Inspirations : The Randy Rhoads Legacy

[Cro/Kiyoshi]

Ryan Squires- (fan)
I first discovered Randy around 1987. An English television program featured a young Scottish guitarist called Thomas McRocklin who was only seven years old! He was a buddy of Steve Vai’s and appeared in Steve’s ‘The Audience is Listening’ video. He was seven years old and was playing Crazy Train! I thought that if he can do it than so can I. I tool the time to find the song and feel in love with it and also found an amazing guy named Randy.
I think that Randy gave the music scene, guitarists in particular, a will to do something more that sixteenth downpicks. He gave them a challenge. Be hard and heavy but also be melodic.
Randys playing and music made me push my limits. If I wasn’t happy with my playing I would jam to some of Randys music and it would somehow give me a better view of what I was trying to achieve. I think that Randy continues to inspire people today because we can only guess at what he would have achieved if he had lived. It is kind of like a cliffhanger in a novel. You may have read the book and be waiting for the next installment, but you can’t help picking the book back up and reading it again, just in case you can figure out what happens.
Randys status in England is quite small because we tend to try and push our own guitarists forward. But, Randy does have a following here. If you are a guitarist, you can’t not admirer Randy Rhoads. I think that Randys most memorable accomplishment was proving that something very beautiful and delicate and also be very strong and hard hitting.
Christopher Caffery- (Guitarists for Savatage)
I first discovered Randy Rhoads as a twelve year old heavy metal fan. The first song that I heard was Crazy Train at a Ted Nugent concert in New Jersey. I knew right away after hearing the singing that it was Ozzy. I was blown away by the song and the guitar playing. I had only been playing a year at the time and I rushed out the next day to get this new record, Blizzard of Oz.
Randy Rhoads represented a very important time in music. It was the beginning of the heavy metal explosion. Ozzy’s first two solo records are two of the most classic records of that time. I don’t think that there is or ever will be a hard rock fan that hasn’t heard at least one song that Randy played. Randy brought a new type of guitar sound. Randy was the first guitarist to heavily layer his rhythms. Everyone ran out to buy distortion boxes to play the sound that came out of his hands. His song writing was so colorful and fresh. He was a total rock star and his impact will be felt for a very long time. You just watch!
By the time I was fourteen I was playing three of four nights a week in the bars of New Jersey. It was right around that time when Randy just died. I never got to see him. I could not get a ride to the Blizzard of Oz concert and then two weeks before I was to finally see him on the Diary of a Madman tour, we unfortunately lost him. I did at that time spend the developmental stages of my guitar playing listening to him and trying to play his stuff. It is funny now when I can actually play those licks, to think back to being that young and how I thought they were played. Randy was truly special. The major influence he had on me other than image and songwriting. I learned so mushc about light, shade and emotion from those two albums. You can hear just how special Ozzy and Randys relationship was just through that music. I had a long talk with Ozzy one night about it and he told me that he had never felt something that magical and he missed it always. I know how he feels. Savatage lost our Randy Rhoads, Criss Oliva four years ago. Not a day goes by that he is not missed by us. There was a similar emotion to their playing and I consider both of them to be legends and two of my biggest influences. We use to play these songs live when I had a cover band:
1) Crazy Train
2) I Don’t Know
3) Suicide Solution
4) Mr. Crowley
5) Revelation Mother Earth
6) Steal Away the Night
7) Over the Mountain
8) Flying High Again
9) Believer
10) S.A.T.O.
All of this by the time I was only fourteen or fifteen. So, I think that you can imagine how Randy influenced my initial guitar studies.
I know why fifteen years after his death he is still so influential and revered. He left us great music. Jimi Hendrix was an incredible guitarist. His songs however are what enable us to really cherish his playing forever. The same is true with Randy. There is a feeling in those two albums that will never be recreated. That is what makes something classic. As much as a great guitarist, we will remember Randys music and we will always love him for that.
I think that one of Randys most memorable accomplishment was his Jackson guitar. Not only is it still being produced all of these years later, it seems to get more popular with time. Jackson Guitars themselves would probably not be such a rock n’ roll icon without Randy. Guitarists kept this guitar alive. A guitarist designed it. That says a lot right there. I myself play a creme Les Paul and a Flying V. Believe me, there are times when I am on tour playing that Les Paul when I dig into a solo and think of some of the intensity in Randys old photos. I then dig real deep and play a few licks for him, just in case he is listening. Unfortunately, I think that many of the most memorable accomplishments were yet to come. However, every time I hear Crazy Train in a bar or on the radio I can still remember the smell of the smoke filled air at that Ted Nugent concert and the anxiousness I felt getting to the record store the next day. That is an accomplishment that every musician should dream of having. Emotional as well as musical impact on a persons life forever.
My favorite song is tough. I have to just say that those two albums are my favorite albums ever. To pick one song is very challenging. One of my favorites has to be ‘Good-Bye to Romance’. The solo was perfect. One of those ones that has to played exactly like it was or it just isn’t the song. Kind of like messing up the lyrics to ‘Stairway to Heaven’. I get a lot of that pressure from fans with old Savatage music.
We all have to thank Ozzy for making sure that the flame stays alive. I hope that somewhere, Randy and Criss Oliva meet and are happy playing music together in heaven. You are both missed and most certainly never forgotten.

[Cro/Kiyoshi]

Brett Michaels- (Guitarist for Poison)
I discovered Randy through the Blizzard of Oz album. His guitar playing blew me away. The style that he put into his sound. His greatest accomplishments are the energy and excitement he put into the art of rock n’ roll guitar playing. It was a lot like Eddie Van Halen did before him and C.C. did years after. Randys memory continues because he was an absolute original! My favorite song is ‘You Can’t Kill Rock N’ Roll’.




Peter McQuinn- (Fan)
I fell in love with Randy when I bought the Tribute album by Ozzy Osbourne in 1987. I was fifteen and had been playing for about a year. At fifteen I was the perfect candidate to be obsessed with Randy and Ozzy’s music. What a combination! Randys music speaks for itself. He was ahead of his time and innovative. I believe that it all came real easy to Randy and that he was a natural. He wrote some technically advanced stuff but never copped feeling.
Randy as a person seemed like the guy that you couldn’t help but like. Very nice and sincere. There are few in this world like him. Randys potential was huge. As tragic as his loss is, it has a lot to do with his legend. Way too young, innocent, good and talented to die. But, as the song goes, only the good die young and I think Randy was great and so maybe only the great are stolen from us.
I remember day dreaming about going back in time with all these articles and somehow getting them to Randy backstage and convincing him not to take that flight. At fifteen, that was how I felt and still feel that way today.
Every single guitar player in the rock vein, is somehow a better player because of Randy. I practiced and gave lessons. I guess I tried to emulate Randy for a while. He is certainly a role model.




Marko Maurovic- (fan)
I started listening to metal at around twelve or thirteen years of age. I came back from a trip and all of a sudden all my friends that were into pop music the year before were listening to metal. I didn’t understand it at first and to be quite honest I was afraid of it. You know, loud guitars, make-up, the whole dark persona of the music frightened me. Ultimately, I started liking it. I was listening to Motley Crue, Ratt and any band with a hard edge. The type of music that any ravenous teenager during the eighties loved.
One day I was sitting on the school bus and this girl got on with this portable stereo. She turned it on just to be cool. I recognized some of the songs and I thought, this is all right. I like music and I will listen to it. She fast forwarded it for some reason or another and then boom! Out comes that killer riff! I didn’t say anything out loud. I just sat there and listened quietly. In my head I was going ‘holy shit does that ever sound amazing!’. I was listening to ‘Crazy Train’ for the first time. The funny thing is, it was like I heard that opening riff before but I didn’t, and then the second riff just fit the song perfectly. The only other time that I was so charged by the sound of guitars was when I heard Eddie Van Halen’s ‘Eruption’ for the first time. I said to myself that this was really good guitar playing. Randys playing gave you that kind of chill down your spine that you could enjoy over and over again. It was a future guitar players answer for a reason to buy an electric.
I think that Randy had a great impact on the entire music scene. He made kids like me, learn cool tunes. He made the guitar roar and still be musical about it. it is hard to fully explain how important the guitar is for those that don’t play. It is the kick ass of all instruments. Randy just offered more options to the guitar which made it impossible to put down until you learned one of his songs, riffs or solos. Then when you were done you would do it again and again until it hurt. That is how important Randy made guitar playing and music. He offered options that were cool. I can remember my first guitar lesson. The ‘Mary had a Little Lamb’ days. Well, during one session my teacher belted out ‘Crazy Train’ and I looked at him and thought he was God!
I am somewhat of a part time guitar player. Randys impact on my playing was simple. Play clean and play fast. It was really that simple. The cleaner you play, that faster you sound. Classical pieces for the most part done on a nylon string guitar are at a medium tempo, but because they are so fluid they sound very fast. This is what Randy did. Not to say that he wasn’t fast. He was incredibly gifted with speed but very few guitar players on a live stage could ever sound so clean through a distorted guitar.
On a more personal note, when I get a chance to get up on stage for an open jam, Randy is the first player that I think of when I solo. It is funny because I could be doing a tune like ‘Roadhouse Blues’ by the Doors but as soon as the solo kicks in it’s Randy influences all the way! I say, why play basic blues when you can shock the shit out of the crowd by doing a Randy Rhoads inspired lick? It is neat at the end of the night when you get these young generation X kids coming up to you going ”Wow, your a damn good guitar player! That was amazing!”. My response is a simple ”no I’m not”.
For me, one of Randy Rhoads’ most memorable accomplishments came in the form of his ability to teach music. Randy Rhoads taught a music teacher that was supposed to teach him. Randy even paid for the lesson after! When you hear things like that, you automatically think what a great guy he was! He was a true anti-rocker. When every other musician wanted to get drunk, he wanted to continue his education in music. That says a lot to me about Randys dedication to music. Not too many people in any profession have that much dedication towards what they are doing in their life.
As a guitar player, I would have to say that my favorite song is ‘Mr. Crowley’. The soloing on that song is inspiring. But, for the sheer love of the music, ‘Crazy Train’ is my song of choice. It has everything memorable about a good song. For what it’s worth, it still goes over well in the bars as one of the best cover tunes of all time!
Long live Randy Rhoads! Your abilities will be forever missed. To this day, I still wish I could play one tenth as good as you. I guess that is why I am a Business Major and not a guitarist.


I still can feel you lean on me
As I play my bass
I look to my left and hope to find
Your happy smiling face~
My memories fade to black and white
But they’re all still crystal clear
And as a tear rolls down my face
I still wish you were here.

Rudy Sarzo- (Bass player for Quiet Riot)
I met Randy when he was with Quiet Riot in 1978, I believe. It was at a rehearsal and I was auditioning for Quiet Riot. I had seen Randy perform when they were playing at the Starwood in Los Angeles. I thought that Quiet Riot was a band with a lot of potential and that they were really on to something. At the Starwood, I was compelled to go up to Kevin DuBrow and tell him that whatever they were doing, to keep doing it. I thought that out of all the people in town, these guys had what it takes and they knew what it takes. They weren’t a fluke. They had a vision of what they were doing and definitely had the image, the playing and some aspects like the song writing because it was all very 70’s oriented.
I joined the band Quiet Riot in 1978. We played together and we actually did not release an album while I was in the band. There is an album where I am on the cover, though I am not playing on it. It was recorded before I joined the band. There was a period of six to eight months from the time that the bass parts were done to the time where I took the photo. For budget cuts or whatever, they kept the old bass tracks and put me on the cover. The release in Japan was Quiet Riot 2. From that point on, we went into the studio and cut several demo’s that were never really released on any major deal.
Randy left the band in 1979.

