Tag: Randy Rhoads

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The Making of Ozzy’s ‘Speak of the Devil’ PART 2 – Brad Gillis, Bernie Torme, Rudy Sarzo, Pete Way, Jake E. Lee, Don Costa, Airey

full in bloom’s INSIDE THE ALBUM:

Ozzy Osbourne ‘Speak of the Devil’ PART 2

DESCRIPTION:

Brief documentary on the recording of Ozzy Osbourne’s 1982 album, ‘Speak of the Devil.’ THIS IS PART 2. Comments from Ozzy, Brad Gillis, Bernie Torme, Robert Sarzo, Tommy Aldridge, Rudy Sarzo, Pete Way, Don Airey, Sharon Osbourne, Jake E. Lee.

YOU CAN WATCH THE DOCUMENTARY VIA THE EMBEDDED YOUTUBE CLIP BELOW. You can also access the video directly on YouTube @ this location.

PART 2

PART I

Sources:

Rudy Sarzo’s Book Off the Rails

Bernie Torme Interview

Don Airey Interview

Tommy Aldridge Interview 2

Ozzy Interview

Bernie Torme Interview 2

Brad Gillis Interview 1

Brad Gillis Interview 2

Jake E. Lee Interview

Dave Meniketti Interview

Max Norman Interview

Robert Sarzo Interview via Old School full in bloom website

Ozzy Interview 2

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The Making of Ozzy Osbourne’s ‘Speak of the Devil’ PART I – Randy Rhoads, The Plane Crash, Tommy Aldridge, Rudy Sarzo, Don Airey – INTERVIEW EXCERPTS

full in bloom’s INSIDE THE ALBUM:

Ozzy Osbourne ‘Speak of the Devil’ PART I

DESCRIPTION:

Brief documentary on the recording of Ozzy Osbourne’s 1982 album, ‘Speak of the Devil.’ THIS IS PART I. Comments from Ozzy, Randy Rhoads, Rudy Sarzo, Tommy Aldridge, Don Airey, and Sharon Osbourne.

YOU CAN WATCH THE DOCUMENTARY VIA THE EMBEDDED YOUTUBE CLIP BELOW. You can also access the video directly on YouTube @ this location.

Sources:

Tommy Aldridge RNR Fantasy Camp Interview

Rudy Sarzo Interview w/ YAHOO

Wikipedia

Rudy Sarzo’s Book OFF THE RAILS

Tommy Aldridge Interview 2

Ozzy Interview

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INTERVIEW w/ Randy Rhoads’ Brother & Sister PART 2 – Talk Ozzy & Sharon, Dana Strum, Blizzard of Ozz, Quiet Riot, Don Arden – VIDEO

 

This is PART 2 of our full in bloom interview with Randy Rhoads’ brother, Kelle, and sister, Kathy.

YOU CAN LISTEN TO PART 1 & 2 OF THE INTERVIEW VIA THE EMBEDDED YOUTUBE CLIPS BELOW. You can also access the video directly on YouTube.

DESCRIPTION:
Kathy and Kelle talk about Randy Rhoads’ Ozzy era, Blizzard of Ozz, the audition, Dana Strum, Sharon Osbourne, Don Arden, Quiet Riot, Kevin Dubrow, and more.

PART 2

PART 1

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Interview with Randy Rhoads’ Brother (Kelle) & Sister (Kathy), Covers Ozzy Osbourne, Eddie Van Halen, Quiet Riot Kevin Dubrow, Musonia, George Lynch, Nick Menza, & More – 2023 – PART I

This is a full in bloom interview with Randy Rhoads’ brother, Kelle, and sister, Kathy.

YOU CAN LISTEN TO THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW VIA THE EMBEDDED YOUTUBE CLIP BELOW. You can also access the video directly on YouTube.

DESCRIPTION:
Kathy and Kelle talk about Randy Rhoads’ early days, Quiet Riot, Eddie Van Halen, Ozzy, George Lynch, Nick Menza, Musonia, Sharon Osbourne, Kevin Dubrow, & more.
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Randy Rhoads’ Birthday – Isolated Guitars on “Flying High Again” – LISTEN

Brian Tichy:

Happy Bday to Mr. Randy Rhoads!💥🔥
12.6.56-3.19.82 A total legend taken from us far too soon!

