VIDEO'S OF THE WEEK - RANDY RHOADS Special

[Niels (Mod)]

VOTW - RANDY RHOADS Special

IMHO Randy Rhoads is only second to Eddie Van Halen. But if Rhoads had lived longer, than he did, he might had been numero uno. I remember listening to the Blizzard of Ozz-album back in the end of 1980, and was amazed at the power-sound of the guitar, one of the reasons why this album imo, is one of the most important albums in rock-history. If I had the ability to bring back only one of the dead rock-stars, to see, what would had happend, if he hadn't died so soon, it would be Randy Rhoads. Sadly, there isn't much footage of Rhoads, not even of the original Blizzard of Ozz-band (Ozzy, Randy, Bob Daisly and Lee Kerslake). The last video is not even a video, but Rhoads there, and that¨'s what matters.(Wikipedea): Randall William "Randy" Rhoads (December 6, 1956 – March 19, 1982) was an American heavy metal guitarist who played with Ozzy Osbourne and Quiet Riot. He died in a plane accident while on tour with Osbourne in Florida in 1982. A devoted student of classical guitar, Rhoads combined his classical music influences with his own heavy metal style. Despite his short career, Rhoads, who was a major influence on neo-classical metal, is cited as an influence by many guitarists and is included in several "Greatest Guitarist" lists.

QUIET RIOT - PICKING UP THE PIECES

At age 16, Rhoads and Garni formed the band Little Women. At approximately the same time, Rhoads began teaching guitar in his mother's school during the day and playing live gigs at night. He graduated from Burbank High School, participating in a special program that allowed him to condense his studies and graduate early so he could teach guitar and pursue music full-time. Recruiting Kevin DuBrow as lead vocalist, the band soon changed its name to Quiet Riot. The drummer, Drew Forsyth, had periodically played with Rhoads and Garni in the past.Quiet Riot quickly became one of the most popular acts on the Los Angeles club circuit, and by late 1976 were signed to CBS/Sony Records. Rhoads' "polka-dot theme" became the visual focal point of the band, as many fans began showing up at Quiet Riot shows wearing polka-dot bow-ties and vests, emulating what the guitarist wore on stage.While the band had a strong following in Los Angeles, Quiet Riot and Quiet Riot II were released only in Japan.

QUIET RIOT - YOU DRIVE ME CRAZY

QUIT RIOT - 

There isn't much on wiki, regarding Randy Rhoads periode in QR. Well, not about the music, anyway. It seems to me, that he wasn't at all developed as a guitarist in QR, and that's why I wonder, what it could had been 5 years later (if he hadn't diede), since he was SO much better in those few years with Blizzard Of Ozz.

OZZY OSBOURNE - MR. CROWLEY

In 1979, ex-Black Sabbath vocalist Ozzy Osbourne was in Los Angeles, attempting to form a new band. An acquaintance of Osbourne's, future Slaughter bassist Dana Strum, contacted Rhoads to see if he was interested. Rhoads, disillusioned with Quiet Riot's inability to land an American recording deal, discussed the possibility of joining an already established band with his mother Delores. When she asked him if he would accept "an offer like this one", the guitarist replied "Of course!"Rhoads got the call for the audition just before his final show with Quiet Riot in September 1979. The day before Osbourne was scheduled to return to England, Rhoads walked into the vocalist's Los Angeles hotel room with his Gibson Les Paul guitar and a practice amp and started warming up. Osbourne, who was very inebriated on that day, said of the audition "He played this fucking solo and I'm like, am I that fucking stoned or am I hallucinating or what the fuck is this!" Osbourne immediately gave him the job. Rhoads recalled later, "I just tuned up and did some riffs, and he said, 'You've got the gig'; I had the weirdest feeling, because I thought, 'You didn't even hear me yet'". Rhoads, Osbourne, Strum, and drummer Frankie Banali subsequently spent a couple of days jamming together before Osbourne returned to England.Upon returning to England, Osbourne was introduced to ex-Rainbow bassist Bob Daisley by a Jet Records employee named Arthur Sharpe in a pub, and the pair hit it off and decided to work together. Unhappy with the guitarist they were initially working with, Osbourne mentioned to Daisley that he had recently met a talented young guitarist in Los Angeles by the name of Randy Rhoads. The new group's management intended to keep the lineup all-British and was reluctant to hire an unknown American guitarist, but manager David Arden eventually relented. Rhoads flew to England on November 27, 1979, and met with Osbourne and Daisley at the Jet Records' offices in London. The trio traveled by train to Osbourne's home, Bulrush Cottage, which also housed a rehearsal space. It was here that Rhoads lived with Osbourne, his then-wife Thelma, and their two children, during his first weeks in England. Years later, Osbourne said in his autobiography that he could not understand why a musician as talented as Rhoads would want to get involved with a "bloated alcoholic wreck" like himself.After a short search, drummer Lee Kerslake completed the new band, then known as The Blizzard of Ozz.