[Cro/Kiyoshi]

We both left around the same time actually. Randy left Quiet Riot to join Ozzy Osbourne and I went on to do other things. I then joined Ozzy in 1981, right around Easter time. I was recommended by Randy and basically just went down to meet Ozzy at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles. We all met at this place they called Trader Dicks which is the lounge area in the hotel. Randy has told Ozzy enough great things about me that Ozzy was ready to hire me on the spot. He just wanted to really make sure that I could actually play first.
Now, this was to go on tour for the Blizzard of Oz. Not only was the Blizzard of Oz album already recorded, but so was Diary of a Madman. On that first tour, we were already playing a few songs from Diary of a Madman. On that tour, I was seeing something that became very huge in development. I knew that we were doing something cool and I was a big fan of the band. As I went out on stage to perform, I felt very privileged to be a part of it all. It was a time when Randys playing really came to perfection. When Quiet Riot was playing in Los Angeles, we were more concerned about getting a record deal. The record companies would go, ”listen, you guys give us a song like this”, which was whatever the top forty song at the time, ”and you guys will get time”. We use to go into the studio and try and come up with a song just like the song that the guy wanted us to do, but by the time we had done it they were already looking at something else. They would go ”well, that song is old now so you have to do something else”. So, we were always basically chasing out tail. But, when it came time for randy to record with Ozzy, Ozzy told him to just be himself. That is when the Randy Rhoads that everyone knows came out.
What made it very special is that we caught everybody by suprise. When people see you and say ”wow, where did you guys come from?”. It was very special for me and Randy since we had never experienced that before. For Ozzy, coming from Black Sabbath and Tommy Aldridge from being with other bands, it was just the way it was supposed to be. For randy and me, it was like, wow this is really cool! We were just both going through the same experiences and we would look at each other and give each other a thumbs up sign right before we would go on. We would watch the entire audience reacting to the expectation of what we were about to do. It was definitely an honor to be a part of that band.
I remember when we went to play in Victoria, Canada. It was summer time and it was very beautiful. We had the night off and were walking around outside. This fan came up to us and recognized Randy. The fan had a guitar with him and asked Randy how to play the solo in ‘Good-bye to Romance’. Randy, being a teacher, picked up the guys guitar and started to play the solo. But, Randy had only just recorded the song and it wasn’t on the tour song list. Sometimes, you just record a song though you don’t perform it. Unless you have to perform it, it is not fresh in your mind. So, Randy wasn’t really playing it correctly and so the kid said, ”actually, I think it goes like this”. The kid took the guitar and started to show Randy how to play his own solo. Randy was like, ”that is the last time that I am going to give anybody a lesson”. It was so funny because being such a great guitar player and being put on the spot like that just really showed his humanity.
Going shopping with Randy in the stores was so hilarious. He was very thin and wore like a size one! A female size looked big on him! He would walk out of the dressing room saying that the pants were too baggy on him. We would all just be laughing at him!
Randy Rhoads had a way of making people feel as if they were his best friend. I have heard so many people say that and I even thought that I was his best friend. Maybe it was because I spent a lot of time with him on the road. He did have his other, very private life though. When we would come home to Los Angeles, all that he basically wanted to do was stay at home, play with his model trains, eat Chinese food and spend time with his girlfriend. That is what he enjoyed. To Randy, privacy was very precious and I understood this. He needed time to prepare before we went back out on tour. He needed those private moments to compose and possibly even grow as a musician. To practice his guitar which was his devotion. His passion.
The last time that I saw Randy was when I was sleeping in my bunk and he was heading out the door of the tour bus. He said to me, ”hey Rudy, do you want to go up in this plane?”. We were aware of the bus driver and the fact that he was a pilot also. We also knew that at the bus depot where the buses got serviced in Florida, there was a landing strip. It belonged to the owner of the bus company. The bis driver had talked to us many times about when we got to Florida that he would take us up for an airplane ride.
We had a very long drive from Knoxville, Tennessee to the middle of Florida. It was a non-stop drive for the bus driver. After the show we got on the bus and drove straight there. I would say that it was about seven or eight o’clock in the morning when Randy came to my bunk and asked me if I wanted to go up in the plane. I stuck my head out of the bunk and said, ”no, I want to wait until we get to Orlando to get out of this bunk”. I just didn’t want to get out. I stuck my head back in the bunk and went back to sleep. The next thing I know, is I hear this huge ”boom!”. I woke up out of a dead sleep to this. I jumped up and out of my bunk. Ozzy and Sharon were asleep in the back lounge of the bus. They came rushing out and Tommy Aldridge and I started to walk out of the bus. There was glass all over the bus and we looked outside. We see out Tour Manager on his knees, crying and pulling his hair out saying ”they’re gone, they’re gone”. I am just going ”what is happening?”. I had no idea what was going on. I stepped out of the bus and I saw the garage of the house that the bus was parked next to on fire. Tommy and Don Airys started looking for a fire extinguisher. Meanwhile, I am still uncertain what was going on. I am just thinking that there was a fire. The Tour Manager was in such shock that he couldn’t make any sense of what was going on. Finally, when I get all the information that they were on the plane and they crashed, my emotions overtook me. This place was in the middle of nowhere and there was absolutely no noise. No traffic noise or anything! Only nature and your own hysteria. There was this low frequency that just filled my ears. It was just total despair. I just couldn’t believe it. I was numb and in shock. I was hoping that a miracle might have happened such as Randy might have jumped from the plane and was in a tree somewhere. It took a long time for me to get myself out of that denial faze. It took a couple of hours for the Fire Department to show up because in those days we didn’t have cell phones or anything like that. The person who owned the house that was on fire was hearing impaired so Tommy Aldridge ran into the house to tell the guy to get out because the house was on fire. That is where they made the necessary calls to the authorities. From the time it happened, it must have been four or five agonizing hours of being on that location and not being able to do anything.
By the time we got to the hotel, there was a church near by that was within walking distance. We all went there, including Ozzy. Things were never the same after that. I have had kids come up to me and say, ”hey, Randy was partying, huh?”, and I just tell them that it wasn’t anything like that at all. It was an innocent ride in an airplane that went terribly wrong. Infact, apparently the first ride on the plane was taken by Don Airys and Jake Duncan who was out Tour Manager. They went up in the plane. After that ride, the pilot said that he was going to take Rachel, who was the lady hired to take care of us while on tour. Rachel would take great care of us in the bus and always cook for us. She would take care of our stage clothes. Just an incredible individual. The pilot offered Rachel a ride and Rachel said that she had never done that before. Rachel was an older woman and she had a heart condition. The pilot made a point of telling Jake Duncan that he was just going to take her up and not do any stunts. When Don and Jake went up on the first flight, they were doing some small stunts. Apparently, when Randy heard that it was going to be an innocent flight, he said that he would go up in the plane in order to take some pictures. Randy loved to take pictures. Randy was also pretty afraid of flying. His first flight ever was when he joined Ozzy and went over to England. Randy went up in this plane since it was going to be a safe, simple flight up in the air and then back down again. Unfortunately, that is not what happened.
The plane actually hit the bus first. The wing clipped the bus that was parked in front of the house that it eventually crashed into. I remember standing next to the point of impact on the bus. It was about where my nose was. I would have to say that if it had hit a few inches lower, it would have crashed into the bus instead of just clipping it. But, it clipped into the bus, a tree and then into the garage of this house. They had a couple of cars that were parked inside the garage and so it exploded on impact.
For a long time after that, I had dreamt of Randy. There comes a time though, when you have to let go because you are basically keeping the spirit from going to the next step. That is why ghosts exist because people hang on to those spirits themselves and they deny the fact that they have gone on.
Randy really showed me what it was like to be a great takent as well as a great human being. A lot of people in the industry are very talented but they can be real jerks. Randy was never like that. As big as he was a talent, I never saw him be a jerk to anybody. As far as his passing, I needed to have a closure. For his spiritual sake and for my own. There is no end to Randy as far as his relationship with me. He is always someone that makes me feel like he was my best friend. Feelings like that never really end. In my memory, every time I go out on stage, he is there with me.

[Cro/Kiyoshi]

John L. Kokel- (Fan)
I think that it was in my teenage years. I just remember thinking how good the blend of lead and rhythm was on ‘Crazy Train’ that was on the radio and from there I just dove into Ozzy’s first two albums and immediately after that whatever Randy Rhoads recordings with Quiet Riot I could find. I suppose I was a Randy Rhoads fan before I was an Ozzy Osbourne fan, really.
I don’t think that Randy and as much of a big impact on the music scene as he should have had. But, to people like us and true-blooded musicians, I think he really hit a nerve especially in his passing. A great many people recognized what he was trying to do. To try and actually be the living essence of a musician. To embody every ability and characteristic of the perfect musician. When a great many musicians actually come successful, they just sort of sit back and figure that there is nothing more to learn since they are already successful. Too many popular guitarists get featured on the covers of guitar magazines when they have only taken the time to learn three chords and one scale and maybe a basic major scale. I admire Marty Friedman because I remember reading something of his where he admitted to going into Megadeth as lead, lead, lead, but over time fine tuning his rhythm playing my working with Dave Mustaine. Any musicians like Randy Rhoads who keeps striving to be great, even after success is to be admired.
I don’t think that I would have picked up a guitar if it had not been for Randy and everything he said without really saying anything at all. I have known a lot of guys who just get the tabs for pop songs, learn the two of three chords to play the required rhythm part and then call it quits. I ask why they never attempt anything with hammers, pull-off’s, tapping or just trilling away with three fingers? I get an answer like, ”No way man. That stuff is just out there so you can be a cocky show off”. Well, I am sorry but that is just an excuse to be lazy and never push yourself as a musician. I admit, I am no Randy Rhoads, then again who is? But, I still try my absolute hardest to learn and improve especially since I have immense trouble reading sheet music. I mostly just sit down and figure out how everything is done by ear. Once I know how a guitarist does things, I take similar styles and techniques and work with them into my own sound. Randy, however is a hard one. If you incorporate Yngwie Malmsteen into your playing, it’s noticeable. Same with George Lynch. But Randy is definitely different. In spite of his flawless execution, he played 10% with his hands and 90% with his heart. That is not something that one can imitate. That is something that you have to do for yourself.
I think for a lot of people, Randy was a symbol more than anything else and I actually don’t see any problem with that. Why is Abraham Lincoln remembered 130 or so years after his death? he was a symbol. One of honesty, integrity, and a compassion for the treatment of other men. Sometimes, being remembered as a symbol is bad. I actually remember Kurt Cobain when he was alive. It seems like no one else does since he was just another budding alternative musician at the time. But, when he killed himself he became a national icon of depression, rebellion, going against the grain and ultimately hatred of ones self. I know that he didn’t intend this message, yet kids of generation X ate it up like Halloween candy. Well, Randy was also a symbol in his passing but a very positive one. Like I mentioned before, he was a true epitome of what every true musician tries to be and he never stopped trying to be that much better. The part of the symbol with the most impact is that he had so much potential energy that he was just starting to let out to let the world see. Just before he really started moving towards his full potential, the whole possibility came to an end on that day in March of 1982. I think that someday that symbol will inspire another individual to pursue Randys progress and eventually surpass it. I think that there has only been one man since Randy who really loved the music in a similar way and that was Stevie Ray Vaughan. Of course, his story had a similar ending.
I admire the fact that Randy picked up the guitar when he was like six or seven years old and just obsessed with it until his last day on earth. I can guarantee from what I know of Randy, that day he died he probably practiced at least once that morning. I just have a feeling. The one thing that everyone seems to remember is the fact that he couldn’t stop in a town or a city without seeking a professional classical guitar player for some good inside tips. Considering that he only applied classical style to a couple of pieces on record, this just goes to prove that he was doing all this purity out of his undying obsession with the guitar.
As a whole, my favorite song that Randy played on would have to be ‘Diary of a Madman’. Although there isn’t much on that number that was outstandingly Randy, the song as a whole is a true masterpiece between Randy’s flawless work and Ozzy Osbourne’s remarkably creative lyrics and execution, and the entire mosaic of Rudy Sarzo and Tommy Aldridge with the strings and choir. Truly a classic. But, as far as a piece to get the whole picture of what Randy was, I would have to say that ‘Mr. Crowley’, preferably the live cut since that 90% emotional part was much more evident on stage. His solo’s, fills, and improvisation are just something to be heard. His solo from the Tribute edition of ‘Suicide Solution’ is fast but it just doesn’t have the raw emotion of his work on Mr. Crowley.