Listen to Randy’s awesome iso gtrs from Flying High Again! 🔥💥

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Music Top Stories

Stryper’s Michael Sweet on Which Guitarists from the ’80s Impressed Him the Most – 2022

Michael Sweet: Which 3 guitarists (who emerged in the ’80s) impressed me the most?

Based on tone, feel, technique and pure raw energy:
Randy Rhoads
George Lynch
Vito Bratta

Although there were many great guitarists throughout the ’80s, these 3 stood out and were on a whole different level IMO👊💪

Michael Sweet in 2020:

One of my favorite players to come out of the ’80s (and overall) was and is Vito Bratta. I’ve always wanted to work with Vito and I’m still hoping and praying that it works out. We had a conversation a few years back and he was gracious and very complimentary. If he ever makes his way back to music again it would be an honor to work to do something together and I know we would create something absolutely amazing. Love & Respect to you Vito🙏💛

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Ex-Ozzy Guitarist Gus G Unboxing the New Jackson Rhoads Concept Series – 2022 – VIDEO

Gus G:

Unboxing the new Jackson Rhoads Concept Series

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History Interviews Listen Music New Releases Top Stories

Ex-Dokken’s George Lynch on Randy Rhoads Being Influenced by Eddie Van Halen: “He couldn’t help it” – 2022 – INTERVIEW – The Boyz – Gene Simmons

This is a full in bloom interview with guitarist George Lynch (Dokken, Lynch Mob).

LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW VIA THE EMBEDDED YOUTUBE CLIP BELOW. You can access the video directly on YouTube.

DESCRIPTION:

George talks about his early band The Boyz, Gene Simmons, Van Halen, Eddie Van Halen, David Lee Roth, Randy Rhoads, Ozzy, and Quiet Riot.”

INTERVIEW EXCERPT:

full in bloom: Eddie Van Halen was an influence on you, correct?

George Lynch:

Absolutely.

full in bloom: Was Randy Rhoads an influence?

No, not really. Eddie was an influence on Randy as well.

full in bloom: You think Randy was definitely influenced by Eddie?

Oh, yeah. He couldn’t help it. I think everyone here local went through their Eddie phase. It was such a major impact, and he made such a giant impression on everybody and on specific guitar players specifically. It was like, game over. It was like when Pete Townsend and Jimmy Page and all of them went down to watch Hendrix. “This guy from America is playing this club. Do you want to go see him?” And they had their faces melted. It was that kind of thing. So, yeah, he changed everything. There was a paradigm shift in the whole way we understood ourselves and our relation to the guitar and the hierarchy and all that. Eddie was setting the bar, for sure.

full in bloom: With Quiet Riot, you weren’t a fan?

Not really because I thought Randy was just channeling Mick Ronson, which I love Mick Ronson. He was a genius. I mean, we all have our influences, but he very heavily image mirrored Mick Ronson. Then, he was a very deep guitar player, but I didn’t think he translated, at least early on with Quiet Riot, that didn’t translate as well with the rock music. But if you were to sit down with Randy with a nylon string guitar, he was a very deep player and had just a deep reservoir of knowledge. He just played beautifully, very accomplished, impressive.

In the later years, it did kind of gel, when he did the records with Ozzy, of course, it’s undeniably unique and wonderful. But back when we were in the clubs, he hadn’t quite got there yet and neither had I (laughs). We were all just kind of learning and trying to evolve to where we didn’t know where we would end up but destined to be.

To listen to the entire segment, play the clip below.

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Cool Chitz History Listen Music Top Stories

Randy Rhoads Liked Eddie Van Halen Afterall: “I do a lot of the same licks as Eddie Van Halen. Eddie is a great player.” – INTERVIEW – 2022

Guitar World:

Turns out Randy Rhoads did have a nice thing to say about Eddie Van Halen: “Eddie is a great player.”

You can read the entire feature @ this location. An excerpt can be found below.

Speaking to Guitar World in 1982, Rhoads distanced himself from the argument that he learned his chops from Van Halen, instead revealing he had skipped the imitation/innovation stage that many aspiring players go through.

In the same breath, he also praised Van Halen as a “great player”, and one who clearly has his own unique style of playing – something he said he also wanted to develop naturally by himself.

Randy Rhoads:

“Everything happens so fast that I haven’t had enough time to think about what I want to do.“

“I have my own personality on the guitar, but as of yet, I don’t think I have my own style. For instance, I do a solo guitar thing in concert, and I do a lot of the same licks as Eddie Van Halen. Eddie is a great player, but it kills me that I do that.

