Ozzy and Randy Rhodes
November 15th, 2007I am sure it is common knowledge that Ozzy got his start as the lead singer for Black Sabbath and after leaving Black Sabbath went on to mega-superstardom as a solo artist. What people probably don’t know is that Ozzy discovered guitar legend Randy Rhodes, who was responsible for changing heavy metal guitar.
Randy Rhodes, besides from being a virtuoso, invented a new approach to rock guitar and made classical music cool. He borrowed harmonically from the classical world and very rarely relied on the standard pentatonic blues riffs that are germane to the rock world (and made Ozzy famous). He was a new and innovative voice in a world dominated almost exclusively by Eddie Van Halen until his untimely death in a plane crash while on tour with Ozzy. (After his death, the Ozzy guitar spot became the most coveted gig for heavy metal guitar players.)
I am pretty sure this clip is from an early 80’s late night rock show and the band is playing live to the cameras. The bass player is Rudy Sarzo from Quiet Riot – after Randy’s death he left Ozzy to return to Quiet Riot (they had a few hits and then disappeared) – Randy Rhodes also played in Quiet Riot before landing the Ozzy gig.