Gary Hoey- (Guitarist)
I discovered Randy through Ozzy, I was a huge Black Sabbath fan so when Ozzy went solo I was waiting to hear what he would do. When he came out with Randy I was just blown away. I think that Randy Rhoads was he epitome of the guitar hero. His song writing was setting a new standard for rock guitar. I think his untimely death had a big impact in the entire music scene.
The way that Randy combined rock, blues, classical and metal into a unique sound was inspiring. Hi playing was so proficient that he made me want to go practice. His guitar sound was huge! He changed his sound from song to song. These things are what influenced me the most.
His music was so powerful and emotional. He put so much of himself into what he did and his fans can always enjoy that. Music is a powerful language that speaks to any culture, and good music is timeless. I think Randy’s greatest accomplishments are all of the great albums that he recorded and left for us to enjoy. Also, the spirit of his personality and humbleness.
My favorite song is ‘Good-bye to Romance’. I think it was the first song that he wrote with Ozzy Osbourne.


Weren’t we quite a pair~
You and I back then
You came to me with questions…
And came to me a friend
And you showed me everything
A guitarist is supposed to be
Now spread your wings
My special friend….
Forever you’ll fly free

[Cro/Kiyoshi]

Tommy Aldridge- (Former drummer for Ozzy Osbourne)
I was living in England and working with Gary Moore. I was rehearsing with Gary when I met Randy. Randy and Ozzy came down to the rehearsal in order to meet Gary. While there, Randy picked up a guitar and started jamming with us for about an hour because Randy was a big Gary Moore fan. I don’t know how big, but big enough to come down to the rehearsal to meet Gary. This all took place in London. I did the tour with Gary and a couple of albums. It was right after I left Pat Travelors and I wanted to hang out over there for a while and have the opportunity to play with some English musicians. I was over there for about a year and a half.
My first impression of Randy was how small he was. I hadn’t even heard him play yet and so that was my first impression of him. He was just such a small guy. Then, he picked up the guitar which was a Les Paul and what he was playing at the time, and it looked like a precession bass. He just started jamming with it and it was absolutely amazing!
I had known Ozzy from when he was with Black Sabbath. At that time, I was with a band called Black Oak Arkansas which was a southern band. We went to support Black Sabbath on one of their tours. The first time that toured outside of the United States was to tour in Europe and Scotland in order to support Black Sabbath. That is how and when I met Ozzy Osbourne.
I worked with Gary for a while and then Ozzy and Sharon approached me. Sharon, who was Ozzy’s girlfriend at the time, became his manager and later his wife. Her name was Sharon Arden at the time and her father owned Jett Records which was the label that Ozzy was signed to. They contacted me and I decided to join. We auditioned Rudy Sarzo along with some other bass players. We chose Rudy and went off to do the Blizzard of Oz and then the tour
I think that the Blizzard of Oz was a real coming out for Randy. Playing with Randy was a very memorable experience for me. I have been very blessed to have worked with many notable guitarists over the years. Randy Rhoads showed me everything that a guitarist is supposed to be. He is the one that all of the others are judged by as far as my taste in a guitarist. He was just so original and he was also a real technician. Those two things are almost mutually exclusive in a guitarist. I mean, you get some guy that can play really technical, but they really have nothing to say. It’s like someone who has a great vocabulary but they don’t express any passion with anything that they try to convey to people. They know every word in the dictionary but they don’t have anything of importance to say.
Randy was so able to play with such passion. Apart from everything else, Randy had many special qualities that had absolutely nothing to do with guitar playing or being a musician. He was a wonderful human being and those qualities carried over into his music. Just his personality. He looked very much like he sounded. Very dynamic on stage. He definitely brought the best out of me. I think that the best playing that I have ever done was while I was working with Randy Rhoads. Your really only as good as the people you are working with. It’s probably how Mitch Mitchel felt while working with Jimi Hendrix, or how John Bonam must have felt while working with Jimmy Page.
Randy was a real sweetheart of a guy. He was very humble. He had a respect for me because I had established myself in the business before he could. He was not in ‘ah’ of me, but a bit of a fan only because I was a couple of years older than he was and had been in the business for a while. He had heard about me and knew that I had worked with Gary and some other guitarists that he looked up to. Whenever Randy and I first got to playing, I would look at him and say, ”Wow! That was absolutely amazing!”. He would almost blush after I would say things like that because he just couldn’t believe that someone was complementing him. That is just the kind of person that he was. He was so easy to get along with. I never heard him raise his voice to anyone. Ever. He was just a very sweet man. it was a big loss for everyone when he died.
Looking back on that tragic day, I remember that we had been traveling, of course like we did every night. We were coming through the south on our way to Florida and were going to stop at our coach company which was in Kassenie or someplace like that. The bus driver, who was also a pilot, lived there because out bus company was based there. He said to us several times, ‘well, when we stop there I will take you guys up for a little joy ride’. I was not interested at all because I travel for a living and the last thing that I want to do on my spare time is get on an airplane. I was just not interested at all. Plus, this guy had been traveling all night and had no business flying an airplane.
We arrived there early in the morning and I was still in bed, half asleep and I could hear the plane flying around. Don Airy had gone up. When they landed, I could hear someone saying, ”Randy, you should go!”. So, Randy and Rachel, who was our wardrobe lady decided to go. Rachel was Sharon’s fathers’ maid. She was a black lady in her mid fifties with a heart condition.
The last time that I saw Randy was when he walked down the isle of the bus and flung open the curtains to my bunk. He grabbed me to wake me up and said, ”Tommy, come on! Let’s go for a ride!”. I said, ”Randy, I don’t want to go up in that silly airplane right now and I tell you, nobody has any business up there. The guy has been driving all night and has no business being up there flying around!”. He said to me, ”oh, come on”. Again, I said no. So, Randy and Rachel went up. It was about 8:00a.m. at that point and I could hear them flying around. I had just gotten up, poured some milk into my tea and was stirring it when all of a sudden there was this huge smash and then the roof of the bus off! Right above where I was standing! I could immediately smell fiber glass and all of these weird smells. I was still half asleep. The bus drivers girlfriend was at the door of the bus and began screaming. I went running outside the door of the bus yelling at everyone and asking , ”what happened?”. All that I could hear was, ”they hit the bus!”.
I couldn’t see the airplane. The bus was parked in front of this home which was very strange because this home and the runway was out in the middle of nowhere. There was the landing strip and then this home which had a circular drive way in the front of it. Then, there was nothing but woods around. The bus was parked in front of the home and the tip of the wing hit the bus and then the plane dove down into this garage section of the house.
After leaving the bus and hearing what everyone was saying had happened, I turned around and realized at that point that the plane had indeed hit the bus, though I was still trying to find the plane. I couldn’t find it! all of a sudden, I see all of this black smoke coming off of the roof and I am thinking, ”oh my god, they hit the roof of the house!”. I went running around and the garage door was open. I realized at that point that the plane was in the garage. I could almost see it. I started to go into the garage and at that point it just exploded. It blew me completely backwards and it singed the hair on my eye lashes. It was a huge explosion. I jumped up and realized that now, the entire house was on fire, so I ran around the house to see if anyone was inside. I went up to the front door and turned the knob. It was not locked and so I just walked inside. There was this old man sitting there and I startled him really good. He was deaf and I didn’t know that at the time. He had no idea what was going on and here I was, this strange man in his house with black stuff all over my hair and face. I was yelling at him and I can only imagine what was going though this guys head. He finally came outside of the house which soon burned literally to the ground. The Fire Department finally came out there though there was no fire hydrant anywhere and so the house just burned with the plane in the garage.

[Cro/Kiyoshi]

Everyone was so frantic. Angry at each other and very chaotic. It was just terrible. In a flash, Randy was in the bus saying, ”come on Tommy, come on!” and then he was gone. Never to be seen again. We were all severely affected by it though Rudy even more so since he had worked with randy so closely and he really knew Randy longer than any of us. It was through Randy that Rudy became involved in the band. It just really emotionally affected Rudy.
I remember when Randy came up to me and was just enchanted with the classical guitar. He wanted to get out of the rock n’ roll business and go back to school in order to take courses in classical music. Randy would try and take guitar lessons in every city that we stopped in. He would always try and find a classical guitar teacher in town and take a lesson from them. Nine times out of ten he would wind up giving them the lesson since he was so much more qualified that most of the teachers were. Teaching is what he was doing initially. He taught guitar at his mothers music school.
Randy had decided that he just did not want to do what he was doing anymore in rock n’ roll. He was very disenchanted with everything and confided in me a number of times about his dissatisfaction with the rock n’ roll business and how he wanted to get back to the purism of the guitar. That is what he had inspired to do. He wanted to go back and finalize his schooling and become a classical guitarist. He only did two records with Ozzy Osbourne and you can only imagine the impact that he had with Quiet Riot in Japan when he never even set foot there! He would have been amazing!
Subsequent to Randy’s death, I tried to stay around and help Ozzy out with trying to find another guitarist to finish the tour with. It was very tough for Ozzy because Randy Rhoads and Bob Daisley put all of that material together. Randy had such a huge impact on Ozzy’s career up until maybe his last two or three albums. That is amazing and it completely astounds me! Randy made such an impact with just those two records that he did with Ozzy.
We brought in an Irish guitarist by the name of Bernie Torme. I didn’t know anything about him but we were stuck between a rock and a hard spot because we had dates that had to be done. That is the reason that I stayed. I tried to help Sharon and Ozzy. I really felt sorry for Ozzy because he was just so lost. I felt a real loyalty and responsibility to Sharon and Ozzy to try and help them get it together. To find someone who could at least give Ozzy a chance to finish that tour and fulfill his commitments. Ozzy ultimately found a great guitarist in Zakk Wylde, but he never found what he had in Randy ever again. That only comes once in a lifetime. That package where you have a guy who is an amazing guitarist, an innovator and who is also a creator and terrific song writer. A composer. Randy was a composer. Randy had all of that information. That is why he is still so revered and his name is still going. What he did was really timeless. Just listen to those records. His choice of notes and how he chose to play. Those riffs in the music, those were his riffs! I just felt so fortunate to be involved with someone like Randy. He was the instinctive and motivation for me to get together with Ozzy. It was to work with Randy Rhoads. I was not a Black Sabbath fan. Those guys use to scare me to death! I would see them come out and perform and I would just think to myself, ‘oh man, I had better go to church after this!’. I was just not a huge Black Sabbath fan. I went with Ozzy Osbourne because of Randy Rhoads. Because of Randy’s involvement. He was just simply amazing!

