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Post by Cro/Kiyoshi on Apr 30, 2006 19:59:05 GMT -5
I first discovered Randy when Blizzard of Ozz came out. I think that I was in the seventh grade. I had been playing guitar for a couple of years and of course I just loved Randy’s playing! I was unable to see him in concert for Blizzard of Ozz, and thought that I would be able to see his next tour though sadly that never happened. I think that Randy had a huge impact on the music scene. Not just for his guitar playing, but he seemed to be a great person as well. I always enjoyed reading his interviews because he was never arrogant and always polite and very honest. Musically, I was very influenced by him. Like thousands of others I learned all of the songs off the Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman. I would play along with the records everyday after school and later in bands. I think that Randy still influences people today because he never tried to be the ‘rock star’. He just played from the heart and his music is timeless. My favorite Randy Rhoads song would have to be ‘Good-bye to Romance’. A great guitar solo and great song. I will always be a Randy Rhoads fan. God Bless you Randy! Perry Ormsby Randy Rhoads Admirer
I first discovered Randy when I heard the Tribute album from Ozzy Osbourne. I believe that Randy had a huge influence on the metal/hard rock scene. His approach to music was inspirational. As a musician, I can say that Randy Rhoads has influenced me to no end. The first time that I heard his music, I wanted to buy a guitar. I eventually got one and still enjoy playing his riffs everyday. I feel that people can sense his emotion and his passion for the guitar. No one could touch him fifteen years ago and no one can touch him now. I live in Australia and I can say that Randy is nearly never heard of here. People hardly know of Ozzy Osbourne, let alone Randy Rhoads. But those that do are fanatical. Randy has a very small, but dedicated cult following here. Giving his music to the masses would have to be his most memorable achievement, but to be more precise it would have to be his incorporation of classical and metal styles.
Wally Farkas Musical Artist/Guitarist for Galactic Cowboys
I discovered Randy when the Blizzard of Ozz album came out. I was a kid and hadn’t even started playing the guitar yet. I was aware that Ozzy had left Black Sabbath and was doing his own solo thing. I remember running down to the store and buying that Blizzard of Ozz album when it first came out. I loved it! One thing that I always did as a kid, was pay close attention to the music. I would put on a Led Zepplin record or whatever I was listening to at the time and pay special attention to the guitar and the drums. I would listen to songs over and over again. Randy had a major influence on me and my guitar playing. I started playing a couple years after he died. After reading so many things about Randy, I almost felt as though I knew him. That I knew his playing. I distinctively remember just listening to him over and over until finally I just figured that I had to do this. It was all so inspiring that I went out and started playing. I use to have a wall just completely full of Randy Rhoads posters. I even used Les Paul guitars and have a big, thick snake skin guitar strap. In a band, the guitar solo is where a guitar player has time to stand out and show off. When it comes to solos, a lot of people will make up their own solos of what they are capable of doing to impress people. With Randy Rhoads, even though he clearly had the technical abilities to flash, his solos really fit the songs. That is the ultimate compliment that I could give him as far as his playing. He never played something inappropriate to the song to make himself look good. When you look back on all of Ozzy’s guitar players, you notice that they play those solos note for note. There is no other way that you could play those solos! Randy just had such a musical melodic to his playing that kids now still pick up on. Randy was really into the classical thing which at the time people were not doing in the rock sense. Randy mixed the classical in with a lot of the blues stuff. A lot of real soulful playing. No one was doing that at the time that I was aware of. Another thing that made a strong impression on me was that he was one of the only people, while I was growing up and reading about in magazines, that was so dedicated to music and he seemed to be the most genuinely nicest person to anyone that he came in contact with. I am not saying that other musicians were not dedicated or friendly, it is just that Randy left that impression with me. From where I was growing up, and what I was reading, his personality and his drive to keep going ahead is what stuck out. I also know that Randy and I liked to listen to the same stuff. I remember reading that he listened to the original Alice Cooper band. I can remember reading that he was influenced by Alice Cooper. That Alice Cooper was his first rock concert. I’m a big Be Bop Deluxe fan and I can remember reading that he was really into that album of theirs called Sunburst Finish. The album came out about 1975. I know that Randy was very influenced by them. It is pretty cool to see how other people are influenced.
The cold wind tells me there will be no sun I look ~ but never find …Surrender… Thunder rolls from the heavenly sky In a flash of lightening An angel stands before me …My guardian… You play your song Wrap me in your wings And tell me everything’s okay The sun breaks through the clouds Picks fall from the sky Now the sun shines forever All because of you …My angel…
Patrick Deno
Musical Artist/Guitarist/Singer/Songwriter
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Post by Cro/Kiyoshi on Apr 30, 2006 19:59:41 GMT -5
~Stolen Thunder~ My entire teenage life and birth of my playing was shaped by Ozzy and Randy in one way or another. In the summer of 1981 I was at the tender age of twelve and was spending a week with my grandparents in Los Angeles, California. My older cousin Robert came to visit and had brought his radio so that he would not miss a very special concert that would be simulcast and that he had been awaiting weeks to hear. I had never been to a concert before or even heard of the Artist who was going to play. My cousin was so excited when the station began the broadcast that he could hardly remain seated. I was very intrigued. The broadcast began with the crowd chanting ”Ozzy! Ozzy! Ozzy!” and then swelled to total chaos as the Musicians began to take the stage. My cousin was ecstatic! The opera intro began which was the background for Ozzy’s entrance, and the crowd’s chaos turned into hysteria! Then the thunder of an electric guitar could be heard shaking the room with it’s hammering feedback resonance. At the time, I wasn’t really into this type of music and it didn’t really phase me until that thunder of Randy’s guitar freight trained through me at chest height (as my cousin had the boom box at full crank by this time!) shaking me to full awareness and demanding my attention. The rest of the concert is somewhat of an aural blur at this point, but I remember that first godlike rumble as if it were yesterday and the seeds of my own need to master that power were sown. At Christmas of 1982, I somewhat swindled my grandparents into buying me a guitar and an amplifier. I called one set of grandparents and told them that the other set was buying me an amp from the Sears catalog and could they please buy me a guitar from the same source. I then called the other set of grandparents and told them the same story though the other way around. It worked and suddenly I joined the thousands of promising young upstarts to the throne of rock n’ roll! This was very important to me at the time because of the lack of friendship to most of my classmates, and now I see that it was a need to belong as well as a need to express myself. I was a budding teenager with all of the accompanying problems compounded by my parents’ abusive nature and religion. I was listening and playing the devils own music and they felt the need to beat it out of me. Mostly figuratively. Many a day or night I spent with my newfound comrade, tuning out the world so to speak. B.B. King once put it this way; ”The guitar can be your best friend, therapist, and best girl. But, it can also be your worst enemy”, as I soon found out. Then, a friend of mine turned me on to a group and especially a young guitarist who had tragically died in a recreational aircraft accident not too long before. This player was supposed to be a genius and rock n’ roll virtuosity. This player was Randy Rhoads. I suddenly realized that I had found the well of that long lost thunder! His loss was a hammer blow to my need, but thank the god’s of rock that thunder lived on in the music that Randy left behind. Randy, in spirit, kept me company through those long, lonely times and revealed his secrets to me in payment for my sweat and dedication to wrestling my six stringed combatant. I slowly began to incorporate the elegance of his licks and fills into my own style, but always with great difficulty, applying balm to my tortured soul. Ah, to remember those days of innocence and enlightenment! Years later, when I was contemplating suicide, Randy made a visit to me in a dream along with some of his other comrades from the other side. I saw in the dream a stage. On the stage was a heavenly band ripping through the most awesome music the world had yet to hear. The players were Randy Rhoads and Jimi Hendrix on guitar, John Bonnham on drums, Cliff Burton on bass and Bohn Scott behind the mike. Randy asked me to jam with them and produced a Les Paul (the guitar I played at the time in the real world) from somewhere for me to play. We together played that heavenly rock for what seemed to be a wonderful eternity but alas it was, in truth, over altogether too quickly. After the others left for other stages and other sessions, Randy stayed to talk with me a moment. ”We here are dead and locked at the state of art from the time we died”, he began. ”We cannot better our playing skills or our music. But you are alive and you have that ability”. Then, he too was gone. After I awoke from the dream and began to reflect upon it, I came to the sudden realization that Randy had not only been talking about music, but also about the problems in my life. My tribulations were, when I was honest with myself, temporary and suicide was a permanent end to them and certainly not a good solution. I, of course, understood that the dream was only my subconscious working overtime but it did not dull the impact of the message. I still to this day credit Randy Rhoads for saving my life. In 1990, after the military, a fellow Randy fan and I were back in Los Angeles and decided to visit the grave of Randy Rhoads since we were in the same city on other business. We found the cemetery, but at first not his resting place. As we searched we found a very nice lady who was visiting the sight of a lost family member. She unobtrusively asked us what we were doing there. We were both dressed in the latest metal fashions and so I realized, in retrospect we must have looked a bit thuggish. We