Posted on 03/19/2012 4:31:24 AM PDT by The Ignorant Fisherman
I’ve never heard of this man, but just last might I was reminiscing about Keith Green with an old friend. He also died in a plane
crash 30 years ago. I loved many of Keith Green’s songs, especially “There is a Redeemer.”
I went to the “Rock Superbowl” in Orlando the next day, and they had procured Pat Travers as Ozzy’s replacement. Travers fried the sound system, so the headliner, Foreigner, sounded horrible. The undercard: Bryan Adams and UFO, who blew me away.
Not to take away from this or his fire, but there’s plenty of great rock and metal guitarists that have died way too young.
Stevie Ray Vaughan who got cleaned up, died in a helicopter crash.
Criss Oliva, guitarist for Savatage, who died because of a drunk driver. (If you want to hear passionate metal guitar, check out Savatage from Sirens to Edge of Thorns - heaviest tone I’ve ever heard)
I had tickets to go see the Ozzy tour, show was scheduled a couple weeks away but after thr crash the show was outright cancelled. Brad Gillis later filled in but when Randy died, my interest in Ozzy solo disapated and I went back to my Black Sabbath records.
I became an Ozzy fan at 13 after already being a metal fan since I heard AC/DC and KISS, Ted Nugent, The Beatles, and the like when I was nine years old and started hanging out with friends who had older brothers and sisters. Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman are two of the. Est metal albums ever due to collaboration of Ozzy and Randy. Randy was as much of an influence to get Ozzy back on the wagon as was his wife Sharon.
Folks that aren’t metalheads and of the religious stripe would even find God Bless Ozzy Osbourne quite an uplifting movie.
I gave up church at 10 when a Sunday school teacher tried to tell me that a human had a longer gestation period than an elephant.
I am very proud of my metal history, and respect those that choose to be Christians.
I remember driving home from work when they announced the accident...I was devestated.
God bless Randy. Genius.
The really sad part is that he died because they were goofing off. It’s not like it was bad weather or an engine failure. They were buzzing the tour bus.
If he had lived, I truly believe he would have left Ozzy after a couple of more albums....but what AWESOME albums they would be.
“Diary of a Madman” is still my favorite Ozzy song.
Something similar happened with Jim Croce.
Randy was definitely a huge influence on my life. I saw Ozzy in 1981 and when Randy came out on stage and began playing, it changed my life. I returned to school and signed up for the guitar classes offered.
Before that day, I had no direction in life no desires to be the best that I could be at anything. When Randy walked out on the stage, smiled in his platform shoes and made that Les Paul do what he made it do... I was mesmerized.
There has never been another celebrity that has touched my soul the way Randy did. It’s hard to believe that it’s been 30 years.
God bless you Randy Rhoads. Thank you for inspiring me and bringing me out of the depths of self pity and despair.
-—Stevie Ray Vaughan who got cleaned up, died in a helicopter crash.——
I miss Stevie. I tell my girls, who don’t really get him, that “it’s manly music for men.” ;-)
I was a teenager and a budding singer/songwriter. I idolized Jim Croce for his story telling ability. I remember laying in my bed listening to a local Texas radio station when his death was announced. I cried.
I was in seventh grade when he passed away. I still remember that day like it happened yesterday. He was a big influence on me as a guitarist, may he rest in peace. The solo to Mr. Crowley, is what made me want play. I heard that when Randy auditioned for the job, he play the whole solo to freebird, and ozzy said you’re in. Don’t know if its true, but a lot of randys music sounded like skynyrd to me.
We were just telling a younger person about Keith last week...what a joy to see/hear "So you wanna go back to Egypt?" on youtube...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MD9W61KZYxk
Not meaning to hijack the thread...
If you like Randy, you should definitely look at Rudy Sarzo’s book “Off the Rails.” It’s kind of a part bio, part tribute to Randy. And, in general, I’d urge everyone to look at “You Keep Me Hangin’ On,” by Mark Stein and myself about the golden era of Rock and his bio with Vanilla Fudge.
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