“For me it’s just flash that impresses the kids. I’m trying to make a name for myself as fast as I can. I wish I could take time and come up with something that nobody else has done. But that’s gonna take a few years yet.”

During a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Ozzy Osbourne said Randy Rhoads “didn’t have a nice thing to say about Eddie.”

Randy Rhoads, the first guitarist Osbourne worked with after Sabbath, wasn’t a big Eddie Van Halen fan.

Before joining Osbourne’s band, Rhoads had played guitar in the glam-rock group Quiet Riot, which had been gigging on the Sunset Strip at the same time as Van Halen. Both Rhoads (who was recently recognized by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame) and Van Halen were guitarists to watch in the mid-1970s, playing with a similar flare and incorporating finger-tapping into their fleet-fingered solos. Still, Eddie Van Halen became a guitar hero before Rhoads, thanks to Van Halen’s immediate success. “I heard recently that Eddie [Van Halen] said he taught Randy all his licks … he never,” Osbourne says. “To be honest, Randy didn’t have a nice thing to say about Eddie. Maybe they had a falling out or whatever, but they were rivals.”

In May 2022, Guitar World premiered an exclusive excerpt from the Randy Rhoads documentary – Randy Rhoads: Reflections of a Guitar Icon. The clip (located below) contained archive audio of Rhoads discussing his six-string influences, as well as an exploration of the “cross-town rivalry” he had with Eddie Van Halen.

In additional archive audio, Eddie Van Halen could be heard discussing Rhoads himself, saying:

Eddie Van Halen:

“He was one guitarist who was honest, anyway. Because he said everything he did, he learned from me.

“He was good, but I don’t really think he did anything that I haven’t done. And there ain’t nothing wrong with it. I’ve copied some other people, you know?”

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Ozzy Osbourne: “Randy (Rhoads) didn’t have a nice thing to say about Eddie (Van Halen)” – 2022

Rolling Stone:

Seeing Jimi Hendrix. Acid flashbacks. What makes music “heavy.” Things we learned during our conversations with The Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne. ⬇️

You can read the entire feature @ this location. An excerpt has been provided below.

When Ozzy and Geezer Butler saw Jimi Hendrix live, they were enjoying distinct kinds of “Purple Haze.”

The hotel where I interviewed Ozzy is a block from where both the classical composer George Frideric Handel and Jimi Hendrix once lived (though not at the same time). Osbourne recalled getting Experienced back when the guitarist played Woburn, England in the summer of 1968 — the year Black Sabbath formed. “I seem to remember Jimi was great, but Geezer Butler said he was crap,” Osbourne says, laughing. “I don’t know, mate. I think he was taking a different drug than me, but we were only kids.”

Randy Rhoads, the first guitarist Osbourne worked with after Sabbath, wasn’t a big Eddie Van Halen fan.

Before joining Osbourne’s band, Rhoads had played guitar in the glam-rock group Quiet Riot, which had been gigging on the Sunset Strip at the same time as Van Halen. Both Rhoads (who was recently recognized by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame) and Van Halen were guitarists to watch in the mid-1970s, playing with a similar flare and incorporating finger-tapping into their fleet-fingered solos. Still, Eddie Van Halen became a guitar hero before Rhoads, thanks to Van Halen’s immediate success. “I heard recently that Eddie [Van Halen] said he taught Randy all his licks … he never,” Osbourne says. “To be honest, Randy didn’t have a nice thing to say about Eddie. Maybe they had a falling out or whatever, but they were rivals.”

Ozzy used to think Eric Clapton was actively avoiding him.

Decades ago, Osbourne thought Clapton, who played guitar solos on Patient Number 9’s “One of Those Days,” hated him. They’d met backstage at an awards show where Osbourne and Grace Jones presented Clapton with a guitar award. A photographer asked the three of them to pose together and encouraged Osbourne to pull his “crazy” faces and the singer reluctantly did so while Clapton looked serious. “I didn’t realize that he had just come out of Hazelden, Minnesota [Betty Ford Center], which made sense to me after a while,” Osbourne says, “because you’re in the world sober, and it’s a fucking scary world when you first get sober. … I said to Sharon, ‘He’s never going to allow that fucking photo to come out. He thinks I’m a cunt.’” The pic, to Osbourne’s knowledge, never made it into print.