[Cro/Kiyoshi]

Erika Gabert- (Fan)
I discovered Randy Rhoads around 1992. That is actually when I first remember hearing his name. I didn’t start to listen to his music or learn about him until around 1994 pr 1995. I feel that Randy’s impact on the music scene is immense, whether people realize it or not. He showed people how to incorporate classical music into heavy metal and he demonstrated how the guitar was truly supposed to be played. His attitude toward most things was calm, patient and dedicated. He was very remarkable.
Randy’s influence on people will always be felt. It will never go away because Randy died so young. I find that people seem to admire and respect him all the more because of that. Even though it has been over fifteen years since his death, people will never forget him or his music. He will always live on. Randy made so many accomplishments during his short life. It is just amazing! His most memorable has to be his obvious and incredible talents on the guitar, his love of classical music and being able to merge that classical music with heavy metal. I once heard that classical music is like the ABC’s of music. If this is true, Randy certainly realized it.
I think that my favorite song is ‘Mr. Crowley’. There is something about that song. It never gets old and never gets tiring. It shows off Randy as well as Ozzy’s talents very accurately.

Matt French-
(Musician/Guitarist/Songwriter for the group 'French'.)

It must have been around 1985. I use to listen to a lot of different kinds of music at the time though I pretty much grew up around heavy metal type music because of my dad. My sister also listened to Ozzy Osbourne. My childhood seems to have a lot of memories of Ozzy’s music and Kiss concerts! After hearing Randy play, I was very impressed. He seemed to bring back style to rock n’ roll. After the disco era, it was like a breath of fresh air. I started playing music when I was about twelve years old. I started on a $75.00 acoustic and worked up to the Flying V that I own today.
I think that Randy’s greatest gift was that he inspired so many people. That is a pretty good accomplishment. To be thought of as one of the greatest more than fifteen year after your death is really something. My favorite Randy Rhoads song is ‘Diary of a Madman’. It has such a different sound to it. Not like anything else. He uses about every type of music that he ever got really good at playing. He combined so much in that one song and he also brings a lot of classical guitar into it as well.



Robert Forster- (Fan)
I am not exactly sure when I first heard Randy, but I remember about eleven years ago, maybe even longer than that, I was over at a friends party and I heard this awesome music in the back ground. The song was ‘Iron Man’ done by Ozzy Osbourne and Randy Rhoads on the Randy Rhoads/Ozzy Osbourne Tribute album. I truly enjoyed the music! The guitar was excellent. It is very difficult to put the emotion that I felt into words. I was just tapping away with my foot and mentally singing along and fighting the urge to play the air guitar!
I feel that Randy was and still is the best! I think that he lead the music or steered the music to what is known today as alternative. All of this with his mixed styles of guitar. From what I understand, is he was experimenting with mixing music like classical and rock to form a new style. He was also very young at the time he was playing with Ozzy, so he had the ambition and drive to become even better, if that was possible, and even brought the new age or what is known as alternative music to us listeners sooner. I also feel that he paved the road for modern musicians of today and showed that you can make it if you desire it.
I think that Randy Rhoads was my hero. He was an idol to me when I was playing guitar. I can no longer play or haven’t played in many, many years do to carpal tunnel syndrome. He was a dream of mine though. To play like Randy and to be like Randy was a dream that I once had. For instance, every child wants to be Superman with his great powers. Well, I wanted to be like Randy Rhoads and his great solos! I knew that if I wanted to be famous in the music world, I had to be as good or better player than Randy.
No one, in my mind, can put so much emotion into the music like Randy. Not Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai, Ace Frehley. No one. None of them, to me, can effect me emotionally as Randy could. I did think that Ozzy Osbourne deserved to have such a talented person as Randy Rhoads in his band. I think that Randy put Ozzy on the charts. Every time you see or hear Ozzy Osbourne, you think of Randy Rhoads. I just wish that I could have seen Randy in concert, close up. I only got to see him from the nose bleed section!
Randy’s most memorable accomplishment was the blending of several styles of music to create a new form or style of music and letting the world hear it. I enjoyed the music that he created and composed. I like all of Randy’s songs though the three that come to mind as being favorites are ‘Crazy Train’, ‘Believer’, and ‘Mr. Crowley’.

Marc Ferrari- (musician)
I discovered Randy around 1980 when the Blizzard of Ozz release came out. Everyone was raving about this hot, new player. I think that Randy really brought a breathe of fresh air to the metal scene and his classical influences infused a welcomed change. Although I admired his talent tremendously, I never tried to copy his licks. I was always trying to find my own niche. He did inspire me however to better my overall playing. I saw him play live in 1981 and I will always have that memory of him playing his heart out. he looked so cool on stage. I think that Randy Rhoads is among the most influential players of his generation. His most memorable accomplishments would have to be influencing an entire generation of players by bringing heavy metal with classical elements and helping to revive the career of Ozzy Osbourne in the process. My favorite song is ‘Dee’.






Michael Czapkay Sudduth- (Fan)
I first heard of Randy in 1982 around the time that he died. So, I never saw Randy in concert except on video. A friend of mine gave me a tape of ‘Crazy Train’. He said, ”check this out!”. I had been a Black Sabbath fan for a few years, but when I heard the Blizzard of Ozz, I ended up more impressed with the guitarist than I was with Ozzy. I asked my friend, ”who is this guy playing guitar?”. he told me that it was Randy Rhoads. That was where it all started.
Randy was no mere flash guitarist, though some have than impression. He could play fast and clean, but his phrasing was brilliant and his style unique. I am thinking of his scales and his use of filler leads in particular. He could squeeze a scale in just about anywhere and the song would never loose it’s flow.
Like other great guitarists, he spoke through his instrument. More importantly, he seemed to speak a language quite different from the typical rock guitarist. I attribute this in large part to his classical background. Anyone acquainted with the classical genre can tell that Randy was classically trained. The classical background is apparent in even the most intense of his rock guitar solos, and it underlies the structure of much of his phrasing. Rock music has traditionally been grounded in blues. One of Randy’s important contributions to rock and heavy metal is the integration of classical scales into a music genre that was largely indebted to the blues tradition. The result was musically profound and technically sophisticated, but it was aesthetically simple and moving. If you listen to Randy, you experience emotion and intellect. That’s the sort of completeness of soul that he communicated through his instrument. Randy brought class to rock guitar.
I was a rock guitarist with a love for classical music, but I hadn’t quite figured out how to put the two together, much less did I have the guts to try. Randy was a revelation and became a great inspiration. There is was, everything that I was looking for. It was possible and brilliant. Randy also taught me how to use the entire fretboard, to see scales in their completeness. He also helped me with my phrasing and throwing in licks as fillers while keeping rhythm. I ended up incorporating a lot of triple note scales in my playing as a result of Randy’s influence.

[Cro/Kiyoshi]

Rick Monroe- (Musician)
I was living in Florida when I first heard ‘Crazy Train’. I was a little stoner kid and a friend of mine goes, ”check this out!”. I heard the opening riff and I had never heard anything like that before. I was just amazed. Musically at the time, it was a big turn around from what I was into. Before then, I was really into Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd and maybe some Kiss. Randy had just a whole different sound. After that, I just started listening to his music.
What keeps inspiring people is his indulgent persistence to technique, and his ability to just let loose. He was so well trained and yet so loose! He was so crazy on the guitar! He was able to do both where a lot of people who are well schooled can’t let loose and the people who are really loose are not really well schooled.
‘Crazy Train’ must be my favorite song. That is the riff of all times! Randy and Stevie Ray Vaughn. Those guys guy just basically bled notes. You know, some people play and some people bleed. It seems as though the ones that bleed somehow get taken away.



Roberto Vitoriano- (Fan)
I discovered Randy when I was a young boy at the beginning of the eighties. Some of my friends, fans of Ozzy, gave me some tapes with some live recordings. I soon took notice that the person playing on those tapes was a perfect genius. I will never forget about the day that I received those tapes. I still have them after sixteen years!
I think that Randy played with his intelligence and own capacity. He created an impact that sensitive people noticed very quickly. The impact of his music brings out emotions in people. Randy played the music perfectly. Randy continues to inspire people and he will do that forever. He was so unique in his style of playing. He didn’t just use the guitar as an instrument, but as a way of expressing his personality and soul. The guitar spoke the words that he wanted to say. Some artists show their emotions through paintings or writing. Randy showed his through the guitar.
I live in Brazil. We have very strong rock influences here. We have rock musicians for the international scenery. Randy is very well known here because he was playing at a time when hard rock and heavy metal seemed to come into this country. It was the beginning of the eighties. Radny left influences here as Jimi Hendrix left for the people who listened to rock in the seventies.
Mark Wood- (Electric Violinist and Composer)
I first heard of Randy when most everybody did. It was when Ozzy Osbourne picked him up as a guitar player. Everyone was waiting to see who Ozzy would pick as the ‘guitar hero’, and obviously he picked the right guy.
I play violin and have played at the last two Randy Rhoads Benefit Concerts. I play a six string fregit electric violin and I play sort of a heavy metal version of violin playing. I found that when I did the Randy Rhoads Benefit Concert, the crowd went crazy when they saw be playing the guitar transcriptions of ‘Mr. Crowley’ on the violin! To me, it was a big thrill to be able to play his solos which I felt always addressed classical music. It just all really fit in well with the violin. Randy had a great classical sense to his playing and his inprovagations. I totally fell in love with his music when I first heard it. For years after, I would learn his solos on violin, not on guitar. So, his influence to me was different than other guitar players.
Rudy Sarzo was nice enough to invite me to the first and second Randy Rhoads Benefit Concert and it was always such a treat to play in front of these kids who would see me walk up on stage with my weird violin and rip into a Randy Rhoads solo! It was definitely one of my biggest thrills, to be able to share that with all of those kids. To be able to show them how musical Randy was. It really just wasn’t just all about his guitar playing. It was a lot about his notes and his note selection which was pathacable to music more than just to a specific instrument such as a guitar. It was really, really cool. In fact, on my new record, I am probably going to do a version of ‘Mr. Crowley’ and duplicate Randy’s solo perfectly. Playing it on a violin and showing how pathacable it is to this particular instrument and also how versatile his music was. I have just been a huge, huge fan of his. It was also an honor at the concert to meet his mother and his family. It was an honor to be able to stand out from all of the other guitar players who were standing on stage doing exactly what Randy did. It was nice and wonderful to hear and share that, but I also feel that it was an added thrill to me, to be able to bring something different to the party.
It is hard to say why Randy continues to inspire people so many years after his death. The music industry in the Untied States is so different than it was back then. Unfortunately, the people who really have beautiful technique and practice their instruments and have flawless control over their instrument are not standing. It may change, I hope. Mostly in Europe and Japan, Randy’s draw there is very, very influential. I think that just for me in general, just to get his classical influence with rock and bring out this beautifully clean technique and clear musical ideas of that kind of music. Unfortunately, he never really developed the way he wanted to because of his early death. Who knows what he was going to pursue. It would have been incredible. After the Ozzy Osbourne thing, his catalog of work is very short. That is very unfortunate. I am not familiar with his Quiet Riot work but I do know that his Ozzy work was his best at that time.
‘Mr. Crowley’ is my favorite song to perform. The live record of Randy that Ozzy put out is without a doubt the finest playing of Randy’s. It is the Tribute album. I build my own violins and I can remember being in my wood shop and listening to a live broadcast of Randy. It was so astonishing to hear him play like that. The recorded versions seemed farley stiff but then when you heard him play them live, it was like a fireball!
Randy is without question the only guitar player that has ever captivated Ozzy’s career. Since Randy’s death, Ozzy’s music is still great and Zakk Wylde was great, but nothing really got back to that intensity and power of writing and playing that Randy brought to the table. Everyone was just sort of imitating what Randy was doing. It was very difficult for anyone to fill his shoes. We will always resort to listening back to the Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman to hear that kind of playing. At the time, he was in competition with Eddie Van Halen which was really difficult for Randy because he didn’t want that and he wanted to get out of that. I can remember reading articles where he would talk about trying to escape that kind of imitative whammy bar kind of hot dog playing. He was so far beyond that but he had to do some of that because the music demanded it at the itme. I can only imagine what kind of work he would be doing now if he would have lived.
Randy, as a person wasn’t like some guitarists in the public eye who are heavy drinkers, partiers or duggies who destroy hotel rooms. Randy was never looked upon like that. He always had a tremendous amount of self respect and carried a gentle and shy nature about him. I remember reading about when they would tour, in each city that they stopped in he would go and seek out a classical guitar teacher in order to take a few lessons and keep his chops up. For me, I think that’s the epitome of a great mentor to kids, other than someone who trashes hotel rooms. I don’t know if that is something that is really pushed as part of his legacy, though that is something that I will always respect and remember about Randy.

