Happy Birthday Mr. Crowley!!!

[RacerX]

;( why did you have to get on that plane :_(

Aw, man, I can't tell you how many times I have asked him that also...

RIP Randy

[Newc]

Aw, man, I can't tell you how many times I have asked him that also...

RIP Randy

"for everything, there is a season"

Les Paul was an in-demand session player for years, and influenced many others, so much that his mother called him one day saying she'd heard him playing on a particular song which he had not played on. He told her "I didn't play on that" and she said "well, you better do something, because people are copying you".

It was then he invented multitracking which led to the sound he is best remembered for - the multilayered, pitch-shifted, multiple guitar sound he used during the Les Paul/Mary Ford years.

If Randy had lived to see how many he influenced, would he have felt "copied" and branched off in a new direction? He has been quoted as saying that Diary was his last album with Ozzy as he was going to pursue Classical seriously, but would he?
Or would he have struck out on his own as an instrumentalist like Satch?

These are the questions that Randy left behind, and for which there are no answers.

This is the tragedy of his death - what would he have accomplished had he lived?

If Eric Clapton kicked the bucket today, everyone would say "what a shame, but man, he did everything!"

SRV dabbled a bit outside of the blues-rock thing he was known for, but his death left the same questions: what would he be doing today?

When Page goes, the world will lose someone like Clapton - one who's done it all, from rock to blues to folkish stuff. He may still have things to say, but he's said a lot already.

Randy said a lot, and most feel he had more to say, but was cut off before he could say it.

Steve Clark wasn't an influential player, and those always get the biggest legacies. It's not that he's forgotten, he just wasn't as memorable as the others.

[Tekky]

Read "Off The Rails" by Rudy Sarzo. According to that book, Randy made a deal with Ozzy to record "Speak of the Devil" and one more album and then he was leaving the band. (Randy didn't relish the idea of playing Sabbath covers in the set, let alone an entire show of them) He was going back to school for classical guitar and then pursue career as a studio muscian.

[MartinBarre]

"Randy Rhoads really is loved. I can't say I know why. No offence, I don't mean I don't like his playing - I just haven't heard much of it, even though I own an RR3.
I need to give his stuff a listen."

I find it funny that you are playing a guitar he desiged and surfing a board that if not for randy and other artists who played jackson might not exsist.randy is so well loved because to alot of he is our guitar hero taken away from us in the prime of his life and a major influence on metal as we hear it today.If you want to know why he is loved so much throw a copy of blizzard or diary or tribute and listen to how great he was as a player.I guess if you had been alive when he was around you would understand better how great randy was.

Hmm, I'm not sure how to take your post there. I'm actually 30 years old, I just never got into Ozzy's solo stuff so never listened to Randy Rhoads. I bought the RR3 not because of Randy, I just like the look of them and, in fact, I recall Dan Spitz playing them in Anthrax and that's really who interested me in the RR model guitar. I love the Les Paul but I don't sit and listen to Les Paul records all day. Shit, I don't even know if he made any!
I wasn't suggesting Randy was a shit guitarist or trying to be disrespectful to his memory, I did say I'd just never listened to him.

I didn't think I had to be a big fan of everyone who ever played a Jackson just to surf this board. I'm a fan of plenty though, if that's any help - Mustaine, Anthrax, Phil Collen, Karl Sanders, Ralph Santolla, Ashmedi (Melechesh), Chris Holmes etc etc.

[DrDoug]

I think the big reason Randy is remembered so well in the music world is that he had finally made it, and he was on the rise when he passed away. I remember where I was (at work) and what I was doing (installing an engine/outdrive package in a boat) when I heard that he was gone. I was just stunned, and when I heard the particulars of the death, I too asked 'Why did you get on that damned plane?'.

DOAM knocked me on my ass, it was that good. If you remember the music at the time, it was unlike anything that was out by anyone else. He was different, and his talent flowed when he played. Watching him play was pure joy, I loved it and you know he did too.

RIP Randy, and Happy Birthday. I hope you have the amps cranked to 11 and are making the angels ears bleed.

[Jacksons Shred]

RIP Randy.

I've convinced myself that the world simply wasn't ready for what Randy had in store for us... Same with Jason Becker (Even though Becker is still alive..Physically dead)

[CharvelRocker]

"for everything, there is a season"

Les Paul was an in-demand session player for years, and influenced many others, so much that his mother called him one day saying she'd heard him playing on a particular song which he had not played on. He told her "I didn't play on that" and she said "well, you better do something, because people are copying you".

It was then he invented multitracking which led to the sound he is best remembered for - the multilayered, pitch-shifted, multiple guitar sound he used during the Les Paul/Mary Ford years.

If Randy had lived to see how many he influenced, would he have felt "copied" and branched off in a new direction? He has been quoted as saying that Diary was his last album with Ozzy as he was going to pursue Classical seriously, but would he?
Or would he have struck out on his own as an instrumentalist like Satch?