explained to her that we were Musicians on a kind of pilgrimage search for the grave of one of our heroes. Though we never mentioned his name, she said that she knew who we were looking for but she wanted to make sure of our intentions first. She explained that there had been cultists and vandals at the site over the years that had defaced the grave more times than she wished to count. We told her again that Randy was an icon to us and that we simply came to pay our deepest respects to the man who had touched our lives in such profound ways. She pointed us towards a mausoleum in the back part of the cemetery and wished us well. As we entered the vault we were struck by the beauty and peacefulness of the place. It was made of marble and had stained glass windows. As we continued towards the rear, we found Randy. His drawer was, I believe the third or forth row up with a gold or brass guitar with the stylized double R symbol. I do not remember the inscription, only that it was simple, elegant and befitting to such a great and loved man. We met the groundskeeper as he had seen us walk in and had come to investigate, probably having the same suspicions as the woman did. He talked to us about the funeral and how Ozzy and Randy’s mother had both wept in their grief. We were greatly touched and walked away fulfilled from the experience as well as a bit more mature. It has been said that the artist is the only true, immortal being to touch this earth since it’s inception. From the cavemen of Lascoux to the painters, poets, sculptures and musicians of modern times, they all still surround us with their inventive creativity, beauty and soul. Randys music is no exception as this book proves, or you the reader, would not be reading it. As for me, fifteen years after his death, Randy Rhoads is still a major part of my life and a major catalyst to my creativity as a musician. I am today a well respected guitarist, singer and songwriter in my area and hold Randy’s memory near, dear and close to my heart. I am aspiring to live up to his legacy. Oh death where is thy sting…….You have stolen the thunder but not it’s echo and the power therein remains, mocking your effort. Randy, rest peacefully in the knowledge that you have not been forgotten
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Post by Cro/Kiyoshi on Apr 30, 2006 20:00:10 GMT -5
Chris Rangel Randy Rhoads Admirer I was fourteen years old. A friend of mine had the Blizzard of Ozz album. It was right after that album came out. I remember how different it was. Not like anything else I had heard before. I was a big Judas Priest fan and was really into Black Sabbath and a bit of Van Halen. This was just completely different. I was an Ozzy fan from Black Sabbath so was very interested in hearing this album. I just couldn’t get enough of it. I then sat down with my guitar to try and play Randy’s music. With Judas Priest and Black Sabbath, I could pick the music up pretty easily. But with Randy Rhoads it was extremely difficult. In a lot of his music, he would play one song in the key of lets say E. Then on another, he would tune down to lets say C. His guitar was in a different pitch through every song. I found it very hard to pick up on things. His style. He was always so busy throwing in a little lick here or something else different all through the song. It wasn’t always the same style over and over. A lot of people really don’t appreciate the guitar as a guitar player does. When I hear a song, I hear the guitar first. I’m a House Painter and when I walk into someone’s home, the first thing that I look at is the paint on the walls. It’s the same deal. I couldn’t wait for the second album to come out. It was just as incredible as the first. That is when I started collecting things on Randy. I started to collect anything and everything that I could find on him. I had no idea that he would only be around for those two albums. I saw Randy play in Fresno, California. It was January 3, 1982. The band that was supposed to open for them cancelled, so it was just Ozzy and Randy. They were actually supposed to play there in August of 1981, but apparently Randy got very ill and was in the hospital for a few days. They promised to return and they did. They pretty much played everything that you hear on the Tribute album. I was probably fifty yards away from Randy so I had a very good view. He really blew me away! In his live songs, you always hear a little extra something. He was never really satisfied with what he did so he always tried to be better. It was just incredible how he put things together and made them all work. Randys greatest accomplishment is his classical. I don’t think that he considered himself an accomplished classical guitar player. He was a perfectionist and was continuing to try and better himself. Classical music is the direction that he was headed towards. The way that he combined the classical in with the heavy metal is complete genius. The song ‘Dee’ on the Blizzard of Ozz album just shows how he felt about classical music. Randy’s music is what inspires people. His music just really says it all. It shows such an incredible talent. I know a lot of people who just hate Ozzy Osbourne but they love Randy Rhoads. They don’t particularly like the lyrics but they like the rhythm and the leads. I think that my favorite song is probably ‘Revelation Mother earth’. I really like all of his songs though, so it’s hard to put one in front of the other because they are all great! I was told that after the Blizzard of Ozz, they went into the studio almost immediately and recorded Diary of a Madman. They put that album together very quickly. To put something together like that in such a short period of time just shows how much talent Randy had.
Marty Friedman Musical Artist/Guitarist for band Megadeth
I was living in Baltimore when Ozzy and his band were on tour for the first album. They played at the civic center in Baltimore and it was the scene for all the guitar players in town to be at this gig especially because there was supposed to be this young, hot shot guitar player there named Randy Rhoads. Every guitar player in town was there.
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Post by Cro/Kiyoshi on Apr 30, 2006 20:00:30 GMT -5
It was a real breath of fresh air to see someone so energetic who was breathing life into a rock guitar. Van Halen did that. He made it exciting. Then Randy Rhoads came along and sort of stepped up the intensity switch a little bit. He stepped on the gas and at that time he was really over the top as far as a performer just going wild on stage and having outrageous heavy metal tone. It was all very distorted and very noisy. There was so many wild screams and sounds. It was a real shot in the arm to rock guitarists. Especially for people who like distortion. I just remember hearing all of the guitar players after that gig commenting on how great he was. At that time, I had just left a band that I was in called Deuce. It was a local, popular band that I was in for three years. To this day I have no idea why I left. In the Baltimore area, we were kind of like a young version of Def Leppard. We had a reputation of being a rowdy bunch of rock dudes. To be completely honest, I was never a big Randy Rhoads fan. The music that he played and that kind of stuff. But, I was very impressed by that performance that I saw and I think that what inspired me or influenced me was the flamboyant guitars that he played. I also liked the fact that he was very energetic and a small framed guy like myself. I really liked that because it proved to me that you don’t have to be seven feet tall to play the guitar. That kind of gave me some inspiration. Musically, what he was doing was great though it just wasn’t tapping my toes. He definitely inspired lots and lots of guitar players. At the time where I was giving guitar lessons, there wasn’t a day that would go by where I wasn’t showing someone how to play a Randy Rhoads solo. He definitely stepped up the ability of guitar players. At that point, more guitar players were playing pretty standard Clapton and bass blues licks. Then Randy Rhoads came along and put all of these other things into it. He made it so that you really had to develop a little bit of technique before you played in a rock n’ roll band. He shook up a lot of young guitar players. I think that the best thing about his guitar playing was that he played with more distortion that anybody I had ever seen. He played it and it sounded good. Most guitar players who put half as much distortion in their songs as he did just made it sound like a bunch of noise. He really knew what to do with distortion and it ultimately changed the face of guitar tones. In the eighties, people were really experimenting with distortion a lot more than they are today.
Shelby Clanton Randy Rhoads Admirer
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Post by Cro/Kiyoshi on Apr 30, 2006 20:00:55 GMT -5
The first time that I discovered Randy was on the cover of the Tribute album by Ozzy Osbourne. I wondered who this guy was. Now, I look back to that same cover and see the greatest guitarist I have ever heard. I see the man who has inspired me to play and brought me to a new level as a musician. I think that Randy brought his own style to music that was never before heard. His music told a story that no one had ever heard. Today his music is still blowing all the popular guitarists away and he still has people struggling to pick up and play where he left off. Randy Rhoads has encouraged me to do my best with creating my own style just like he once did. The way he played, and the music that he blended has inspired me to try my hardest at being a great musician. If I ever get tired or frustrated at playing I just put Randy’s music on and that frustration turns into inspiration and desire. I think that Randy still inspires people so many years after his death because he was the greatest guitarist of his time and to me, that ever lived. The people that were close to him speak of how great his personality was and what a great person he was. You can see his great personality through his music and I think that is what inspires people. Some of Randy’s most memorable accomplishments are starting a band at such an early age and giving Ozzy a huge jump start in his solo career. Randy was a true musician and had a love for his instrument. He touched people with his quiet personality. Another memorable accomplishment was just being known as one of the greatest guitarists of all time and inspiring thousands of people. It is also amazing that he continues to sell records almost sixteen years after his death. The memory of this great man will never fade. I always liked the sound of the guitar though never thought of learning to play myself until I heard the music of Randy Rhoads. I was so inspired by the style and stories his music told that I went and bought a guitar within the same month of hearing his playing. I have learned to play a great deal just by playing and listening to Randys music. I love to sit down and jam with Randy. The notes that he put together make his guitar sing and when you listen to his music, you can feel the entire story going through your body.