About a decade later, Osbourne spotted Clapton at an AA meeting and tried to avoid him expecting the guitarist “to tell me what a fucking asshole I was.” They ran into each other at another meeting and this time Clapton chased after him. But instead of a torrent of invective, Clapton told him, “It’s great to see you in the room.” (Through a rep, Clapton declined to comment on this story.)

Ozzy took a lot of acid — but he doesn’t believe in flashbacks.

“I used to take acid all the time,” Osbourne says. “Not every day, just once or twice a week. Then I started to have bad trips, and every time I’d take it after that I’d have bad trips.” Did Osbourne ever get flashbacks? “No,” he says. “I don’t believe in … I mean I was a fucking flashback.” He laughs. “I was a flashback or flash-fucking-forward.”

You can read the entire feature @ this location.

In May 2022, Guitar World premiered an exclusive excerpt from the Randy Rhoads documentary – Randy Rhoads: Reflections of a Guitar Icon. The clip (located below) contained archive audio of Rhoads discussing his six-string influences, as well as an exploration of the “cross-town rivalry” he had with Eddie Van Halen.

In additional archive audio, Eddie Van Halen could be heard discussing Rhoads himself, saying:

Eddie Van Halen:

“He was one guitarist who was honest, anyway. Because he said everything he did, he learned from me.

“He was good, but I don’t really think he did anything that I haven’t done. And there ain’t nothing wrong with it. I’ve copied some other people, you know?”

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Behind the Album History Listen Music Top Stories

Sharon Osbourne on Why ‘Diary of a Madman’ was Written & Recorded So Close to the Release of ‘Blizzard of Ozz’: “We had no money” – Ozzy, Randy Rhoads, Bob Daisley, Lee Kerslake

The Immortal Randy Rhoads: SHARON ARDEN ON WHY SHE MADE THE DECISION TO HAVE THE GUYS WRITE AND RECORD DIARY OF A MADMAN SO CLOSE TO THE COMPLETION OF BLIZZARD OF OZZ…

Blizzard was recorded, and they went out and toured. Ozzy still could not get an American deal for the album release. Nobody wanted to know of Ozzy Osbourne in this country. They had done a tour of Europe and there was nothing for the guys to do. They were hanging out. We didn’t have any money 💰. The only way we could physically keep the band together was to keep working. The only thing we could do was to do another album 💿.

I said to them, “I’ll go to America 🇺🇸 and try to get something together, and you come up with another album 💿. It was a way of keeping them all together as a unit, because we didn’t have any money 💰. If they had just sat and did nothing, it would have drifted apart. They sat and wrote it. It was done in six weeks. Blizzard came out in England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 in September 1980. They were in the studio writing Diary by that Christmas. It was that quick.

We had no money 💰 and the only way we could survive was to give Jet Records more product. So, when they worked, they got paid. If they didn’t work, there was no money 💰. – Sharon Arden (Osbourne)

Wikipedia: During the recording of Diary of a Madman, drummer Lee Kerslake says the band members were given no money to live on, prompting them to approach management. Shortly after, both Kerslake and bassist Bob Daisley were fired.

Lee Kerslake:

“Everything was working fine. It was only when Sharon (Osbourne) came in that we had a problem. When she started managing—taking over—she wasn’t the manager until Diary of a Madman. Before that was her brother, David. He didn’t really want to handle it. He had too much to do for Don (Arden) in the office. So, she came in and it started to get edgy. But we never suspected a thing until we went away on holiday. Next minute, they’re rehearsing with Tommy Aldridge and Rudy Sarzo, and going to America.”

According to Randy Rhoads’ brother Kelle Rhoads:

“Randy felt a bit rushed for Diary of a Madman. He wished he had a little bit more time; he was a perfectionist. Of course, what’s on there is pretty good, but he had a little more time to work on the first record.”

During an interview with The Metal Voice, bassist Rudy Sarzo said:

“I was on the bus when Ozzy got the mixed version of the record. I saw his expression and I heard how he felt about it. He thought it was crap, the mix.

“If you really look back at that record, it was the first album of the ’80s to be mixed with so much ambiance. It sounds like an ’80s record, and nobody had heard that before. It was completely different from the sound of Blizzard of Ozz, and Ozzy just had no idea that this was going to be the sound of the future.”

