, I was truly afraid Cozy´s snare drum won´t make it. Somehow it did!
….and the gig was of course Whitesnake featuring Lord, Galley, Moody and Hodgkinson. I think Mr C.was there, too. They played there just a couple weeks before the filmed one in Donnington. And played then yet to be released song, Guilty of Love as a teaser.
Those were the days.
: )
Summer greetings to everyone there from Finland.
June 12th, 2025 at 15:19@ 6 – It doesn’t look or sound ‘professional’ to me at all. However, I am about half way through it and I am enjoying a fair bit of it. Just up to the ‘hair metal’ section at present, Whitesnake 1984 era. I thought I had better retire for the night at that stage, as I could end up having strange nightmares about all that permed hair and everything. I have noticed a few of these segment clips in other places online over the years. Cheers.
June 12th, 2025 at 23:00