Iain Black Randy Rhoads Admirer
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Post by Cro/Kiyoshi on Apr 30, 2006 20:01:31 GMT -5
My friends and myself started getting into rock music seriously in 1978 and Black Sabbath became my favorite band. Yes, in the early 70’s we all had our favorite bands like Sweet or Slade, but we were now teenagers and it was time to get serious. My friends had other favorites at the time such as Rush, Zeppelin, Kiss and Status Quo, but we all liked Sabbath. In 1978, Sabbath brought out Never Say Die which was to be the swan song of the original line up. Seeing them on ‘Top Of The Pops’ (the United Kingdom’s premier show going since the 60’s) we thought ”these guys are cool!”. We made the decision that we were into heavy metal, as we didn’t understand punk or want to be a mod such as The Jam, The Specials, Madness, etc. It’s amazing that the band No Doubt quote these guys as influences yet Kerrang Metal magazine was the only guys covering them as they were yet to break in the United Kingdom. It just shows you how much music has merged over the years. When Black Sabbath split up we had not had the chance to see them live as the Untied Kingdom tour had passed and we had to make do with AC/DC with Bon Scott at the Glasgow Apollo in October 1979 on the Highway to Hell tour. They were supported by a group who were part of what rock press called the new wave of British heavy metal, Def Leppard. I wonder what happened to them? Anyway, as the new wave of British heavy metal took off in magazines like Kerrang, soon came the news that Ozzy was putting together a new band as Sabbath was also reconstructing with Ronnie James Dio. We all waited with baited breath to see what kind of group Ozzy would come back with. We saw the new Black Sabbath live in May of 1980 and were looking forward to seeing the Ozzy gig in September. I can still remember being in one of my mate’s bedroom with three of four others as we crowded around the stereo listening to the first Ozzy single ‘Crazy Train’. We probably listened to both sides of the album a couple of times and decided that we liked it! We heard that he had brought in a young American hotshot named Randy Rhoads, who certainly made some raw, new noises on the guitar. At this time, although Ozzy fails to recognize it now, the band was called Ozzy Osbourne’s Blizzard of Ozz, and they were down to play their first gig ever at the Reading Festival in the summer of 1980. Rumors of warm up gigs in pubs persist though I have yet to confirm any of them. For some reason or another, Ozzy pulled out and so the first ever Blizzard of Ozz show was the first date of the United Kingdom tour. It was in Glasgow and we had tickets. As the gig approached, we had all heard the Blizzard of Ozz album and it was an instant classic, even more than a match for Black Sabbaths Heaven & Hell. Randy Rhoads had brought virtuoso guitar playing to what was seen as a British rock band, and combined that with some very heavy riffs. It was a perfect match, bringing classical influenced scales and structure, and combining them with the gothic, black magic image of Ozzy’s band. I was lucky enough to see Randy play in the Untied Kingdom again on August 1, 1981 at the Heavy Metal Holocaust at Port Vale Football Ground near Stroke, England. Motorhead headlined with Ozzy Osbourne, as the band was now following the release of Diary of a Madman. As special guest, the rest of the line up was filled by Triumph, Riot, Frank Marino and Vardis. The gig was a triumphant return to the United Kingdom with Ozzy’s new, now all American band. They were one of the best four piece rock bands I had ever seen in both musicianship and showmanship. I think that at the time of Randys death in 1982, such a short time since Randy had exploded onto the global rock scene, we were all still discovering him. Randy took rock guitar in a different direction. He expanded the envelope. He developed a different, but no less technically different style to the likes of Eddie Van Halen. He applied classical traditions to the very heavy rock riffs. His solos took you on a journey. They were meaningful and reached peaks of musical pleasure that would bring tears to your eyes. The sounds that he could get out of the guitar rung meaning out of the notes. Live, as a single guitar player, he was technically able to play in such a way as to deliver a song that on the album had rhythm guitar behind multi layering during his solos. Randy influenced a lot of musicians by his attitude towards the instrument and his dedicated musicianship. When I met Ozzy Osbourne at a record signing before his first gig in Glasgow, I asked him where Randy was since everyone was keen to meet this new guitar legend. Ozzy’s straight answer was that he was back at the hotel practicing his guitar. This quiet, unassuming, young, skinny kid was the guy that had come up with some of the heaviest classic rock riffs and heavenly solos of all time. I play electric guitar and my first guitar hero before I knew of Randy was Bernie Torme, strangely the guy who stepped in to fill Randys spot a week or so after his death. Bernie had his own image with his white 60’s strat and a sound that was an amalgam of Jimi Hendrix, Beck and Townsend. This quiet Irishman could produce amazing feedback and great speed solos. Then, along came Randy with a very strong image and amazing technique. He blew me away. Eddie Van Halen was untouchable, on another planet at the time, but with Randy you felt as if you could delve into all sorts of historical influences and come up with something new. I have tried to copy Randy but have trouble being as fluid as he was. The thing that stays with me is his discipline to continue and improve at his instrument. Randy knew that he could always learn something new and would book classical guitar lessons whenever his touring schedule would allow it. I read somewhere that he was considering quitting the band, maybe after his third LP, and going back to his studies in order to expand his horizons. Who knows where he would be at today if he had lived. Randy has a memorable image certainly, but I think that what continues to inspire people today is his unassuming modesty and quest to better himself that provides us with inspiration. The qualities that I mention are a testament to this and I believe that he will continue to inspire and hold a fascination to people such as many other young musicians lost so young have. We all ask ourselves, ”just think what he could have done?”. Unfortunately, I never got to meet Randy and obviously I never knew his personality, but I just feel that he was genuinely a good guy who was almost embarrassed by peoples interest in him. It brings to mind the contrast between Ozzy’s madman, wild image and Randys quiet, humble stance. He was not an extrovert yet when he got on stage and ground out the songs, his face contorted, almost feeling pain in every note. Was he the choirboy in Satan’s orchestra, the baby faced guitar assassin? When Randy was alive he was probably one of the top five, certainly among the top ten guitar heroes in the Untied Kingdom. For United Kingdom Ozzy fans who were into Ozzy from the beginning, I have no doubt that Randy was idolized for bringing our messiah back from the wilderness with two classic albums. I am sure that there are many Ozzy fans since Randy’s death who will regard his work as the best classic Ozzy. Ozzy fans the world over will have respect for the music that Randy gave us as it continues to be popular to this day in Ozzy’s sets. I also feel that Zakk Wylde took Ozzy forward by showing great respect in reproducing Randy’s songs. The new Ozzy guitarist played his tribute to Randy at last years Doninngton Monsters of Rock during his guitar solo featuring ‘Suicide Solution’ and ‘Diary of a Madman’. Today in the United Kingdom and the world over, Randy is remembered most by the fans who are proud to say they saw him or met him and were crushed to hear of his death. I remember being told at a friend’s house after they had heard the news on a late night radio rock program. I was sitting in a large chair and I can remember my head dropping and not knowing what to think. We were all silent. Later that week our rock magazine confirmed the news and we were just empty. I know that the grief built up but the only time that I can remember crying was when a week or so later my dad came up to my room and asked if there was something wrong. I broke down in tears and told him what had happened. I think that my dad was touched that someone who I didn’t even know had this effect on me. He tried to comfort me though I know that he couldn’t fully understand the depth of feeling we all had for our music. It was the soundtrack to our teenage years. For the next five or six years, every year, I would write to our local radio station with a dedication to Randy Rhoads for a rock program that aired near March 19th. They would play ‘You Can’t Kill Rock and Roll’ or ‘Good-Bye to Romance’. As I got to the end of my University studies, I wrote my thesis which when published contains a dedication for inspiration to R. W. Rhoads. Now, I do think of his from time to time and when I have gone to California on holiday, I have thought of visiting his grave. I haven’t done this yet though would like to one day. I would like to say that Randy Rhoads was a great showman and the fact that he continues to inspire people and please hundreds of music fans and musicians today, must be his greatest accomplishment. He really moved people. I think that the Tribute album from Ozzy was a fitting tribute to him but I feel that Ozzy should release re-mixed and re-mastered versions of his songs. There are some great extended guitar solos on Diary of a Madman that could be carried on instead of fading out. There could also be some studio outtakes like the version of ‘Dee’ on Tribute. Perhaps some rehearsal tapes. This could be coincided with the release of the live bootleg video ‘Afterhours’, parts of which appear on the live version of the ‘Crazy Train’ video.