Johnny Coughlin- (Fan)

[Cro/Kiyoshi]

I was listening to the radio one day when I heard them say, ”this is WCCC 106.9 radio in Hartford, Connecticut and we have some terrible news to announce. 1981’s Guitar Player of the Year and my personal favorite guitar player, Randy Rhoads, lead guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne was killed a few hours ago in a plane crash somewhere in Florida”. He said it with such emotion that everybody in the room at the time became quiet. After that, Randy Rhoads memorabilia became a part of my life. The more listened Randy, the more I wanted to be able to play the guitar. I started taking lessons from the Guitar Academy. I learned to really listen to a song’s content. Not just the words or the beat of a drum. You listen to the background and the little fills that Randy became famous for. I definitely think that I started playing guitar to be a Randy Rhoads but that happens to very few people.
Randy always did and always will be affiliated with being a rock n’ roll god. He was everything that a guitar player could be. he had the right attitude, good looks and a bright, warm personality. He was very innovative and played almost impossible fills that are not heard at all anymore. That style of guitar playing has disappeared. Everybody likes to throw on an old album and listen to the classic heavy metal music. When you think of Randy Rhoads, you are thinking of the best! Randy will always be remembered by youths because he was like the Jimi Hendrix of the eighties. He brought us a new blistering solo pattern to try and copy and imitate at home or for our friends. He will always be in my memory. Randy will also always be remembered for being the elite. His infamous guitar, his long blonde hair, his ability to take the guitar where it had never gone before, and of course being with Ozzy Osbourne. That is what really put Randy on the market. God bless Ozzy for keeping his memory alive and standing by his side, never forgetting him even after all of these years.
I really like the entire B-side of Diary of a Madman. I like both albums very much though I like the runs and all the guitar solo’s that fade out on that side of the record. it makes you think of how good this kid really was when he starts to jam and put all that guitar work at the end of a song. Even Max Norman, the producer said, ”the kid played on and on at the end of those songs on that record”. It makes you want to get the tapes from Ozzy’s vault and just listen to the guitar work that Randy threw away. It was probably incredible, but if it wasn’t perfect, randy would not have put it on the record. He was a real perfectionist!

Eric Johns- (Musician)
I first got into Rhoads and his whole style of playing when I was about eleven or twelve years old. My mom was a studio musician who did mostly country and eighties style country rock, singing in Nashville during the whole urban cowboy era. So, there was always tons of different kinds of music in our house. Mostly, I can remember listening to a lot of Fleetwood Mac and Boston. Bands like that. Anyway, around that time I met some kids at my school who were older than me and were into Ozzy and Black Sabbath. One day, I was over at somebody’s house and they put on a copy of Blizzard of Ozz. I was totally blown away! I had never really heard anyone combine classical modes and structures into really heavy metal music. I remember saving my allowance for weeks to be able to get Diary of a Madman and my own copy of the Blizzard of Ozz. After listening to Diary of a Madman once, I was hooked!
Randy’s impact on the whole music scene of the eighties and early nineties is undeniable! He solo style has been copied by more people than anyone else, except maybe Eddie Van Halen. The whole gothic metal wave of bands was pretty much entirely inspired by his style. I know that when I was sixteen and in my first real band, we would have killed to be able to write something as scary as ‘Diary of a Madman’, or ‘S.A.T.O.’. We never even got close. That was part of the genius of what he did that separated him from his imitators. He never sounded contrived or cliché. He never became a parody of himself. His music will always be noble.
Randy inspired me at the beginning of my attempts to become a musician. His music opened me up to exploring different types of music that I would not have normally been exposed to. Through wanting to find basis for his classical influences, I discovered Bach, Paganini, Chopin and more. In fact, if I hadn’t discovered the whole gothic metal thing when I did, I don’t know if I would still be singing today. At the very least, I can say that I definitely would be singing something vastly different from what I do now.
I think that Randy’s music still inspires creative people even after that style of music has gone out of fashion, because it is simply good art. There is an attention to detail in his playing that just wasn’t there in many albums then or now. To be honest, I outgrew the lyrical content of any of Ozzy’s music by the time I was sixteen. What kept my interest was the music.
Randy’s biggest accomplishment to me, was bringing respectability to a genre of music that was considered to be pretty lowbrow amongst serious musicians. No one has really attempted what he did in all too short of a recording career. He blended classical and hard rock perfectly, while still making it catchy enough to sing along with and shake your fist to.
My favorite song is definitely ‘Diary of a Madman’! I totally love the Bach influenced passages, especially in the coda of the song when they are played with distortion. The first time that I heard it I got chills!

[Cro/Kiyoshi]

Barbara Calhoun- (Fan)
Like most people, I discovered Randy when I first heard ‘Crazy Train’. I was on the bus going to school and one of the older kids was listening to it at the back of the bus. I was so captivated! It was just so different. Then, I went to stay the night with my friend Holly and she had the Blizzard of Ozz album on and we listened to it that whole night. It kept playing over and over and we just couldn’t get enough of it. Randy had the sound that everyone in my generation was just waiting on. I bought the Blizzard of Ozz on cassette and the Diary of a Madman. I played those two tapes until they would not play anymore. You couldn’t even read the writing on them! I was eleven years old then and twenty seven now and I still listen to those two CD’s all the time! Each time I listen to them I can pick out something different in Randy that I hadn’t noticed before. All the fades like in the song ‘Tonight’. If you turn it up extremely loud when it’s fading out you can hear some really, really awesome stuff in there. The song was over and Randy was just beginning! I guess his life ended much like the music he wrote ended.
I think that randy taught a lot of people that it’s not about being a rock star, but about being a musician. He seemed to create a positive karma everywhere he went. Aside from being a massively talented musician, I think that he earned a lot of respect from other musicians because of his whole attitude. That combined with the mastery of his craft made very lasting impressions on people. He was the kind of guitarist that everyone in a band wished they had or wished that they could be. No matter how good he got, he would strive to be even better. I think that Randy is a rock n’ roll royalty.
Randy is recognized as a musician and not a rock star. It is the same reason why a lot of legends are created. He shined above and beyond the rest. He was very talented and he was the guitarist of our time. Younger guitarists would strive to be just like him and a lot of it has just carried on. You know, the Randy Rhoads influence came out in a lot of bands. People play his guitars. I think that Randy put Jackson Guitars on the map. A lot of guitarists were influenced by him, such as Darrell from Pantera, and then others are influenced by them. So, it’s kind of a chain reaction. I even get a lot of e-mail from younger people who have recently discovered Randy Rhoads and are just awestruck and want to know more about him. Almost every Randy Rhoads fan has said this at least once in their life. I wish there was more or I can only imagine how he would be now. I run a Randy Rhoads Web Site and my goal with it is definitely to keep Randy’s memory alive. there is not a lot out there on Randy anymore. Just a few years ago, you could go into any music store and buy the Diary of a Madman or Blizzard of Ozz tab books, but now you can’t even order them through those same stores. Magazines don’t really cover anything about Randy anymore. Every year in March they use to run some sort of Randy remembered thing, but that is scarce anymore. I run my web site because I have tidbits of Randy that I have collected over the years and a lot of it’s lost or gone, but what I do have I keep on y web site so that other people can enjoy it as well. I run the Randy Rhoads web ring because a lot of people who also run Randy sites would e-mail me and want to exchange links and so I just got ambitious one day and decided to make cool graphics and stuff and link us all together. I am actually proud of the web ring because I didn’t think that there was going to be that many Randy pages out there. I though that there would only be five of us, but there are now like fourteen sites in the ring. To me, that is a lot of web space that is dedicated to Randy, and that says that there are a lot more people out there that who know talent and passion when they hear it or see it. the response that I receive from people is overwhelming. I get tons of e-mail from people who just want to say that they love Randy as much as I do. it is really cool. You should read some of the entries in my guest book, on the web ring page and on my page. Both of my Randy sites have won awards and Jackson Guitars uses my web site as their Randy Rhoads link. I am very proud. I love Randy Rhoads and I want everybody in the world to know how massively talented he was. the way I see it, the only reason that we have history is because someone, somewhere recorded it in some fashion or another. Me being the old school metal head that I am decided that we need out history to be preserved. That is my contribution to my peers.
I think that Randy was a pioneer. He took metal to a new level and the cool thing is was that no one could deny the fact that he was truly an excellent musician. This is including people who don’t even like metal. So, I guess that what I am trying to say is that he really put that form of music on the map as a serious form of music, and not just that blaring crap that everyone always yelled at you to turn down. he was very diverse and open minded. He gained recognition and respect in an industry where he could have easily been passed off as a dime a dozen, and he did it in such a short time from the time he got with Ozzy. I think that this is a sensational accomplishment for such a soft spoken, shy and modest type of a person. Handling that kind of attention must have been very hard for a personality like that and he did it with so much grace.
My favorite songs are ‘Diary of a Madman’, ‘Revelation Mother Earth’, and ‘Mr. Crowley’. I love the eerie, tragic, classical feel to those songs. I think that those three lean on me more toward what was inside Randy then we will ever be able to know.

