Everytime they play some Blizzard of Oz on Ozzy's Boneyard are wherever else I hear these songs with Randy on them I'm still blown away.

I was in High School when he died and still remember my friend coming up to me in the school parking lot telling me he just died in a plane crash. We just stood in disbelief.

My question is for younger rock fans.....is his work on Ozzy's first 2 solo albums still revered by you, like it is with the older guys that were "there" for the excitement of hearing him back in the day. It was EVH, and then Randy by all my friends....and the older I get, I'm not sure that (setting aside EVH's relative larger body of work), that they weren't at least equals.

Anyway, sometimes I just think, "Well, I think he's so great because I was "there"' for it and maybe that's what make him special. Then, I hear Crazy Train in the stadiums before games, and I reconsider. Maybe he was one of the all-time greats? To me, he is.

Every time I hear Blck Betty, I think that song was way before its time

The talent in that song, shocking to me that those guys never had anything else

People in My rock and metal circles still revere him. But we also grew up in 90's so it wasn't too far from his death. Ozzy was big especially with ozzfest. We would always go to the back catalogue and just learn as much as we could. Similar to cliff Burton with Metallica.

I don't fall into your "younger" description but I definitely prefer the Randy-era of Ozzy's solo days. But I agree that I don't think he gets he just due anymore among the newer rock fans.

It was such a preventable death. Getting into a Beechcraft on whim with the tour bus driver with an expired pilots licence to buzz the tour bus. It was said Randy hated to fly. On the third buzz, they clipped the tour bus with Ozzy asleep inside, and crashed into the adjoining house and exploded into a fireball.

Randy was the one who practiced his Les Paul while other band members partied the night away. He was only 16 when he co founded Quiet Riot. He had a classical music background which I think helped his talent and sound. I didn't know anything about him in high school but when I heard Diary of Mad Man, I was hooked. He had real talent.

Crazy Train has always seemed like a song that is on a different level. It's more important than rock music. It's better; it's timeless. It's "Beatles". It's a chapter in the Rock Bible. That alone says something about how I feel about Randy Rhodes. However.... other than that, I don't know or care much about him. I should probably spend some time listening to him. I think it would be time well spent.

I had this poster on my wall when I was a kid. I had a crap load of cool posters that ended up in the trash as I got older. Wish I would've kept them. Especially the Iron Maiden posters.

I had a Randy Rhoads poster, too. I bought it for my freshman dorm room in 85. RR was amazing, don't know how else to say it. His sound is different, unique, layered. Were he still alive today, he would be one of the most revered guitarists ever, and it saddens me to think of all the creativity lost when that plane crashed.

Blizzard of Ozz is so good - not just Crazy Train. Then Diary follows up with Over the Mountain and Flying High Again - Rhoads kills on those albums, and he would have continued to do so. Just sad that he was gone so young. What an incredible talent.

Ozzy might not have left Black Sabbath and go solo if not for RR. He definitely would not have been as successful in his first 2 albums. His death affected Ozzy greatly.

snowdog90 said:

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I had a Randy Rhoads poster, too. I bought it for my freshman dorm room in 85. RR was amazing, don't know how else to say it. His sound is different, unique, layered. Were he still alive today, he would be one of the most revered guitarists ever, and it saddens me to think of all the creativity lost when that plane crashed.

Blizzard of Ozz is so good - not just Crazy Train. Then Diary follows up with Over the Mountain and Flying High Again - Rhoads kills on those albums, and he would have continued to do so. Just sad that he was gone so young. What an incredible talent.

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Yes, I absolutely think he would have continued to do so. I think we're talking about a EVH-type career, easily. Though I will temper that by saying it's possible he would have veered more into a classical-like guitar (he used to get some lessons while on tour). The word was near the end he was talking about that, and he was of course, trained in classical music so could have seen that happening. Like someone mentioned before, he wasn't "all-in" with all the trappings and partying that accompanies rock and roll life. Probably another Ozzy record, then who knows.

aggiedata said:

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Ozzy might not have left Black Sabbath and go solo if not for RR. He definitely would not have been as successful in his first 2 albums. His death affected Ozzy greatly.

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Ozzy did not leave Black Sabbath to go solo. He was kicked out for his drug use and unpredictability.

Randy Rhoads was what brought Ozzy out of the gutter and revived his career.

Although my favorite guitarist is SRV, Randy is the best guitarist from a technical standpoint that has ever played.

You are correct. I forgot about Ozzy being kicked out of Black Sabbath.

Sabbath was better with Dio anyway.

Junkhead said:

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Sabbath was better with Dio anyway.

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Hot take. Please go on.

Nothing more needs to be said. Just listen to the albums.

The thing I find really interesting about Randy's playing is the "classical influence" you can hear if you listen closely.

He was taught music by his Mother who had a music degree from UCLA and owned a music school. She passed away at the age of 95 in 2015.

http://www.guitarworld.com/randy-rhoads-mother-delores-rhoads-dead-95/25820

He came from good genes and the world was robbed of a lot of music by the accident.


If I recall the story correctly, he had actually told Ozzy just before his death that he was going to explore that style (classical) of playing and that the tour they were on would be his last with Ozzy.

Junkhead said:

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Sabbath was better with Dio anyway.

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I agree with this 100% I love the dio Sabbath.

Randy was pretty amazing. I forget the track but the one where he is working on a song and they are recording while he tries the chord over and over fascinated me.

Eddie is great too and you have to give him props for essentially inventing hammer ons and his longevity.

Rhoades influenced the neo-classical metal movement. I wish it makes a comeback.

I played in lead guitar in "Mr. Crowley" at our high school talent show.
We had a singer that sounded exactly like Ozzy.

Did you play the solo that is the last quarter of the song?

Yeah, the trick was to use selective pull-offs/hammer-ons in scales to compensate for lack of picking speed. Years later I saw this guy playing a classical cover of Bohemian Rhapsody on YouTube, which I had to learn:



It's actually more difficult than metal -- took over a year to get it right after buying the tablature/video.

Yes. Revered.

I just can here to say that Zakk Wylde sucked and Randy was way better than him

Wow, that guy is really good. It also shines is a huge spotlight on how freaking brilliant Freddie Mercury was.

Junkhead said:

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Nothing more needs to be said. Just listen to the albums.

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I wasnt disagreeing. Dio is one of the best vocalists of all time. I just always mentally separated the eras, never really compared the two.

Quote:

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Rhoades influenced the neo-classical metal movement. I wish it makes a comeback.

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I would say, and most critics would agree that the honor goes to Ritchie Blackmore. Listen to some of his early solos with Deep Purple.