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Post by Cro/Kiyoshi on Apr 30, 2006 20:01:51 GMT -5
Anthony Church Musical Artist/Musician/Teacher/AMI Guitar Instruction
I was around twelve years old when I first heard this incredible guitar playing on the radio and asked a friend who it was. I was hooked from then on. Randy Rhoads made the hard edge music appeal to a broad range of people and did it so with style. To this day, I still hear people trying to imitate him. When I first heard him I started learning his licks right away. It made me appreciate music theory a whole lot more. When asked the question of why Randy continues to inspire people so many years after his death, the same should be asked about Beethoven or Jimi Hendrix. Randy was an original. A man who played from the heart and refused to settle for anything less than perfection. Greatness never dies.
Ryan Murphy Randy Rhoads Admirer
I discovered Randy Rhoads when I got my first Ozzy Osbourne CD. I listened again and again and I knew that there was something incredible happening under Ozzy’s singing. It was the beginning of a miracle guitar player. His skill and great ease made me wish that I would someday have the opportunity to meet him though as we all know, that can now never happen because of the tragedy. I feel that Randy made an enormous impact on the heavy metal scene when he was living. Even now you can pick out things that sound like they’ve come from the sounds of Randy Rhoads. Many guitarists, such as myself, wish that they could play as well and as incredible as Randy did but he was in a league of his own. His own style can’t really be repeated. Randy Rhoads has influenced me in a way that I just can’t describe in words. He showed me so many incredible riffs and amazing solos. It’s not just his playing, but his attitude towards life itself just made me look at Randy Rhoads as an idol. Even though it has been over fifteen years since his death, the impact that he made on everyone with his music lived through the 80’s and now through the 90’s. He influenced so many people that no one can allow his guitar playing and soul die.
Constantine S. Persaud Randy Rhoads Admirer
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Post by Cro/Kiyoshi on Apr 30, 2006 20:02:18 GMT -5
I discovered Randy Rhoads when I was six years old. The Tribute album by Ozzy just came out and my uncle was playing it. I must have listened to that thing ten times. Everything about that record just amazed me. Randy’s playing was something that I had never heard before and it was very cool. Back in the 80’s, Randy Rhoads set a Bach- rock syndrome were every guitarist tried to do the whole classical thing like him, but no one could really match what he did. Randy Rhoads has influenced my playing by encouraging me to learn more about classical guitar. Randy Rhoads is the person who inspired me to learn how to play. I would ultimately like to blend classical and rock like he did and take it into the 90’s or whenever my band makes it big. Because of Randy, I learned to play guitar at six after listening to the Tribute album. My father says that I would walk around saying ”I want to grow up and be a musician like Randy Rhoads”. I think that Randy still inspires people today through Ozzy’s music and when those old songs are played over the radio. People stop to listen and say ”hey, that guitarist is really cool. Who is that?”. Linda McDonald Musical Artist/Drummer for Phantom Blue
I really enjoyed Randy’s feel and aggression with his playing. I obviously think that he went way too early. He is certainly one of the most unique guitar players of all time. My favorite song of his is ‘Flying High Again’. Phantom Blue played at the last couple of Randy Rhoads Benefit Concerts. Every time that we play, it’s a sell out show. Musicians from all over the world will come to pay their tribute to Randy. The place is always packed and it is just amazing. The last time, it was held at the Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was just great because there was so much energy there! Everyone was there for Randy.
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Post by Cro/Kiyoshi on Apr 30, 2006 20:02:51 GMT -5
Josephine Musical Artist/Guitarist for Phantom Blue
My guitar teacher is the one who first had me listen to Randy. That is when I first heard him. I began learning the solo and the rhythm for ‘Over the Mountain’. Randy definitely influenced me as a guitar player. He was one of the best hard rock guitarists over the past twenty years. He will always be remembered for his stunning guitar performance at such a young age. I like his playing with Ozzy and I think that I like the song ‘Crazy Train’ the best.
Tina Wood Musical Artist/Guitarist for Phantom Blue
I first heard of Randy Rhoads through listening to the Blizzard of Ozz album. It just blew me away. I had always wanted to be a guitar player but I was always too lazy to want to start learning. I think that once I heard that album, I got off my butt and it was the final influence for me to get out there and start playing. After I started learning on the electric guitar, I started playing classical. I started to learn it a little though really haven’t been playing classical for quite a few years. I always loved Randy’s playing and especially his style. He was certainly ahead of his time. He was one of the first people too bring classical into rock music. He very noticeably made a statement with that. I don’t think that people realize just how talented he was. His style was a huge influence on a lot of people. He really gave heavy metal music texture and not just shredding. His playing had so much feel to it. He brought out a new vive to heavy metal. His sound, to this day is unique. I think that his greatest accomplishment is inspiring so many people. People like me to finally get off my ass and get to work! I think that my favorite songs are ‘Mr. Crowley’ and ‘Crazy Train’. ‘Mr. Crowley’ just completely blew me away. Randy was definitely an inspiration to us all and always will be. I know a music teacher who teaches a lot of kids who haven’t really heard of Randy’s music. They have only heard the music that is out there now on the radio. When this teacher turns these kids onto Randy’s music they are just amazed! It’s like a whole new influence coming out for these kids. To hear someone play that metabolically and yet so technically as well. I have to give Randy Rhoads a lot of respect. He was definitely taken away much too soon. He was so into his music and so we just know that he would have kept on growing. He wasn’t the type of person who was just going to waste his talent or his life. He had so much to offer. It is a real shame that we couldn’t have seen more of it.
Cradle my baby~ Play through her…..sweet song Now the baby sits alone….. …..Untouched….. Since her tune’s been gone It took two to make the music One to play the song Now who will rock the baby? While her tune is gone…..
Karl Sandoval
Sandoval Engineering/built the famous custom made polka-dot Flying V for Randy. Karl has built guitars for some of the most legendary musicians of our time.