[Cro/Kiyoshi]

Paul Schrader- (Musician for native Tongue. Bass player)
I was in grade school when my best friend, who was four years older than me, got the Blizzard of Ozz album. That was it for me. Randy Rhoads influenced a lot of players when I was growing up. Everyone seemed to copy him when he was alive. Randy wrote the coolest songs and they were ones that I tried to learn when I first started playing guitar. I think that his greatest accomplishments were the two records that he did with Ozzy Osbourne.


Bob Blake- (Fan)
I was in high school in Connecticut in 1980-1981, when a friend of mine discovered the Blizzard of Ozz. It soon became a favorite album along with Van Halen I. We were pleasantly suprised when immediately after hat, Diary of a Madman came out. We listened to those two albums quite often.
Among guitar players and guitar dominated music, Randy opened a lot of eyes and ears. His stuff had a total freshness to it, without ignoring the tried and true concepts of scales, chord progressions and harmony. I think a lot of players get stuck in a particular genre and don’t work enough of different styles into their playing. Randy showed how classical music could contribute useful things to the heavier styles. In am not a musician per se, but I do play a little guitar. Every so often I pick up the tab for something from either Blizzard of Ozz or Diary of a Madman to challenge myself. For someone as small as he was, Randy sure did have a great reach. Both my right and left hand technique has to improve before I can do justice to any of Randy’s music.
For those of us who have heard and remember his music, he will always be a part of our lives. Time will only tell how long people keep playing his stuff and how much impact he will have in the future. It would have been interesting to see how far he would have progressed of he had lived longer. Robert Johnson died at an early age but is still remembered by the blues community after all of these years since his death.
I really love Suicide Solution. Musically and lyrically it is great. I even bring up the song in my classes when we talk about chemical solutions. People always think that the song suggests suicide as an answer. They don’t realize that it is a warning that alcohol solutions will kill you. It is an example of Ozzy’s unexpected intelligence.




Rob Johnson- (Guitarist)
I was thirteen or fourteen when I first started to get into the guitar. I thought that the guitar player with Ozzy Osbourne was really good. Randy probably had a greater impact in my guitar playing than Eddie Van Halen or people like that. I liked Van Halen, though I liked Randy’s technique a bit more.
Randy made me definitely want to start studying more as far as learning my scales and chords. Working on melodies. I tried to learn all the riffs from the Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman. He certainly inspired me to improve my technique and aspects of melody. I like a lot of his rhythm work as well as I do his leads.
I think that one of his greatest accomplishments was just being able to play with such a famous band and rock star like Ozzy, and being a great guitar player. His biggest accomplishment was also inspiring a whole new breed of guitar players from his style. I think that all of his inspiration is his greatest accomplishment ever.
His inspiration continues because if you listen to his playing, it’s just amazing and just by the videos that I have seen and the live albums that I have heard, you can just feel the passion that he has for the guitar. I think that he has always been the best guitar player that Ozzy has ever had. I think that is it. When he did those albums, it just blew people’s minds because of the technique, song writing and his sense of composition and melody. It is very hard to play his music even today. Some of his riffs and licks are still very hard. Like Eric Clapton’s music, even though he does inspire people, his music is not as difficult to play as Randy’s is. The reason that I like Randy is that he just wasn’t like an every other day person that was influenced by the blues. I was pretty inspired by hi classical inspiration and thought that it was very cool that he was applying that to rock music. before anybody!
One of my favorite songs is ‘Little Dolls’ from Diary of a Madman. I like ‘You Can’t Kill Rock N’ Roll’ and also the solo from ‘Mr. Crowley’.




Curtis Priest- (fan)
I discovered Randy about two years ago when I was listening to the radio. The song was ‘Crazy Train’ and then they played ‘Over the Mountain’ after that. After I heard those two songs I went out and bought the album Diary of a Madman and it is my favorite album that I own besides Blizzard of Ozz.
Randy’s impact on the music scene was very important. It didn’t really effect country and jazz, but to all other styles of music it must have had a huge impact. It changes the way we look at music today because it makes us look beyond the lyrics and the music itself. It makes me look into the technique and the years of dedication it takes to be in the music business.
Randy influenced me not to just have a good technique on the guitar but a great technique. He taught me that if I learned to play all styles of music such as rock, classical and metal, that I would become a much better guitarist. By knowing these different styles, it opens up your range of ideas and musical knowledge.
Just like the situation with me, the radio puts on the old classic albums of all time and you get to hear these killer guitarists like Randy, Lynard Skynard and Stevie Ray Vaughn. Guitarists that you really never heard of. Then a song comes on the radio and you are just totally blown away by the tone that the guitar has and it’s like, ”wow! How could I have not heard these guys before?”. That is how it all gets started. Randy also influences all of the world with his solos that are in his songs and his combinations of metal and classical guitar.
In my opinion, the most memorable accomplishment that Randy ever made was blending the two styles of music together to make an extremely unique sound that no one had ever heard before. Also, he made the double tapping technique which made a unique sound out of something that everyone was copying off of Van Halen.
‘Mr. Crowley’ is probably my favorite song. In that song you have clean tone, distortion, chorus, tremolo, harmonis, classical licks, blues riffs, bar dives and the two best sols that I have ever heard in my life!

[Cro/Kiyoshi]

Romero- (Musician)
I was fifteen when I first heard of Randy Rhoads. I had just picked up the guitar and was starting the band. The other guitarist was really into Randy Rhoads where I was into Eddie Van Halen. It was the cause for a lot of bickering. I finally heard Randy play and I really got turned onto him. Eddie and Randy were both very unique artists. But, when I first heard ‘Crazy Train’, I just thought to myself, ”wow, this guy can really play!”. At that time, I was one of the guitarists in the band and now I am the lead singer.
The fact that he could pull off that acoustic number ‘Dee’, just showed to me the growth that he had. There’s certain people like Jimi Hendrix, eddie Van Halen and Eric Clapton who just have their own style. I think that is why Randy continues to inspire people today.
My favorite song of his is ‘Good-bye to Romance’. The guitar solo in that song is terrific!





Russell Brown- (Fan)
I was about eleven or twelve when I first heard of Randy Rhoads. I could do nothing but fall in love with the guy’s ability! My eldest brother introduced me to the Randy Rhoads Tribute album, as a test for his new hi-fi speakers. Of course, the volume was as high as possible and he let rip with ‘Suicide Solution’. Wow! It was great! As soon as I had the money, I bought the LP for myself. Now, I have even bought the CD! At the age of fourteen I picked up the guitar for the first time and bought the Tribute Tablature book. I’ve never looked back. That single piece of music got me heavily into the heavy metal music scene.
I think that Randy helped shake things up for heavy metal guitar. The super groups of the seventies were fading out fast, and a new wave of heavy metal was coming in. This was in the form of bands like Metallica and Slayer, taking noise levels to the extreme. Randy had formed a base for the speed at which lead guitarists had to perform for this new type of music. He also helped spawn the basis of the future work that Steve Vai and Joe Satriani did. Randy helped to create the space age whammy based guitar that they play nowadays. It is unfortunate that the space age guitarists didn’t appreciate the color and feeling that Randy put into his leads.
I started to play guitar at a school club called Rock School. We learned songs like ‘Wild Thing’ by the Troggs and ‘Rockin All Over the World’ by Status Quo. I wanted to take my guitar skills further, so I bought the Randy Rhoads Tribute tablature. It took me a long time to be able to play the songs, and I still can’t reach the speed at which Randy played. But, the acceleration of my guitar skills was accented by buying the Tribute book. I fact, I still use it heavily today as it is a primary reference for my final year project at the University. His guitar style serves as a catalogue of heavy metal riffs and licks. I can play almost any heavy metal track after a few run throughs because of this. it has helped me with my band work, giving me the ability to create color in my songs and leads and for the keeping the rest of the band tight and playing together. We have played several Ozzy tracks, going by the Tribute album versions, including ‘Crazy Train’, ‘Good-bye to Romance’ and ‘Paranoid’. I use the track, ‘Dee’, as a warm up for my fingers.
Everybody in England knows about Ozzy the ‘bat biter’. As I have found, the people that do know about Randy regard him highly. They don’t appreciate the work of any of the guitarists that have played with Ozzy since. Randy definitely stands out as a guitarist. It’s a pity that people have short memories because the space age guitarists seem to have stolen the limelight. It would have been a totally different story if Randy hadn’t died. Iron Maiden says it best, ‘Only the Good Die Young’.
Speaking as a reader of his guitar style, his greatest accomplishment has to be the way he combined very traditional classical scales and modes with heavy metal. His leads are filled with amazing use of guitar theory and upheld at such speeds that heavy metal thrives on. His songs swirl in a mixture of airy classical chord followed by firm Black Sabbath style riffs, and then spill into solid emotive leads. This is extremely difficult to do, and it still amazes me! I quote the Ozzman himself, ”Randy use to flash up and down the guitar neck in a blur, eeeuuuooohhh, just like that!”.
My favorite song has to be ‘Revelation Mother Earth’ from the Tribute album. Sheer poetry! A heavy metal song based completely on classical natural minor E scales, giving it a super gothic feel. The lead is so exciting to play. The cleverest bit is that once it finishes, it goes straight into the punchy, fast lich that starts off ‘Steal Away the Night’. It was a pity about the drum solo in that song. That is the only bad bit on the entire album.



Pat Gasperini- (pound)

[Cro/Kiyoshi]

I discovered Randy Rhoads when he was in Quiet Riot. I thought that he was tearing it up back then! he was a great inspiration in my guitar playing and also my song writing. He was most definitely a big inspiration to me.
I’ve been playing guitar since I was about five years old. A lot of Randy’s feel and soul is very similar to the way that my band approaches things. Everybody expresses themselves in a different way. Watching Randy play with Quiet Riot and then with Ozzy Osbourne was just amazing! I was totally blown away and the audience would just stand there with their mouths dropped to the floor!
If Randy were around today, he would be totally unbelievable. He was so far ahead of his time. from a musicians point of view, he took music to another level. There is a lot of great guitar players out there but a lot of them get by with copying things from other guitar players. Randy Rhoads did his own thing. He had his own playing ability and song writing technique. I know that he played a big part in writing all of that material. Randy was true to his music and that is a big statement. A lot of people are in the business for other reasons, but Randy was definitely true to his music and I believe that is why he continues to inspire people so many years after his death.
My favorite song would have to be ‘Flying High Again’. Let’s face it though, they are all my favorites!


