OZZY OSBOURNE RARE TV SEGMENT

Rhoads played his last show on Thursday, March 18, 1982, at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum. The next day, the band was heading to a festival in Orlando, Florida. Osbourne recalls his final conversation with Rhoads that night on the bus involved the guitarist admonishing him over his heavy drinking. The last thing Rhoads said to him that night was, "You'll kill yourself, you know? One of these days." After driving much of the night, they stopped in Leesburg, Florida, to fix a malfunctioning air conditioning unit on the bus while Osbourne remained asleep. On the property there was an airstrip with small helicopters and planes. Without permission, tour bus driver and ex-commercial pilot Andrew Aycock took a small Beechcraft F35 plane registered to a Mike Partin. On the first flight, Aycock took keyboardist Don Airey and tour manager Jake Duncan. He then landed and a second flight took to the air with Rhoads and makeup artist Rachel Youngblood aboard. During the second flight, attempts were made to apparently 'buzz' the tour bus, where the other band members were sleeping. Aycock succeeded in making two close passes, but botched the third attempt. At approximately 10 AM, after being in the air for approximately five minutes, one of the plane's wings clipped the top of the tour bus, breaking the wing into two parts and sending the plane spiraling out of control. The initial impact with the bus caused Rhoads' and Youngblood's heads to crash through the plane's windshield. The plane then severed the top of a pine tree and crashed into the garage of a nearby mansion, bursting into flames. Keyboardist Don Airey was the only member of the band to witness the crash, as the rest were asleep in the bus. Rhoads was killed instantly, as were Aycock and Youngblood . All three bodies were burned beyond recognition, and Rhoads was identified by dental records and personal jewelry.

[Scott]

QUIET RIOT - PICKING UP THE PIECES ... Interesting as I've never heard this before. Its far more melodic than some of the non-radio QR tunes.  And truly, I had no idea that they released two albums prior to Metal Health.  Not a great tune to showcase Rhoads guitar playing but not a bad slice of history either.  I had heard of one, but what do I know?  I'm not a big QR fan.  I will say I have an interest in the new documentary that's out there.

QUIET RIOT - YOU DRIVE ME CRAZY ... DuBrow is a tough listen.  Here again the tune doesn't really work and Rhoads isn't given a platform to really shine.  I can see why he moved on.

QUIET RIOT - ... Well at least he cuts loose here, no doubt the dude can play and no doubt we lost out on hearing him really grow and take over. But after 3 QR tunes I'm convinced he had to leave that group.

OZZY OSBOURNE - MR. CROWLEY ... A much better showcase for his talent, far more melodic and hard rocking and it fits him perfectly for the time.  Ozzy cuts him loose at least.  Watching Ozzy at the end of the video and he has this look of "Is this really my band?" on his face.  He seems amazed as he should be.

OZZY OSBOURNE RARE TV SEGMENT ... Sad bit of reading at the end of your post and huge shame.  I too would've loved to see what was next for him.  I am not convinced that an extended stay with Ozzy would have been in the cards for him.  But we'll never know...

Nice work, leaves me wondering what couldve been....

[Niels (Mod)]

Maybe Ozzy thinks "Hey, that's not Daisly and Kerslake? I thought, they were the ones on the albums, and that they wrote everything together with Rhoads, but I guess it was another drunken dream?! Damn, I'm lucky, I have Sharon to sack everyone around me, so I won't have to pay all these dudes money, when it turns out, it's NOT some stoned out fantasy".

[RJhog (Admin)]

Honestly, I've never had much of an opinion on Rhoads.  It's not that I don't think he can play, but I've just never been overly interested in his music.  Let's see what you've got to offer...

Picking Up The Pieces - Let's face it, Quiet Riot was never one of the greatest rock bands.  They had a few good songs, mostly covers, and those were even after RR left the band (I think).  So I expected zero from this song, but despite the awful sound quality of this clip, I definitely enjoyed the song.  It seems as though most of the QR stuff during the RR years had co-writers, not that it matters.  I assume Dubrow wrote the lyrics and RR wrote the music.  Best song so far.

You Drive Me Crazy - This recording is enormously irritating to listen to.  Between the talkers in the audience and the quiet/loud guitars, it's just annoying.  Dubrow doesn't sound particularly good either.  Sounds like there might be some interesting playing in there by RR, but it's too difficult to listen to to find out.  It even sounds like his guitar is out of tune.

Look In Any Window - This song has some potential.  It would benefit with some better production.

Mr. Crowley - I can't say I've ever been a fan of this song, but listening to it this time, it is a very good song.  RR does some serious shredding on the solo, and the guitar in general sounds pretty big in this song.  This song certainly shows the potential of where Rhoads could have gone.

TV Segment - Yep, Ozzy's a full blown lunatic.  I'm sure those shows were a spectacle to behold though.  

I certainly think Rhoads could play and I'm sure he would have done great things if not for the tragic accident that took his and two other people's lives.  

[Niels (Mod)]

It looks like, the footage from the TV-segment is from early 1982, or something like that. I looked out for a video without all the talking, but couldn't find any. It looks like a great show (imo), and the footage must had been recorded only months before Rhoads death. I saw Ozzy (with Jake E. Lee) less than a year after this footage (if we asume it's from early '82), and it was a much smaller scale: as support to Whitesnake, and Ozzy was bald as Kojak and absolute no "stage-show" whatsoever. That tells me, that "they" almost had to start over, when Rhoads died. "Bark At The Moon" and every "Ozzy-album" after that one were not very good at all, meaning Rhoads was the main songwriter (and Daisly the main lyrics-writer) considering the two classic "Blizzard of Ozz"-albums. Dasily says, that Rhoads was talking about leaving Ozzy, because of the way he was treated by Ozzy and especailly Sharon, and I'm sure he would had made great music on his own, or with a new band of some kind. The greatest loss in music-history imo.