I first met Randy through a referral from George Lynch of Dokken. You have to remember that back then there was a lot of musicians that hadn’t really made it big yet. They were still plugging away, performing and being introduced so to speak. What happened was that Randy saw George Lynch back stage at a concert. I had previously built a customized Flying V for George that was shaped a bit differently. The headstock was different and it didn’t really look like the Randy Flying V at all. Apparently, Randy was there either watching the performance or having to perform, and somehow picked up George’s guitar. He started doing some licks on it and was impressed with it. From there, it evolved into a phone call from Randy. He was inquiring about the guitar and asking lots of questions about custom guitars. That would be in 1979, because that was when the guitar was built. It was also during that time frame where I met Randy. It always starts off with a phone call and then coming down to meet me. At the time, I really didn’t have a shop. I was just doing a lot of work out of my house. The majority of the work that I had done was actually done out of whatever home I was living in at the time. That is how Randy was introduced to me and how we finally met. The first time that I met him was after I set up an appointment for him to come down. He came down and brought Kevin DuBrow with him. Kevin is the lead singer of the group Quiet Riot which was the band that Randy was in at the time. There was no Ozzy yet. I think that it was perfect timing because if this had happened at a later point, I think that he would have ended up just going to Charvel/Jackson and having all of the guitars made there. I was known in the Los Angeles area for making custom guitars. I have a variety of different pictures showing the many models and many body shapes of different guitars that I have built. I was using a Danelectro neck at the time. George’s guitar had a Danelectro neck and that is what Randy liked about it. So, Randy came down and it was kind of funny because I wish that Randy had come by himself because it would have been more one on one. But, he brought Kevin DuBrow. By no means am I bad-mouthing Kevin, but Kevin was quite a talker. Kevin could talk. So, I would be talking to Randy and tossing different ideas back and forth about the concept of the guitar that I thought he wanted and it was like anytime that I would say something to Randy, he would look at Kevin and ask ”what do you think? Is that a good idea?”. It was as if he was seeking Kevin’s approval. I almost said ”hey Kevin, why don’t you go and pick us up some coke or some beer”. That way I could talk to Randy in private and really get an idea of what he wanted. I like my customers to come up with their own original ideas and be happy with them. They have their own mental picture of the guitar and it is my job to get that mental picture, try to interpret it and then create something that becomes their third arm. Believe me, guitars become very sentimental to these musicians. I specifically remember being in this double garage, standing with Randy and talking about some ideas that we both had for the guitar. I remember that he looked very typical heavy metal. This would be the 80’s rock look. He had the black spandex pants, the different looking shoes and multiple jewelry on both of his arms. Everything was different colored but yet it all still looked good. The guy looked like he was ready to go out on stage. It just seemed like he dressed like that all the time. The shag haircut that was poofy. He just had that look! If you were a manager or an owner of a record company and you were looking for an image, he had it. He had that aura. That physical aura of a rock star, a metal monster or whatever you want to call it. A recording artist. We were just tossing ideas back and forth about the guitar. Randy was very firm on the fact that he wanted polka-dots. He was into the Flying V body, but he wasn’t sure about the headstock. He was also into bow ties. He wanted the concept of the tremolo usage and he liked the humbucking sound and so he went with humbuckings. Basically, it was more about the actual design of the guitar and where certain things were located and the esthetics of it and the appearance of it. The guitar ended up being really big. If you see pictures of Randy with it, you can see that the guitar is 2/3 his size! It was huge. After tossing concepts around, I eventually got the main idea of what he was looking for, though I still didn’t know the specifics. That is about all that I can remember about the first time meeting Randy. It was basically a time for us to get ideas going and whatnot. We met several times before the guitar was finally finished on July 3, 1979. I remember that Randy was very soft spoken and had the nicest personality. He was very cordial and he truly didn’t fit into the image of what we now see as the typical rock n’ roll star, where they are kind of loud, cocky and obnoxious. Even after Randy hit his fame, I don’t think that he was at all arrogant. I just recall him being the most easiest person to talk to. Very, very easy going. Very polite and not at all loud. Randy usually came by himself to meet with me after that first, initial encounter. He would come by an make deposits and what have you. I remember him showing up one day with his girlfriend. I kept thinking how they both looked so much alike! It was almost as if they were brother and sister. Randy was really, really thin. He was very small and had very small features. I just kept staring at him and his girlfriend because they looked so much alike. Randy also made some drawings of the guitar. You have to remember that the concept of the guitar wasn’t designed yet. It was all ideas. So, Randy went home and did some drawings. Some of them he did when I started to write up the guitar. They were drawings of a variety of headstock’s. Randy did want the polka-dots sequenced in line. He did not want them put on sporadically. If you look at the guitar, the polka-dots are in perfect line. That was very time consuming. Randy gave me some drawings of bow ties. So, in my mind I am trying to picture this guitar. I would say that based on the idea that he gave me, I came up with the end result. It wasn’t like, okay, I have the body done with the neck on it so come down and check it out. I just don’t remember that happening. It was pretty much him giving me the concepts of it and then me finalizing it. So, I am a co-designer. I see it that way and that is what I tell people. When Randy came down to pick the guitar up, he got to see the finalized guitar. This is what we see in all of the magazines and posters that have been sold. Randy pointed out to me that he wanted white polka-dots on black. He wanted the humbuckings, the tremolo system and the Danelectro neck because he liked the way that it felt on George’s guitar. He wanted a Flying V body but he didn’t know what kind of wood to use and so we kind of developed a mahogany idea because his Les Paul was mahogany though it had a maple top. We eventually came up with what is called an arrowhead headstock. The Flying V body I did not design, that is a Gibson design. I came up with the final pattern of the headstock. I know that the six in line keys that were requested have to be positioned a certain way. I wanted the strings straight across the neck because we’re using a non locking tremolo system and I want it to stay in tune. The headstock has to be at a certain degree. There is real guitar specifications that you have to go by to get the guitar to play in tune, to stay in tune and to function so Randy could perform the licks that we have all heard on the recordings. His ideas that I thought were pretty cool were that he wanted the strat input jack underneath the top wing so he had easy access to the strat button which was there, so that it would be out of his way. He didn’t want the cord down below because he would be tripping all over it. He also wanted a tago switch in the top wing so he could have easy access to switching pick ups. He was really into the real thick, bulky necks because his Les Paul was like that. The tremolo was new to him. I don’t think that he had ever played a tremolo before. Eddie Van Halen used a tremolo and so did George Lynch. All those guys were monsters at guitar. You have to keep in mind that these guys were using non blocking systems very radically.
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Post by Cro/Kiyoshi on Apr 30, 2006 20:03:31 GMT -5
They always had a huge degree at first of controlling the tuning. Randy wanted a seven neck into the body. From the nut to the base of the neck, and even part of the headstock is a Danelectro neck. Danelectro is a company that was surviving around the late 60’s. That is what I ended up using but it was totally modified. The neck had to be bulked up in the back so that Randy could have that feel. I used the original front wire, the original position markers. The bow ties were white mother of pearl. The nut on there was, I believe the original aluminum nut that came with the Danelectro neck. This is a non adjustable neck. It had a double I-beam trefleg glued onto the fingerboard. The neck is really good. You can’t bend it. It’s like trying to bend steel. I built a variety of guitars and no matter what gage string I used, I never had a problem. The necks held nines, tens, eleven’s, anything. Randy used tens. So, the headstock had to be modified. I graphed on pieces of maple to accommodate the arrow headstock shape. The original neck had a more slim line look. It kind of went straight. I will go through all of the parts starting from the top of the guitar to the bottom wings. We had all chrome hardware, shower keys, the mini showers were used, a set of ten strings, a combination of original dark enly and white mother of pearl for the bow tie, aluminum nut, Danelectro neck with the double I-beam trashrod. The pick ups had brass that was chrome plated surrounds, the pick ups were demosio, they were cream. We had a PAF in the front position and the super distortion in the rear. There’s a stock fender bridge and I remember it being the cast version. The earlier versions were block, cast and then screwed onto a turn plate. This was like block and plate all cast as one. It had a regular tremolo with a chrome knob. A standard 500K pod which is what they call a white speed knob. A standard chrome tremble rhythm metal surround around the pigal switch. It was a typical Les Paul pigol switch. A fender, a cup jack plate with a standard mono plate. The electronics were very basic. The tone was pretty much like a Les Paul. The volume and tone planks pick up using either a porno 47 or a porno 5 microferic cap. I used strap lax on this guitar. I had to think about some things. I had controls on the bottom part of the wing and I’ve got the tago switch on the top and the opera jack on the top and I need to feed wires to and from pick ups, control cavities with volume and tone, and then the tago swich. I believe that on Randy’s I routed a round hole which became like a center point to feed wire up to the bridge and then down towards the jack plate. So I think that on Randy’s guitar there’s another plate aside from the round control cover plate for the tago switch. It’s sort of a rectangular Les Paul like control cover plate on the back side. These were just made of vinyl. Either white vinyl or black. I don’t recall. The finish that was used on this guitar is nitrocelular. Straight, full blown nitrocelular flacker. From the base coat, to the sanding sealer, to the color which was black and white, and the clear top. Making this guitar, to me was a challenge. To do all the customizing that he wanted was a challenge. I had no problem with it, it was just very challenging. It took about three months to build this guitar. Working on it a little bit everyday because there is a lot of gluing and painting, getting parts. To get the dots put on was very difficult. Once all the wood working was done and it was ready for paint applications, I started with sanding sealer and leveled that off. After the sanding sealer, I applied white. I even sanded it out a little bit because you don’t want any high spots. The white coat was the base coat and then I started positioning the ivory stickers. They were ¾ inch stickers all over the guitar. But, sequential based on the lines. Then I shot black. The difficult job was peeling off the ivory stickers. On certain parts of the