Photographer:
Watal Asanuma 📸

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Producer Max Norman on Ozzy Osbourne’s ‘Blizzard’ & ‘Diary’ Inside the Albums, Randy Rhoads, Bob Daisley, Lee Kerslake – 2022 Interview

This is a full in bloom interview with producer/engineer Max Norman.

LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW VIA THE EMBEDDED YOUTUBE CLIP BELOW. You can access the video directly on YouTube @ this location.

DESCRIPTION:

Max talks about how he recorded Ozzy Osbourne’s ‘Blizzard of Ozz’ and ‘Diary of a Madman,’ and what it was like working with Ozzy, Randy Rhoads, Bob Daisley, and Lee Kerslake.

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Best of 80’s Guitar List According to Guitarists Warren DeMartini, Scott Ian, John 5, Marty Friedman, Adam Jones, Lita Ford, Mark Tremonti

Guitar World: Warren DeMartini, Steve Stevens, Lita Ford and an all-star panel share their guitar highlights of the ‘80s. You can check out the entire all-star panel @ this location.

An excerpt from the feature has been provided below.

‘

Scott Ian (ANTHRAX)
GREATEST GUITAR SOLO: Mr. Crowley, Randy Rhoads. His 1-2-3 punch of chops, technique and melody make this solo the one that not only stands out above all his other work, but above everyone else’s in the Eighties. And it’s fun to “air guitar” to!
BEST RIFF: AC/DC’s Back in Black came out in 1980 and set the tone for the rest of the decade.
ULTIMATE GUITAR ALBUM: Blizzard of Ozz by Ozzy. Randy tops Eddie [Van Halen’s] Women and Children First by a nose hair – and only because he was the new kid and it was all very exciting to hear someone come along A.E. – after Ed – and give us all ear boners.
PIECE OF GEAR THAT SCREAMS ’80s: The Floyd Rose! Eddie, Randy, Alex, Kirk, Dave, Steve, Joe, Neil, Kerry, Jeff, Vernon, me! etc., etc. They’re all first-name basis guitar players who used Floyd’s – and this is only the tip of the iceberg.
GUITARIST OF THE DECADE: Randy Rhoads
GREATEST SHREDDER: Steve Vai
UNDERAPPRECIATED HERO: Ty Tabor of King’s X. Ty’s playing on their two Eighties albums is wholly original. His tone is incredible, his feel, his sense of melody. He’s a monster. You need to listen to King’s X.
BEST MOVIE: Raging Bull
GREATEST HAIRSTYLE: Mike Score of A Flock of Seagulls
ULTIMATE EIGHTIES ACCESSORY: My Walkman Sport

Adam Jones (TOOL)
GREATEST GUITAR SOLO: Ozzy Osbourne’s Crazy Train (Randy Rhoads)
BEST RIFF: Ratt’s Lay It Down – drop D!
ULTIMATE GUITAR ALBUM: David Bowie’s Scary Monsters
PIECE OF GEAR THAT SCREAMS ’80s: ADA MP-1 preamp with a Roland AX-7 Keytar
GUITARIST OF THE DECADE: Eddie Van Halen
GREATEST SHREDDER: Yngwie Malmsteen
UNDERAPPRECIATED HERO: [Gang of Four’s] Andy Gill. [He had a] huge influence on me. His style was so passionate and raw, very unique at the time. When I mention him, most people say, “Who?”
BEST MOVIE: Blade Runner
GREATEST HAIRSTYLE: Any member of Kajagoogoo
ULTIMATE EIGHTIES ACCESSORY: Sony Walkman

John 5 (ROB ZOMBIE)
GREATEST GUITAR SOLO: Beat It. It really is just pure perfection.
BEST RIFF: Lay It Down by Ratt
ULTIMATE GUITAR ALBUM: Rising Force by Yngwie Malmsteen
PIECE OF GEAR THAT SCREAMS ’80s: My Boss Heavy Metal pedal.
GUITARIST OF THE DECADE: Steve Vai
GREATEST SHREDDER: Paul Gilbert came on the scene with Racer X and changed my life forever.
UNDERAPPRECIATED HERO: Vinnie Moore
BEST MOVIE: Crossroads with Ralph Macchio and Steve Vai – one of the best!
GREATEST HAIRSTYLE: My good friend Nikki Sixx had the coolest haircut in the Eighties.
ULTIMATE EIGHTIES ACCESSORY: My record collection. Without it, I wouldn’t be who I am today.