Jason Legg- (Fan)
I was coming home from school one night and I heard Ozzy Osbourne’s ‘Iron man’ on the radio. I though it was a pretty cool song. I asked a friend who that was and he said that it was Ozzy. I got home that night, went through my dad’s CD collection and came across the Randy Rhoads Tribute one. I took it into my room and popped the CD in and listened to the entire thing. There was one song on there called ‘Crazy Train’. I listened to that song over and over again! Never in my life had I heard a song with that kind of phenomenal guitar work. it was just power chords over and over again, like some of today’s music. It was something that I wanted to hear more of.
What Randy had going was something extraordinary. With his mixes of classical and rock guitar, it lead a whole new generation of music. But unfortunately, there wasn’t enough people that worked with that style of music. If more people in the music business would have experimented with Randy’s style of music, music would be more unique.
After listening to many hours of Randy’s music and watching a video called ‘Guitar Method in the Style of Randy Rhoads’, I got to thinking about how much I would like to be able to play like he did. Some of the music today is kind of getting off track musically wise. You hardly ever hear any guitar solos anymore. I wanted to bring his style alive again one day, and bring back guitar solos and make music the way it should be. I went out and bought a guitar and am currently playing it. Thanks to Randy, I found something that I like doing. He gave me the determination to one day revive some of the best guitar work ever done.
Randy had a very different way of looking at things than most people. With his combination of classical and rock guitar, it brought a unique sound to music. It is challenging to play some of the stuff that he did, and it makes playing his music fun. What I think is the most important thing about Randy is that he was always striving to be better. He never reached a level where he thought he was good enough. By doing this, people look up to him and it encourages them to improve themselves and strive themselves to be better. This is the effect that it had on me. Also, the creativeness Randy had in his guitar work is just unbelievable.
I would have to say that Randy’s greatest accomplishment was his work with Ozzy. It is probably his most memorable. I never knew until recently when I started finding background information on him, that he played with Quiet Riot. his music with Ozzy is all that I knew of.
My favorite song is the definitely the version of ‘Crazy Train’ that is on the Tribute album.
Luke John- (Another Society)
I am only 22, but I have been a serious head banger since I was about 8. I was probably in the seventh grade when I first heard of Randy Rhoads. I remember cranking those Ozzy Osbourne records extremely loud! Before I learned to play the guitar, I would sit on my front porch with the guitar in my hands and play the song ‘Dee’ in the background on the record player. I would turn it up really loud and pretend that I was playing it. People would walk by and be in total amazement! I finally did learn how to really play ‘Dee’, but it sure was funny to watch these people walk by the house with these astonished expression’s on their faces.
Randy’s playing made me want to get better and better. I was really beginning to listen to how people played. The way that he portrayed his music as in ‘Dee’ and other songs just made me want to improve my playing more and more. There is not too many people around today that can play like Randy did. It has become a goal for people. It’s like, people just want to be like Randy Rhoads. To blend classical music with heavy metal. I don’t think that anyone is going to ever do it quite like Randy did. It sure would be nice to have him around today to see just what he would be doing in life and in music.
Geoffrey Engman_ (Fan)
I was about fourteen years old and I was sick of playing my sister’s old records. I couldn’t believe that she had an Ozzy Osbourne record which was Diary of a Madman. I thought that Ozzy was too hard core heavy metal. I tried it once and did not like it at all. It was too heavy. But, after being bored to death with all the other records, I tried it again. This time I skipped to the song ‘Diary of a Madman’. I really liked the acoustic beginnings. Then I listened to it more until I soon gained a lot of interest. Now, I concentrate on Randy’s sound every time.
Randy’s dedication has increased my own awareness that you have to follow through with the things that you love and enjoy, and that there are always new adventures and possibilities to explore. I like the idea that Randys searched for lessons when he was on the road. That proves to me that he really loved his instrument. I even went so far as to actually make my own stereo electric Flying V guitar from scratch. I scaled it exactly like Randy’s polka-dot one along with the harpoon head stock, but will paint it a different color scheme. Remember, even Randy said that you have to have your own style.
Randy was always exploring new sounds and his studies. He wanted to manufacture new sounds while keeping his own style. He was very different with his sound. Sustaining or hanging on a note for a long time while slowly bending the string was very neat. My favorite song is ‘Crazy Train’ because of the fills and the solo. The words are very good also. His soloing is very up an down like a roller coaster.




Of all the questions I’ve been asked
The hardest one was this….
To fill the shoes of a special man
Who forever will be missed~
And though I didn’t know you
I feel that you were there…
This amazing guitarist
With a tender heart
To whom none can compare.

[Cro/Kiyoshi]

Bernie Torme-
In the previous years to joining Ozzy, I had been playing in a band called Gillian in Europe. We had a number one album in England and that sort of thing. I left in July of 1981. In the period between that and actually getting the call from Ozzy’s group of people, I was starting to work with a band called the Electric Gypsies. I had also done a tour with Atomic Rooster in Germany and Italy.
I received a phone call from Dave Arden. He was working with Jet Records and at the time that was the label in England. He told me about Randy’s death. I hadn’t heard about it and to be perfectly honest, the only track of Randy’s that I had ever heard before that time was ‘Mr. Crowley’. At that time, Ozzy was not as known in Europe and England as he was in America. He was just known for being with Black Sabbath.
I was heavily involved in my own projects at the time. I had the album just about ready to come out and so at first I said ”no”. I really didn’t want to do it. David Arden kept on calling and finally talked me into it. What changed my mind was two things really. One was that Dave kept saying, ”please, please, the band will probably break up if you don’t do it”. That was kind of flattering. The second thing was that at that point in time I did not have any money at all. I was totally skinned and involved in a law case against Gillian. Dave offered me a lot of money.
The first thing that had to happen was that I had to get a Visa and whatever in order to travel. That took about two days. I rushed out and bought both of the albums that Randy did with Ozzy. I listened to them and thought, ”oh my God! This is hard!”. I thought that it was going to be ‘Paranoid’ or whatever, but no, it was definitely not easy. So, I just began practicing night and day. As it turns out, they actually had two other guitarists that they were auditioning. I did the audition and got it. To be honest, at the time when Dave Arden phoned up I was only asked to stand in. I was never asked to join the band. So, it was basically to be operating as a stand in.
After I got it, I had to talk with Sharon Osbourne who explained that the money wasn’t exactly what I had been promised. I was kind of miffed about that. That was the day after I arrived. The day that I arrived was the first day that I had ever met Ozzy Osbourne’s band. Ozzy was very, very nice and he was obviously grieving and very devastated about it all. It was an awful experience for the entire band. I felt that after I got there, even though the money wasn’t what I had originally been told it would be, I would stay and do it and see how it goes. I had only played three tracks that they had auditioned everybody on.
We flew out the next day. I had a rehearsal of the whole thing at sound check. We did the gig that evening. At that time, I didn’t have any of my guitars. They were all still stuck back at the Los Angeles Airport. So, they had to go out and find a guitar for me to play. It was all just awful! I was so scared! I was playing on a guitar that was absolute crap to play and I was playing songs that I didn’t know. I hadn’t seen the stage until that very day. It was a crazy stage set. I was always hearing, ”stand here! Now move over there! No, not there!”. It did eventually go alright though. The day after that first show I received my guitars.
I wasn’t happy at all about having to replace Randy Rhoads. I kept on thinking that if it had been me, and if it had been in Europe, and if it had been with Gillan, I don’t know if I would have wanted the band to carry on. I was very unsettled about it all. I felt that I wasn’t the right person to do it, and I also had the situation in Europe where we had been playing large places. I wanted a change and to go back to playing smaller places where I would have a chance to jam and play. I never really thought of myself as a rock star. I was a guitar player and I really didn’t feel that happy in a large production type of thing. It just really wasn’t what I enjoyed and I also felt that it really wasn’t fair to Randy’s memory.
About a week and a half into it all, I called Ozzy to my hotel room. I told him that I did not want to carry on, though I would hang in there until someone else turns up. At the time, there was literally hundreds of guitar players trying to get the gig, so I didn’t feel that it would be very difficult to find a replacement. To be honest, I think that one of the reasons that I was asked in the beginning was because I was not very aggressive about it. I didn’t regard it as a great step up. I wasn’t like, ”Wow! Here I am!”. I was very quiet and European about it all. Maybe even cringing a bit too.
During the time where I stood in, we had a lot of days off. Ozzy was having throat problems and I am sure that he was still grieving. It must have been very hard for him to get up on that stage without the man who really kind of helped him become a major act again. I think that I only played about six or seven shows before I ultimately left. Everyone was very nice to me. I am sure that they had a problem when they glanced over to my side of the stage and Randy was not there. That reality unfortunately kicked in.
Prior to joining Gillan in 1978 or 1979, I had been a recording artist on Jet Records in the United Kingdom. Jet was owned by Don Arden, who was Sharon Arden (later Osbourne), and David Arden’s father. Both Sharon and David were involved with Jet Records. It had not been a very happy relationship for me, and I therefore had a bit of jaundiced view of things when David asked me to stand in.
Because of a certain, shall we say, long term lack of trust of the Arden’s on my part, possibly totally unjustified, when David Arden talked me into standing in, and said that I would be paid $2000.00 a week, I asked for one week’s pay up front. Call me paranoid, but I really did not trust him too much, not least because neither Ozzy or Sharon had spoken to me. I asked for the money up front because I was advised to do so by Gillan’s manager Phil Banfield. Phil Banfield now co-manages Sting. Through Phil is how David got my phone number. After David agreed to this, I actually left for Los Angeles one day later than intended due to the money not being paid.
This probably appears very unnecessary, and it probably was but god knows at the time I needed it! I had not asked for any amount what-so-ever. $2000.00 a week is what David offered me, not what I had asked for. And, I like for people to keep their word. I would have done it for much less, but he never asked me to.
The day that I was to leave no money had arrived. I phoned David at home, who said that he could not understand it, but that it would be sent to my house before I got on the plane at Heathrow, and that I should phone home and check before leaving. Off I went, picked up my ticket and decided that I would go regardless. Unfortunately, the ticket was a single, not a return as I had asked for. When I got to the desk, they refused to let me on the plane since they said American Immigration would not let me in without a return ticket. I don’t know if it has changed since but that was the situation at the time. Alarm bells started gently ringing! I phoned home and found that $500.00 had arrived, not $2000.00. So, I phoned David and explained to him that there had obviously been some terrible mix-up, and that I would be ready to leave as soon as it was all sorted out. It soon was and I left for Los Angeles the next day.This experience was typical of my previous experiences as an artist for Jet Records, and it really left me with an even more jaundiced view of the whole thing, before I had even started.
When I got there and auditioned and got the gig, Sharon took me around the back of the rehearsal studio to tell me. She said, ”you’ve got the gig, the pay is $500.00 a week”. I think that she said $500.00, whatever it was it was a lot less than $2000.00. I said, ”but David said that it was $2000.00 per week?”. She said, ”David’s on drugs. He doesn’t know what he is talking about”. I said, ”Oh”, shrugged and laughed. It was funny.
This really made me uneasy. Money’s not really that important to me, but I like people to keep their word. All of that valley of the shifting sands stuff didn’t quite sit for me. The reason that I stayed and didn’t leave at that point was because I liked Ozzy personally a lot. He was obviously devastated by the loss of a friend, and considering the state that he was in, he made a lot of effort to make me feel at home. That could not have been easy. Also, at that stage having heard the albums, it was musically a real, real challenge.
Also, I would like to say that all I had really heard of Ozzy prior to being asked to stand in was when he was in Black Sabbath. I wasn’t a real fan, in fact I didn’t like them much at all! I thought the black magic bit was downright silly, though like everyone else I had played ‘Paranoid’ in cover bands early in my somewhat variegated career.
In Gillan in 1979 through 1981, we had a lot more exposure in Europe and Japan than Ozzy had. I think he must have concentrated on the United States which we had ignored basically because no one wanted us! I had heard ‘Mr. Crowley’ on the radio and liked it, but that was all. So, like I said earlier, after being asked I went out and bought the albums. I was just totally blown away. I thought that they were absolutely brilliant and that Randy was just one great, amazing player. Having heard them, I was very flattered to have been asked. I could sort of see why I was asked. Both of us used tremolo arms quite a lot, and both of us played lead licks as part of the rhythm track. Neither of those things were common at that time, though later everyone on earth was doing them. But, I can’t express what a challenge it was to play his stuff. I learned so much from that and it was a real privilege to get that chance.
I think that the first gig was Allenstown, Pennsylvania. Someplace around there. It was close to Harrisburg. As I said, I only had one complete run through the set, which was in the afternoon during a long sound check. It was very difficult to try to take in a one and a half hour set and songs and arrangements and solos and beginnings and ends in such a short time. The arrangements were pretty different to the albums which I had now been listening to for about four days, and there was some other stuff which wasn’t on the albums at all. It was very difficult to remember it all.
I had a hired strat, which was nothing short of vile for the gig, and another strat which Ozzy had bought for me in Los Angeles. It was lovely and I still have it. But, strats need pedals to get near to Randy’s sound. My guitars and pedals and amps were in customs at the Los Angeles Airport. I had no pedals that first night. Someone suggested that I use Randy’s pedals. I felt very unhappy about that, but since I had no others and it sounded like shit without, there seemed no other choice and I finally agreed to and did so. I’ve never said this publicly, but this was I think for me the defining moment, the point at which I decided that I definitely did not want the gig.
There is something terribly personal about a guitarists setups, their amps, what pedals they use and how they are set. I really felt that something so personal should have gone to his family or his girlfriend, even a friend, a roadie, burnt or something, but most definitely not to me on that night. I didn’t even know the guy, and there I was resetting and using his pedals. I found it wrong and quite honestly, heartbreaking.
I don’t really think that people die and cease to exists, they just move on, but be they here or be they not here, they deserve respect. And that episode seemed to me to show more respect for the door takings than for Randy’s memory. I would also like to say that as far as I can remember, Ozzy was not involved with this. He would have been much happier not to play at all. I left it until we were in New York to talk with Ozzy about not carrying on, but that really was the moment of decision for me.
I used the pedals that night, perhaps it was damp on the switches, it’s never happened to me on any other pedals at any other point in my life, but they turned off a few times of their own accord. That didn’t worry me too much though, if it was Randy he was probably just trying to help. God knows, I was in dire need of it!
But, I did not feel right about it. It did not sit right. After all, it could have been me. I’m Irish, we may not always show that much respect for the living, but we do respect the dead. It seemed to me that there were people in Ozzy’s organization who appear to have more respect for the next paycheck, and I am not talking about any members of the band. Even that is fair enough, though who am I to criticize. But, it is not my way and I could not do it. That is my not very happy moments of that first gig.
I have seen some quotes about the reason I did not want to carry on, being that I was scared of large audiences. That is plain silly. Anyone who plays knows that an audience of 20,000 people is much less scary and easier than an audience of 50.
I find it odd that I can’t remember anyone saying anything from the stage about Randy. maybe I have blanked it out, but I don’t remember it. It always bothered me that the show appeared to go on as if it never happened. Maybe I have blanked it out.
I remember Ozzy being very upset when he found out that the merchandising stall was still selling Randy’s merchandising. He was angry because as I recall he had told Sharon to have it removed since he did not want to profit off of Randy’s death. Sharon said that it was a tribute to his memory.
When I left, Ozzy paid me as per David Arden’s original $2000.00 per week, and gave me a very generous bonus on top, and that strat which he had bought for me. He was a real gentlemen.
I would also like to say that al big rock tours have a momentum all of their own. Once it is going it’s hard to stop. There’s a lot of people’s mortgages, rents and paychecks and families riding on them. I would not like to think that I was criticizing those people in any way. That is their priority, and that’s okay too. I think that Sharon used that momentum to try to keep Ozzy going.
But, being some sort of musician, music is to me a bit sacred and a bit magical, as it is to most musicians. I don’t think generally magic mixes too well with the music industry. In this case, the industry seemed to me to be ignoring that one of the main creators, probably THE main creator of that particular magic, was no longer there. I was and remain far too anarchist a peg to want to fit into that particular strangely shaped industry hole.
Stupid example, but it’s the only time in my life since I had a major row with my Mum at age 15, that I was ordered to wear certain clothes. Sharon felt that I had to look like Randy! Cool for Randy, but not too cool for me! And not really very cool at all in the circumstances. Sad. Sharon also complained a few times that my solo spot in the set was too long, which it definitely was. She didn’t understand that it was the only part if the set that I really knew how to play! Being me, my playground amongst all the stress! The audiences seemed to like it! Looking back, I liked Sharon lots and found her very, very funny, but I think she probably felt I lacked a certain amount of respect. Which I probably did.
I would also like to say that I don’t think that Rudy, Tommy or Don wanted to carry on at all. Ozzy definitely did not want to. They were all just devastated. I think that they all just wanted to walk away. I think Sharon, because of her ties with Ozzy, did not want to see him descend into the abyss of alcohol and drugs which she had got him out of after Sabbath. I think that she probably forced the issue, and it carried on as it did because of that. She was mainly just trying to protect Ozzy. If I helped at all in getting Ozzy, Tommy, Rudy and Don over the very big hill of the first gig after Randy’s death, I’m very glad and proud to have done so. They deserved it, and it was the least that I could have done.
But, somehow I can’t help feeling that there should have been more of a middle way. I couldn’t live with it the way it was. I mean, if the band had been called, Randy Rhoads Blizzard, it would have stopped in it’s tracks. It didn’t seem right that it carried on regardless. I had a problem with that. I never said any of this to Ozzy or Sharon or anyone at the time. I just wanted to get out. It didn’t seem to me that I really had a right to any opinion on it, to people who had lost close friends. I was just a hired hand. I hadn’t lost anyone or anything. But, I did have a problem with it.