guitar, they were just put on randomly but on the main body they weren’t. So, all the stickers were pulled off. Then I had to do some touch ups and I had to level the black and the white which was uneven so I had to apply clear all over the entire guitar and keep doing it until it became level. Until it felt as it would if you ran your hand over the top of glass. It was sanded, polished and then buffed out. The guitar was finished. Before it was built, I remember Randy coming down to see me. I was busy writing up the sale form and he was just kind of standing around and waiting. I had a harmony guitar that belonged to my dad that was sitting there. While I was writing up the invoice I started to hear this classical music. He had picked up the guitar, got into the classical style of holding the guitar and started playing. It was completely flawless. This guy was incredible. I could never make that guitar sound like that! The guy was so well trained in classical music that he liked the fat neck, he didn’t mind the heavy gage string, and he didn’t mind the high axen. He played it very well and he was just kind of passing time as I was writing the invoice. It was very interesting to hear him perform like that. There were several payments that he made on the guitar. The first one was $245.00. The total cost of the guitar was $738.00. I started on 7-3-79 and finished on 9-22-79. Most musicians don’t pick up their instrument when they first see it. They kind of just stand there and stare at it. Randy picked it up and he had a case already made for it. he placed the guitar in the case and it fit like a glove. He was very, very careful with it and I don’t remember him playing the guitar when he picked it up though I am sure that he did . They all do. Three weeks later I received a phone call from Randy. There was a time before that phone call when he called to ask how to keep the guitar in tune. I remember that call. He called and said, ‘I just can’t keep this guitar in tune’. I had explained it before to him because there is a method. I said ‘as wild as you are going to use that arm, you have to tune up your instrument. You have to balance the string tension’. I had the saddles lubricated, the strings in line over the nut, I had lubrication on the string nut. I am almost certain that I showed him how to keep it in tune when he came to pick it up. He figured out right away that it was going to be a problem. And, they are. You have to really keep on top of these non locking systems. So, I went over the tuning process again over the telephone and advised him to talk to other people like Eddie, George or others who had experience with keeping these guitars in tune. I didn’t hear from Randy after that phone call until a few weeks later, and this time it wasn’t about the tuning. When he called, he didn’t sound too good and so I asked him what was wrong. I was a bit worried because of the sound of his voice. He said, ”well, I had an accident. I was at rehearsal holding my guitar when the strap lock came out and the guitar held up on the right side but the headstock went straight down to the concrete floor and chipped the paint and shredded the neck down the middle”. He was very bummed out and when he brought the guitar to me and I saw it, it looked like a nightmare. It was really something because he was more concerned with my work and how this all made me feel. This just goes back to what I said about Randys personality. He was such a nice person. I mean, he was apologizing to me because I spent three months building it and now it was broken. He didn’t break it, it was an accident. But, he was very concerned about how I was going to take it. I just assured him not to worry about the guitar or me and that everything was going to be cool. I had dealt with problems like this before. I just felt bad for him because back then $738.00 was a lot of money. But, the bottom line was that we had to get that guitar rebuilt. He brought the guitar to me and I charged him $75.00 to rebuild, reconstruct, and repaint the entire neck. Not the entire guitar, just the neck. If you saw the guitar today, you would probably see some lines where it was repaired. I used anything I could to get that guitar back into shape like epoxy glue, gar, automotive bonds and even pieces of wood. Anything to get this guitar back into shape because it was severely fractured. So, if you look at the guitar today, you can definitely see evidence of the repair. The guitar was soon back into shape and Randy came down to pick it up. That was the last time that I saw him. I don’t recall seeing him again. I do think that I received a couple of phone calls from him though I don’t recall what they were about. The next thing I knew, time went by and I heard that he was dealing with Charvel /Jackson. I wish that he would have come to me, but by then he was with Ozzy Osbourne. I would have built him a guitar but for whatever reason he went and dealt with Charvel /Jackson. If you were to see the guitar today, it would be very yellow even though the pocket dots were white. The nitrocelular that I used has a tendency to crack. I would almost guarantee that this guitar looked like that all over which is actually kind of cool because it has a vintage look to it. I would really like to see that guitar today. Peter Carriere- (Fan) A friend of mine had tickets to see Ozzy Osbourne, which I wasn’t for or against it. I really didn’t think too much about it one way or another. We went to Music Mountain to see him play. Def Leppard opened which was really great to see. Then Ozzy and Randy came out and I had never heard a guitarist play like that before in my life. Music is a very emotional thing to me. It’s even embarrassing sometimes. He came out, played and I just stood there on the hill with tears in my eyes and my hair standing on end. I couldn’t believe it! That was my first introduction to Randy. The feel of his playing was just incredible! Very smooth. Very fast though extremely clean. You could still hear every note that he played with all of the distortion. He still annunciated every single note that he played. I had never seen anyone play like that in my life. I just stood there in shock. My jaw was dropped! Without even knowing him, from all that I have read he had quite a unique personality. Aside from technique and everything, I think that’s probably more of what effected me than anything. It’s kind of like, he reached out with something that was inside of him. Beyond the fingers and playing notes on the guitar, he left such an impression with people because it was such an explosion. There weren’t guitar players like that around. Randy, being that kind of a person and that kind of a player, made such an impact on people. He captured that in his music and it still comes across today.
Tim Mallick- (Fan)
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Post by Cro/Kiyoshi on Apr 30, 2006 20:03:58 GMT -5
I heard Randy for the first time in the early 1981. The song was Crazy Train and it was starting to get lots of airplay here in Pittsburgh. I was just starting to play guitar at the time and loved Eddie Van Halen. I remember being so blown away by the solo and the rhythm parts of the song. It flowed so easily. It was at that moment when my guitar idol became Randy Rhoads. I still loved Eddie but there was something different about randy. His music was so structured. The solos were more a part of the song rather than a stand alone piece. I think that never before in rock history have two people influenced a sound like Eddie and Randy did. They were the best of the eighties, they were at opposite ends of the spectrum and we will never see such a revolution in sound and ability again. Revolutionary. That is the closest word that I can think of to describe what Randy did to rock n’ roll. It was the first time that classical made an entrance in rock rather than the blues based rock of the past. Even Eddie couldn’t compare. The scales and rhythm parts were so new and they caught on like wildfire spawning a slew of imitators and wanna be’s. I think that he gave rock some legitimacy that it had lacked in the past. Now, you had to have some technical ability to be in the elite. Randy still had one of the best ears for songwriting also. All of those early Ozzy hits were Randys guitar parts. I don’t play guitar like I use to, but back in the day I bought everything I could on Randy. Every book of personal information, every guitar tab book, every album and even the guitar that I had was the Flying V like he had. Just from practicing his songs made me so much better with my playing. It’s been a long time and Randys songs still sound fresh. I think that there is a romanticism surrounding the death of famous people who die young. Randy had the ultimate look for rock n’ roll, but he was a dichotomy. He was ferocious on the guitar but so mild and unassuming as a person. I think all that combined lends itself to his legend. Plus, he gave everything that he had to his one love, music. That kind of dedication is rare in this day and age and I think people respond to it when it happens. As long as there is rock n’ roll, and as long as there are guitar players, there will be Randy Rhoads. I think that Randys most memorably accomplishments are bringing some legitimacy to this thing we call rock n’ roll, giving us a few classic songs, and sharing with us all too briefly a talent that most will never come close to having.
Justin Lebb- (Fan) I first heard Randy when I bought the Diary of a Madman CD. I was completely amazed at his classical licks and metal approach to them. I cannot begin to describe the influence that he had on me. I think that Randy continues to inspire people because they want to play exactly as their guitar hero. I think that some of his most memorable accomplishments were staring a successful band at the age of sixteen and being able to hook up with such a great metal head such as Ozzy Osbourne.
David VanLanding- ( lead vocalist for Michael Shenker) Obviously, I discovered Randy Rhoads around the same time that most everybody else did. It was when he first started with Ozzy. It was so frustrating when he died because that man had more to offer than most people out there. He was just amazing. I liked that he really made a craft out of what he did. Much more so than many others that are out there. Some people are happy just to get to a certain point and then be happy with that. I, on the other hand are not. I think that his greatest accomplishments are what other people have to say about him. About being so dedicated. I didn’t know him personally, but from what I have heard and have heard from other people who are in the business, when others would be out partying and living the good life, he would was practicing and still trying to become an even better guitar player. I think that anyone who is a true musician can relate to that. I sing for Michael Shrenker and it is really amazing because even though Michael has been ion the business for so many years, he still practices three hours a day. I was so amazed my that. I have always been a Shrenker fan as well, but that made me an even bigger fan of his now that I am doing tours with him. For me, being a singer, I still practice everyday. I think that everybody has their own outlook on the way they perceive a person. I just believe in dedication and Randy really stood for that word. His music was a great accomplishment in itself. He was so inventive and so incredible. But, more as a person and crafting what he did, I think that should be recognized. Randys sound was so raw. It didn’t sound like he was trying to let processing and the studio do all the work for him. I think that people could really see that it was him that was making the instrument sing. It’s really weird because he came out at a time where you were dealing with people like Eddie Van Halen and all of the other guys, and then here comes Randy with those two albums. It was something really special and obviously it was something that Ozzy saw. I saw Randy play in concert in my senior year of high school. I saw him play on the east coast. I went with a friend who was a complete Ozzy fanatic and during the entire concert I had to suffer through this guy jumping up and down and screaming at whatever Randy was doing! I was like ”calm down! I’m trying to enjoy this!”. My favorite song of Randys is Tonight. I love the end of that song with the guitar fading out. It doesn’t sound as though it was planned, just letting it go with feeling.