Lita Ford
GREATEST GUITAR SOLO: The Ripper by Lita Ford
BEST RIFF: Close My Eyes Forever by Lita Ford and Ozzy Osbourne
ULTIMATE GUITAR ALBUM: Lita by Lita Ford
PIECE OF GEAR THAT SCREAMS ’80s: B.C. Rich guitars
GUITARIST OF THE DECADE: Eddie Van Halen
GREATEST SHREDDER: Eddie Van Halen
UNDERAPPRECIATED HERO: Lita Ford – because she is/was a badass “female” guitarist. Not many people could handle that.
BEST MOVIE: Arthur
GREATEST HAIRSTYLE: Nikki Sixx
ULTIMATE EIGHTIES ACCESSORY: A guitar!

Warren DeMartini (RATT)
GREATEST GUITAR SOLO: (Jake E. Lee) Bark at the Moon by Ozzy Osbourne
BEST RIFF: Welcome to the Jungle by Guns N’ Roses
ULTIMATE GUITAR ALBUM: Blizzard of Ozz by Ozzy Osbourne
PIECE OF GEAR THAT SCREAMS ’80s: MXR Flanger
GUITARIST OF THE DECADE: Stevie Ray Vaughan
GREATEST SHREDDER: Yngwie Malmsteen
BEST MOVIE: The Blues Brothers
GREATEST HAIRSTYLE: Tommy Lee
ULTIMATE EIGHTIES ACCESSORY: Vitamin B12

Mark Tremonti (CREED)
GREATEST GUITAR SOLO: Jeff Beck’s People Get Ready, a great example of the pure emotion that one of the best players that ever lived is capable of laying down.
BEST RIFF: Lay It Down by Ratt. It is just that classic Eighties metal-era iconic riff that everybody’s learned over the years.
ULTIMATE GUITAR ALBUM: Stevie Ray Vaughan, Texas Flood
PIECE OF GEAR THAT SCREAMS ’80s: The ADA MP-1, a rack-mounted guitar processor. I never got the MP1, but I did have the MP2.
GUITARIST OF THE DECADE: Eddie Van Halen, hands down.
GREATEST SHREDDER: Eddie Van Halen. He’s the godfather of shred guitar and put that style of playing on the map.
UNDERAPPRECIATED HERO: Neal Schon.
BEST MOVIE: Crossroads was one of the reasons I wanted to start playing guitar. The “cutting heads” scene is one of the most iconic guitar movie scenes of all time.
GREATEST HAIRSTYLE: Dee Snider
ULTIMATE EIGHTIES ACCESSORY: The Rockman Sustainor rack that Tom Scholz created.

Marty Friedman (MEGADETH)
GREATEST GUITAR SOLO: Wuthering Heights by Pat Benatar (Neil Giraldo)
BEST RIFF: Here It Comes by Ezo
ULTIMATE GUITAR ALBUM: Crimes of Passion by Pat Benatar. Every solo is totally different, and every song has lots of unique and very effective guitar work.
PIECE OF GEAR THAT SCREAMS ’80s: Quadraverb
GUITARIST OF THE DECADE: It would be impossible to choose one, probably thanks to the high standard set by EVH.
UNDERAPPRECIATED HERO: Steve Lukather. People know how great he is, but many are not aware that his massive body of musical work is so overwhelmingly expansive and diverse that there are literally no rivals as far as I know.
BEST MOVIE: The Last American Virgin
GREATEST HAIRSTYLE: The bass player on the first Cinderella album cover.
ULTIMATE EIGHTIES ACCESSORY: Hair

Joel Stroetzel (KILLSWITCH ENGAGE)
GREATEST GUITAR SOLO: Into the Fire by Dokken (George Lynch)
BEST RIFF: Opening riff to Lay It Down by Ratt
ULTIMATE GUITAR ALBUM: Rising Force by Yngwie Malmsteen
PIECE OF GEAR THAT SCREAMS ’80s: Original Eighties hot pink Ibanez JEM
GUITARIST OF THE DECADE: Eddie Van Halen
SHREDDER: Paul Gilbert
UNDERAPPRECIATED HERO: Adrian Vandenburg. Killer vibrato [and] awesome-sounding hands.
BEST MOVIE: Purple Rain
GREATEST HAIRSTYLE: Mike Score of A Flock of Seagulls
ULTIMATE EIGHTIES ACCESSORY: Walkman cassette player!