[Cro/Kiyoshi]

Eric Turner- (Warrant)
I was in the ninth grade or so when I first heard the Ozzy record. I remember hearing ‘Crazy Train’ on the radio. At that time all of my friends were getting into Ozzy and Randy. They were all reading the magazines about Randy’s old band Quiet Riot. I started collecting photos and began finding out a lot about Quiet Riot too. I never saw Quiet Riot play with Randy and I never saw Randy play with Ozzy either. I remember the eyar that Randy died, I was going to see him and Ozzy on New Years Eve play, but I wound up not going. I just figured that I would catch the show the following year though in March Randy died.
At that time, I had just started playing the guitar. I was fifteen when I got my first guitar. I definitely tried to learn all of his riffs and actually took some guitar lessons at his mothers music school after I moved to Los Angeles. I am more of a rhythm guitar player, but when I first started out I would try and play some leads here and there. I would try and learn different riffs of Randy’s and some from other bands of that era as well.
When you hear one of Randy’s solos you just know that it is him automatically. He had his own style and sound and he was very identifiable. The many scales that he used were very identifiable. Randy touched and inspired many people to pick up the guitar and I think that’s a pretty fantastic accomplishment.




Turtle Lane- (Fan)
I discovered Randy in 1981, the year the Blizzard of Ozz came out. At the time, I was six years old and I didn’t know who he was, but I knew that I wanted to be a guitar player and be just like him! Funny, because I am still trying to play like Randy. It’s easier said than done.
Randy’s impact on music was hard. He was accused of being an Eddie Van Halen rip off, but Randy brought guitar playing to a whole new level. Randy has influenced my studies by opening doors of technique. His music gives me ideas for mine. He has inspired me to do more taps and a more classical style of playing. I think that his most memorable accomplishments to me, are Blizzard of Ozz and the Tribute albums. For most of us, it is the only recordings of Randy in the raw. If I had to chose which songs are my favorite, I would have to say ‘Crazy Train’ and ‘Suicide Solution’ off of the Tribute album, and ‘Dee’ from either the Tribute album or Blizzard of Ozz. ‘Crazy Train’ has that hard core, metal, blues feel, and I love the fills. ‘Suicide Solution’, live, has Randy in the most purest form. Plus, he does a kick ass solo! ‘Dee’ is a beautiful, classical style piece. I can almost feel what Randy was feeling while playing it. Plus, how many artists dedicate songs to their mothers much less name it after them?




Kane Roberts- (Musician)
I first heard of Randy Rhoads when the blizzard of Ozz first came out. I was impressed mostly by Randy’s sound and it actually kind of freaked me out. I may be wrong, but it sounded like he used a haromizor and stuff like that. he just came out with a much different sound. Guys like Hendrix and different people along the way all came out with a whole new way of making the guitar sound. I thought that Randy did the same thing. He wasn’t just hammering or coming up with different notes, his voice on the guitar was completely different. The other thing was that his solos were very complexed rhythmically and everything. I felt as though he was a complete package. I went to see him play live somewhere in New York on the Blizzard of Ozz tour and everything was just going on! Not only was he a fantastic musician, but he was a real showman as well. Ozzy has always been one of my favorites and him and Randy complimented each other so well. It was the complete experience for me.
Anyone who has a moment in history, whether it be a couple of minutes or a couple of years, can possibly become a legend because they actually capture a moment or a bright spot in everybody’s lives. When you look back through history at what has gone on in the past, there are some moments that just always shine. Randy was just one of those guys. He stands apart from a lot of great musicians. There are a lot of people who play great guitar. They may have had a lot of technical ability or a striking image, stuff like that. It’s the guys who have all the plates spinning who’s names seem to survive even though physically they do not survive.
As a guitar player, for me it was his way of combining his sound with his technique and the notes that he chose. If you sing, you have to really match up and there are so many things that have to come together. It’s phrasing and it’s your tone and how you project what it is that your feeling. There are so many guitar players and just the fact that he is one of them that really put all of that together is a great accomplishment in itself. It might have been something that he was just blessed with but my suspicion is that he worked really hard at what he did.




Brett Spahr- (Fan)
I remember when I was in grade school, my uncle had given me an old Gibson guitar to play around with. I knew this older kid who had been playing for a little while and we started talking one day. I went over to his house and we went up to his room. He put this tape on and was like, ”check this out”. ”All aboard, hahahahahaaaaa”
I had no idea who was playing. I just knew that I had never heard anything like it and that it was fucking awesome! He let me borrow the tape and I think I listened to it everyday for about a month straight. It absolutely blew me away!
Just listen to anything that randy ever recorded. Guitarists like him are one ion a million. He was so dedicated to music and had a style that was so unique. He will probably inspire people 1500 years after his death. He has so many memorable accomplishments that it’s hard to narrow them down. Every time that I listen to the Tribute album it sends chills through my spine. It is absolutely unbelievable. It’s one of those albums that you can listen to from beginning to end. It is the best live album that I have ever heard. My favorite song is ‘Suicide Solution’. That opening riff is so simple, yet so unbelievably heavy.