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Post by Cro/Kiyoshi on Apr 30, 2006 20:04:25 GMT -5
James Houdek- (Fan) I was in the eighth grade and as the school bus was taking us to school I noticed a group of about seven gorgeous female school mates giggling and fighting over a large book which I would eventually find out was the Ozzy tour program from the concert the night before that someone had brought on the bus. The girls kept passing around the program and saying ‘what a babe, he is fine!’. When I finally got a chance to view what they were looking at I saw a picture of a young man with long blonde hair, dressed in all black and holding a poked dot guitar with the name Randy Rhoads printed vertically in the page. I think that Randy along with Eddie Van Halen were both really innovative for that era of rock n’ roll music. They changed the way people approached the instrument. Musical integrity. I play an instrument, but randy has influenced me more ion my studies to become an elementary school teacher. He was a music teacher and I feel that with any form of teaching you have to look within yourself to find answers to many questions that your students will have and always continue your own studies. That is what was so unique about Randy. He was so accomplished at his art yet he always wanted to learn. I feel that the reason that his music is so popular is simple, he had the ability to move people through his music. He made his mother so proud of him. I had the privilege of meeting his mother at her Music School Musonia in 1997. She gave me really good advice on school and life in general. I brought her a dozen long stem roses and she told me that to this day, Ozzy Osbourne has sent her flowers every month since 1982. Each generation has it’s own music and that music represents it’s generation. randy and his music is immortal. We miss you Randy!
Tsuyoshi Ueda- (Fan) I was thirteen when I first heard Randy play. I listened to the song Crazy Train. Randy rendered remarkable services towards the progress in the music scene. We come to realize that there are no limits to what we can accomplish and that we can learn from him that melody is an essential factor in music. Here in Japan, Randy made his debut as a member of the group Quiet Riot. Japanese hard rock fans admirer Randys genius. He is still very popular here among hard rock fans and guitarists. Many people feel sorry that he could not have performed here in Japan.
Eric Lewis- (guitarist for Son of Slam) I was probably about thirteen when I first heard of Randy. It was right after he died. Randy was one of my first influenced when I started playing the guitar. I didn’t get into the electric guitar until about a month after his death. Randy set standards for what electric guitar for rock n’ roll should be. He really expanded it by adding the classical influences and giving it some class and smarts about it. he really influences me to expand my horizons and nit just stick with one thing. To branch out and show some taste in playing. The very first solo that I ever learned was Good-bye to Romance. It was a very pretty solo by Randy and really caught my ear the first time that I heard it. Randy was such a great player and everyone respected him. It’s kind of like Jimi Hendrix in a way. When they are gone, you can’t go back. You only have their records and recordings to remember by, listen to and learn by. Randys playing was really timeless. You can listen to his playing to day and it still sounds very fresh. All is silent now As we listen For a song that is only on the wind I hear your song in the rain And see your smile in a rainbow Stars cling in your hair And lightening flies from your fingers So as the guitar quietly sits Your song can still be heard.
Randy Rhoads came into my life when I was about fifteen or sixteen years old. A friend of mine gave me a poster of Randy for Christmas one year. To tell you the truth, I don’t even know why. She said that she just felt that I would like it and I guess a couple of times while we were listening to Ozzy, I commented on how good the guitarist was. It’s not too clear, but once I took a good listen to Randys playing, it was clear. The man took an approach to the guitar that I had never heard before. He opened my ear to guitar and I started to pay attention to the instrument. Within a year, I bought a Kramer Flying V from a friend of mine and I’ve been playing ever since. Randy plays like no other. A good guitarist is one that no matter what he does and who can copy it, it never sounds the same when it’s duplicated. That is because you can’t duplicate someone’s feelings. That was Randy. he was six strings of pure emotion and I myself feel blessed to have heard his music. I have been playing guitar for a little over ten years now and Randys the one that kind of got the ball rolling. His music touched me in a way that I had never been touched by music before. Something in the center of my soul responded to Randys music. His music would bring tears to my eyes. it still does and it would get me thinking, what is it about this guy that makes me feel this way? Randy played with feeling, emotion and soul. He played what he felt deep inside of himself and it showed. It still does. So, after a while of listening to Randy, I learned that if you are gong to make music, find it from deep inside of yourself because that is where it comes from. That is where I go when I play the guitar. I feel that Randy still has the ability to influence people because he was genuine and pure in his playing. He didn’t try to be any other guitarist and he played because he enjoyed making music. he had his own song that he wanted to be heard. He combined technique with emotion shining through every time. There are so many memorable accomplishments of Randys. I would say that Dee is definitely on of them. He put so much across in that one song. It was the one song where we really get to hear the classical route that Randy wanted to take. But, by far the greatest accomplishment Randy had was that of his music. Passing along the gift of inspiration that he found in himself and then sharing it with the world. His legacy will forever live on. There are many songs I love by Randy. One song that brings tears to my eyes everytime that I hear it is ‘Good-bye to Romance’. It’s so beautiful. ‘Breaking up is a Heartache’ is one that I love. His solo in that song is so melodic and flowing. ‘Look in any Window’ , ‘Picking up the Pieces’, and ‘Laughing Gas’ are some of my favorites. Many thanks to Kevin, Kelly and Rudy for putting that out and releasing some music that is brand new to a lot of us. To think of how much Randy did in a short time and how much we still haven’t heard! ‘Eye for and Eye’ and ‘Inside you’ are fantastic! ‘Dee’ stands by itself. I believe that it was a glimpse of what Randy wanted to do in the future. ‘Tonight’ is a pretty one. ‘S.A. T.O.’, ‘Little Dolls’ ‘Diary of a Madman’, ‘No Bone Movies’, I could go on and on. But, one thing is clear, Randy played with emotion and feeling in everything that he did.
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Post by Cro/Kiyoshi on Apr 30, 2006 20:04:55 GMT -5
Corey Ellithorpe- (fan) I first discovered Randy when I bought Ozzy Osbourne’s Blizzard of Ozz album about five years ago. I just loved the music. His playing is so moving, powerful, heartfelt and beautiful at the same time. Between Randy and Eddie Van Halen, the two both did an uncountable amount of modern guitar. They helped to really invent proper shred and they are both credited to with being the first to do tapping on the electric guitar. Randy has that style and that sound that is just amazing. It is something that I, as a guitarist try to come close to, though it’s really tough to grasp. Some of his solos seem easy, but then you play them and get them down but it’s a tough battle. He was also properly trained unlike most guitar players. He had actual music lessons, not tab or something, and he learned the right way ever since he was a young kid. So, it’s frustrating for me not being able to play like he can. But, that is what makes Randy so great. The fact that no one can come close to him. I think that his most memorable accomplishment was leaving an imprint on music. Most other guitarists left imprints on the guitar world, but Randy left them on the music world along with Back, Beethoven and so on. His playing is so musical and powerful.
Aphazel- (Guitarist for the group Ancient) I have been listening to Randy Rhoads since the end of 1982. I remember that the first album that I started listening to was Diary of a Madman. It was a friend of mine’s brother who had it and when I listened to it I got very excited. At that time, it was very different and special from the other music that was out there. Today, I am a very big fan of Randy Rhoads. As a musician, Randy has really inspired me through his guitar solos. I really like them. The Tribute album by Ozzy Osbourne is one of my favorite albums. The songs that Randy played are just totally unique and very special. You can certainly say that he has influenced me with his guitar playing. Some of his solos are not too hard to play, though others are rather complicated. I really liked his melodies. They have very much influenced me. His greatest accomplishments, to me, is his work on Diary of a Madman and all of his great solos that he played. ‘You Can’t Kill Rock N’ Roll’ is one of my favorites. His inspiration lives on through the magazines that continue to write about him. When Ozzy Osbourne put out the Tribute album in 1987, that really gave Randy a lot of attention. Then, the video for Crazy Train. It’s the people in the music industry that support him and his memory. Most of the fans today, I believe, started listening to his music after his death. I think that is really great. He is definitely one of my favorite guitar players.