These are the questions that Randy left behind, and for which there are no answers.

This is the tragedy of his death - what would he have accomplished had he lived?

If Eric Clapton kicked the bucket today, everyone would say "what a shame, but man, he did everything!"

SRV dabbled a bit outside of the blues-rock thing he was known for, but his death left the same questions: what would he be doing today?

When Page goes, the world will lose someone like Clapton - one who's done it all, from rock to blues to folkish stuff. He may still have things to say, but he's said a lot already.

Randy said a lot, and most feel he had more to say, but was cut off before he could say it.

Steve Clark wasn't an influential player, and those always get the biggest legacies. It's not that he's forgotten, he just wasn't as memorable as the others.

Excellent post which I agree totally to. Happy Birthday Randy, hope you're up their shredding away.

[Vass]

Happy Birthday to the guy that changed music for me, utterly & forever, with one listen.

Vass

[BODOM]

Hmm, I'm not sure how to take your post there. I'm actually 30 years old, I just never got into Ozzy's solo stuff so never listened to Randy Rhoads. I bought the RR3 not because of Randy, I just like the look of them and, in fact, I recall Dan Spitz playing them in Anthrax and that's really who interested me in the RR model guitar. I love the Les Paul but I don't sit and listen to Les Paul records all day. Shit, I don't even know if he made any!
I wasn't suggesting Randy was a shit guitarist or trying to be disrespectful to his memory, I did say I'd just never listened to him.

I didn't think I had to be a big fan of everyone who ever played a Jackson just to surf this board. I'm a fan of plenty though, if that's any help - Mustaine, Anthrax, Phil Collen, Karl Sanders, Ralph Santolla, Ashmedi (Melechesh), Chris Holmes etc etc.


Just my 2 cents dude.also you didnt just say you hadnt listened to him you post states that you dont why everyone loves him.to me that implies that you think that love is a joke or he is a joke.Sorry that just how I feel about your post and sorry if I misread your comment in any way.

[sully]

yesterday was a day spent listening to the albums that turned my guitar playing world on its ass; blizzard and diary. ace frehley made me want to play; randy made me want to play well. whether i do or not is another discussion.

for those who are unfamiliar with his work; go grab tribute and give it a listen. then go back and find the original (before oz had the original bass and drum tracks redone) versions of blizzard and diary. listen to all of the guitar parts going on at once, then listen to tribute and hear how he put them all together in one part that was just bliss.

randy was just....wonderful.

sully

[Bri]

Well said Sully.

I was at a family reunion last year and my cousin's 16 year old kid was playing some songs for me. He played Crazy Train. He talked to me about how Randy is still an influence to kids his age. I told him I wished he was around back when Blizzard was brand new. Randy's playing is still incredible now, but hearing him back then is just something that can't be explained. We can tell the young 'n's it knocked the guitar world on it's ass, but you really had to be there. The first day I heard Randy was one of my happiest, the day I heard he was no longer with us was one of the saddest.

[Rich#6]

As a kid my parents tried to get me into classical music( I dont' know why my dad listens to the oldies). I started listening to the hard rock station and started to get into scorpions, queen, and AC/DC.
One day my broather brought home Blizzard and Diary. Within the first 30 seconds of hearing "I don't know" I was just blown away and I fan for life. Randy has been my favorite guitar player ever since.

[Vass]

If nobody's seen it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hwq3nNHyPI&feature=related

This is a cut version from Tribute. It sounds like 2 guys playing to me, maybe 3. How he does fills like that and keeps the sickest rhythm rolling forward is completely fucking beyond me.

All these years later I can listen to it 10 times in a row and get goosebumps, every single time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZOMtp-JNE8

In Quiet Riot, noodling around. Bear in mind he's probably in his very early 20's here, if not his late teens.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhgIuPcRIAE

A kinda cool mishmosh of Randy's solos strung together.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFID93BfU3c&feature=related

And finally a bunch of live shit with interviews interspersed..

Vass


Vass

[Larz]

I could have 50 good years of playing time and I'll never come close to the stuff he laid down in those brief couple of years.

[atarilovesyou]

As far as Steve Clarke goes, the facts are that he didn't die in a tragic accident, or something like that. He was an alcoholic, and booze and pills don't mix. I think it's still tragic, but when it comes to legacy, sometime the way in which you go matters to people.

But if that's the case, then what about Hendrix? Or Jim Morrison? Or Bon Scott?

Basically...Rhoads was awesome. He did have a bunch of licks that were essentially EVH's, he's admitted to that. So instead of follow EVH, he went his route of neo-classical playing. I have no doubt in my mind that if Randy were here today, that period after he left Ozzy he would have gone on to do something along the lines of YJM....but in an "american" way. Plus he wouldn't have the dillhole attitude that YJM has...I mean, I love YJM but damn...lol.