You can check out the entire all-star panel @ this location.

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Motley Crue Bassist Nikki Sixx’s Failed Quiet Riot Audition, “Randy (Rhoads) couldn’t sit there and teach him how to play bass” – Kevin Dubrow’s full in bloom Interview Featured in the 2022 Randy Rhoads Documentary – VIDEO

A clip from an old school full in bloom interview I did with Quiet Riot vocalist Kevin Dubrow, just prior to his death, can be heard in the recent Randy Rhoads documentary (Reflections of a Guitar Icon). Even though they stiffed me on the payment THEY OFFERED, I still enjoyed hearing it play during the film.

WATCH THE VIDEO CLIP BELOW

TRANSCRIPTION:

full in bloom: What was the (L.A.) music scene like back then, like before you made it?

Kevin Dubrow:

Terrible. Van Halen got signed a couple of years prior and we thought we’d be the next ones, but we weren’t. We were the only hard rock band, pretty much, in town at that time. Motley (Crue) had just got started, so they were pretty much coming up in the clubs. We had been out there as Quiet Riot for a number of years. A lot of bands like The Knack.

full in bloom: Do you remember London at all?

I remember that they were just awful. Oh, God. I mean, nice guy, Lizzie Grey, but the worst guitar sound of all time. I remember he could peel wallpaper; it was so treble-y and bad. He’s a really nice guy, and he’s still hanging out there. God bless him. I don’t know how he earns a living after all these years. The drummer Dana (Rage), I ran into him about two years ago.

I knew all the guys. I mean, they had Nigel Benjamin from Mott, and I was a big fan of Mott. They were never very good. Nikki (Sixx) stumbled onto a real good thing with Motley Crue image-wise because Motley Crue started in the image of London, which was very pop, REALLY pop, & then Nikki realized that wasn’t going to be the thing that was going to crack it for them.

full in bloom: Well, I think he even took stuff from….

Blackie.

full in bloom: Yeah, Blackie Lawless.

Absolutely, but he took a darker, evil, hard rock direction as opposed to the real light pop thing of London because it was real pop. It was trying to be a mixture between the Raspberries and the New York Dolls and, musically, really light.

full in bloom: They were, other than you guys, the other hard rock band on the scene?

Well, Quiet Riot predated London by years. London was around the same time as Dubrow. But remember that Nikki auditioned for Quiet Riot when Kelly (Garni) left in ’77.

full in bloom: You’re kidding?

Kevin: No. We predated these bands by at least four or five years; long years, let me tell you.

full in bloom: Was Nikki any good at that time?

No.

full in bloom: He was terrible?

He didn’t know the names of the notes. Yeah, so Randy (Rhoads) couldn’t sit there and teach him how to play bass. We really liked him as a person, but he just didn’t know how to play the instrument. That’s not an insult; it’s just a fact. I mean, in 1977, he did not know the instrument.

full in bloom: But he actually sat down and jammed with you guys?

No. Not really. We said, “The song is in the key of F,” and he said, “Where’s F?” So, we couldn’t get as far as jamming to be honest with you.

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Eddie Van Halen on Randy Rhoads, “He said everything he did he learned from me” – VIDEO – 2022 – Documentary

Guitar World: Premiered exclusively by Guitar World, a new clip from the upcoming Randy Rhoads documentary – Randy Rhoads: Reflections of a Guitar Icon – has been released. The clip contains archive audio of Rhoads discussing his six-string influences, as well as an exploration of the “cross-town rivalry” he had with Eddie Van Halen.

In additional archive audio, Eddie Van Halen can be heard discussing Rhoads himself, saying,

“He was one guitarist who was honest, anyway. Because he said everything he did he learned from me.

“He was good, but I don’t really think he did anything that I haven’t done. And there ain’t nothing wrong with it. I’ve copied some other people, you know?”

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Randy Rhoads Documentary: Reflections of a Guitar Icon – Official Trailer – 2022

Greg Renoff: Can’t wait to see this new documentary / Randy Rhoads: Reflections of a Guitar Icon – narrated by Tracii Guns.

Randy Rhoads, one of the greatest guitar players who ever lived, was taken too soon and his story remains a mystery. In this documentary, we experience the life of Randy Rhoads from his time with Quiet Riot to becoming an icon with Ozzy Osbourne. Explore never before scene music, interviews, and performances.