Larry Cooperman- (New Millennium Classical Guitar Publishing Co.) I have been teaching guitar for the last twenty five years. First electric guitar and then classical guitar for the past fifteen years. There have been many student who have come to me from rock and particularly been influenced by Randy Rhoads and his implicated classical training. If a rock player is to get the interest of a classical musician, he or she must embody a logic to playing that dispenses with the extraneous and get to the heart of the material and work that material out with the craft of a Stravinsky. Randy did this. Flash is immaterial to a classical musician and Randy had plenty of this but played with the logic of a seasoned musician.
Robert DiNicholas- ( fan) I lived in California in 1987 or 1988 when one of my friends told me about the Tribute album. That was when it first came out. That was also the first time I ever heard of Randy or heard him play. I was a big Van Halen fan back then and my friend kept telling me ”Randy Rhoads is the greatest guitarist ever!”. I just kept on saying, ”no way”. So, needless to say I went out and bought the album and was totally blown away! What inspires me so much about Randy is his ability to refine his own music. I’ve never really seen any other artist do that before. Especially in rock n’ roll. Listen to the Blizzard of Oz album and the listen to the concerts that he did before his death. It is incredible how the songs are transformed into something completely new. His ability to do that was just amazing because he would abandon old idea to go on to new ones. His ability as a guitar player was incredible, Extremely fascinating. He put so much emotion into his playing. I set up a Randy Rhoads web site to try and get people to listen to Randy. At first, it really didn’t seem like there were a lot of Randy Rhoads fans out there, though I soon discovered that there are many more than I thought. I started the site last year and I believe that there was only one other Randy Rhoads web page. Now, there are at least a dozen. Michael Kemock- (Fan) I was probably about four or five when I first heard Randy Rhoads. it was though some old records that were just lying around. The Blizzard of Oz record was laying around and at that time Crazy Train was being played on the radio a lot. I would listen to that song on and off. It became something that I always remember. When I was thirteen, I got really into heavy music and started listening to Black Sabbath and got really into Ozzy Osbourne. I picked up a few of his albums and out of all of them I think that the Blizzard of Oz and Diary of a madman are the two that stood out. The guitar parts on those albums was just incredible. Ozzy has had a few guitarists though they really didn’t carry out too much of a personality. Every time that I owuld listen to these two albums, it just felt as though Randy was a real part of the band.
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Post by Cro/Kiyoshi on Apr 30, 2006 20:05:31 GMT -5
I play the guitar and have been playing for about two years. Randy definitely inspired me. Randy had a mixture of classical guitar which was really new at the time. Nobody had really incorporated classical guitar into rock music. I try to use his style. I will move my guitar to my left knee which is kind of unorthodox and come up the neck all the way. His fingers were very spread out. I also try and play all of the old songs and things like that. His greatest accomplishments were bringing a more sophisticated style to rock n’ roll music. In my opinion, Randy Rhoads was a great musician. He would rank up there with any of the great musicians, not just in rock music. He brought a purity to rock music. People look back and see that Randy made so many changes to rock music and the music industry in such short time. His style was so different and people keep innovating on that. There is just so much more that he could have done. It is really attractive to people. Randy is always going to be in the back of our minds because he did so much and people are going to follow his style because it was so innovative. My favorite song is ‘Good-Bye to Romance’. I also admirer ‘Dee’ a lot because as a guitarist, I try to play it an cannot get very far with it at all. it is very difficult and quick. I would just like to say that overall with Randy, I believe that he was a true intellectual. In the music industry, that is something that you really do not see a whole lot of. You can really feel his music. he was so precise. It was as if he were playing though his mind the whole time. I was so happy that he got to record with Ozzy Osbourne. That he received that kind of exposure even though it was for a short time. People are going to be listening to him forever. That is the greatest thing. Bill Leverty- (guitarist for Firehouse) Unfortunately, I was not exposed to Randys playing until the release of Diary of a Madman. I was just blown away by it. I have never heard a guitar sound so good, clean and yet explosive. I quickly picked up the Blizzard of Oz and a Japanese import of Quiet Riot. Randys impact on the music scene was tremendous. He took rock guitar into a realm of musicianship, technique and emotion that set standards for excellence. His signature tone was also truly magnificent. Randys recording technique of multi-layering both rhythm and solo tracks for thickness has been a big influence on my recording career. His song writing and solo writing is so timeless. Randy continues to inspire people in part because his music is kept alive though the daily exposure that the classic rock radio stations give his songs. A lot of Randy Rhoads songs are played on a regular rotation. What also certainly helps is that Ozzy Osbourne continues to create really good music. This helps to enhance the interest in Randy. I feel that his most memorable accomplishment were the songs on Diary of a Madman and Blizzard of Oz. They are all masterpiece compositions. He also accomplished the respect of the music industry as a world class composer and performer.
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Post by Cro/Kiyoshi on Apr 30, 2006 20:06:07 GMT -5
Karl Compton- (Fan) I first discovered Randy about two years ago. I was getting into a lot of Black Sabbath at the time and I heard the song ‘No More tears’. Before that, I had never heard any of Ozzy’s solo stuff and it was one of those songs that doesn’t even need to grow on you. It’s just too great. Not really understanding much about Ozzy or his music, I purchased both of the albums No More Tears and Blizzard of Oz at the mall. It must have been a turning point in my life, musically and otherwise, because oddly I can remember every detail of buying them. I had my first encounter with Randy on that Blizzard of Oz album that day. Randys impact was huge. To be quite honest, as far as popular music in the early eighties, Randy was the best guitarist around. Eddie Van Halen was probably the only one close, but Randy was the best. I have had this debate for hours and hours with a dozen different people and I still stand strong to my belief. The reason is that one of Randys large effects was to up the ante so to speak of being a lead guitarist. Guitarists who were considered great a few years before were being blown out of sight and memory by Randys playing. Everyone had to strive in order to get better and catch up. To sum that part up, Randy busted on to the music scene and rocked everyone’s view of a great guitarist. The same thing happened a few years later when Yngwie Malmsteen appeared. Eddie Van Halen, still around at the time, was considered a virtuoso a few years earlier. When put next to Yngwie, no disrespect, but Eddie is like a child aimlessly plucking a rusty guitar with three strings missing. Randy just shook everyone’s belief. His name will always be associated with the early eighties as one of the very elite guitarists that was always pushing the limit. Randy influenced my musical point of view so I guess that is what I will discuss to show what a Randy-influenced person might think. I do not view music quite like the average person today so I can’t be expected to speak from their point of view. The popular music today like grunge, ska, punk and alternative have barely any basis in music. It is merely a couple of people who took a few months of lessons on their instrument, trying to catch the perfect catchy tune to make them millionaires. The musical beauty of it is almost completely lost. There might be exceptions to that rule, so I am not directing this towards them. There seems to be a movement toward music that feels honest and sincere since everyone seems to feel sorry for themselves and wants to think that others have the same problems. I can’t help but look through the candy coating of a lot of the music today. Even if the candy coating is really a dark, gloomy image because the only reason it is that way is to attract listeners. I personally don’t understand what can be more sincere that a master of an instrument expressing his vision. I guess it’s just me? Randy has influenced me probably more than any other guitarist in the world. He is the first guitarist to teach me to love my instrument. The undying desire to learn more and more and to get better. Those are the more important things. The mental aspect of it. Of course he has influenced my technique as well. Randy wrote great songs and beautiful solos and I really want to be able to play like him. Thus, I have had to go through a rigorous process ot learn them and while learning them, I have picked up countless fingering and picking techniques as well as a lot of theory. Randy has been nothing but a positive influence on my playing. Randy and Ozzy made some great songs as well as Randy with Quiet Riot. People want to hear those great songs. People listen to it for the first time and go ”Wow! Who is the guitarist on this song?”. Someone will tell them and that is where it begins. Once something grabs you and shakes you up a bit, you want to learn more about it. The good thing about Randy is that he is a great musician as well as a role model. The more that you learn about him, the more you appreciate him and the more you want to make yourself better. he inspires many, including myself, to never quit and to always try to be better in all aspects of life. Probably the most amazing accomplishment of Randys was his rise to fame in the slightly trashy pop metal wave of the eighties that was always surrounded by controversy. Randy never did anything to embarrass himself or dishonor his family in any way. He was a class act through it all and that is tough. That is something that very few people can say. My favorite songs would have to be a tie between Mr. Crowley and Diary of a Madman. I love the mood of Diary of a Madman and it just paints a picture for me and takes me there. The guitar is wonderful as well. Mr. Crowley is simply perfect. It drives and pounds when it needs to, it is sinister when it wants to be and still beautiful throughout it all. The solos are as perfect as any I have known. When you listen to those songs, you really LISTEN to those songs. At least I know that I do.
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