Ozzy Osbourne Randy Rhoads: Goodbye To Romance

The career of Randy Rhoads was cut far too short at the age of 25 – but his architecturally precise, hyper-speed solos helped lay the foundation for guitarist decades to follow.

Maybe Lemmy Kilmister ^⇗ said it best? “I loved Randy he took risks , he wasn’t scared , he knew his instrument, so he would just go for it. That’s what I used to like about him.” – From: Thirty Years After The Blizzard DVD

Kilmister had nothing but nice things to say about Randy, watch the clip below.

Lemmy on Blizzard of Ozz

Often regarded as one of the greatest hard rock/heavy metal guitarist of all time, Randy Rhoads was born on December 6, 1956, in Santa Monica, California. His mother, Delores Rhoads, was a music teacher and Randy began playing guitar before age 10. By age 13, Randy had developed an interest in hard rock and after playing in several school bands, he co-founded Quiet Riot with vocalist Kevin DuBrow. Rhoads was a major draw on the L.A club circuit, he also worked as a guitar teacher before joining Osbourne’s Blizzard of Ozz band in 1979.

By the time the extraordinarily talented guitarist recorded his final album with Ozzy Osbourne, Diary of a Madman, Randy Rhoads was getting deeper into classical music, and even exploring jazz, leaving the world to forever ponder, what would he have done next?

Ozzy Osbourne on Randy Rhoads: “If anything, it was the true, truest musician I’ve ever know because he was um, what he would do when he came to England and when he got time off, he would drive around to see all these different places you know? He’s probably seen more of England than I have, you know? And um, he was very dedicated to his instrument, in fact when we were touring America he wanted to get a classical degree, and uh, I don’t know what for, I mean he was a great guitar player but…He said to me one time you know I’m not going to do rock n roll all my life, I wanna become a classical guitar teacher and I wanna get a degree in classical music. And every day off, he’d get the Yellow Pages, and all of us would be in the bars getting drunk and whatever, he’d be having a classical lesson in his room.”

Ozzy on Randy Rhoads

On May 31st, 2011, fans had their first taste of the Blizzard Of Ozz / Diary Of A Madman reissue in the form of a limited edition 30th-anniversary deluxe boxed set.

The set included previously unreleased bonus tracks, which is why this article was written, for those who may not have had the pleasure of hearing the Ozzy Osbourne and Randy Rhoads Isolated studio tracks. These remastered bonus tracks truly helped fans hear both their heroes musical brilliance uncluttered by added drum and bass tracks. And beside Goodbye To Romance being Ozzy’s special way of closing the chapter on Black Sabbath, the isolated guitar tracks really put emphasis on the early teachings of Randy’s late mother Delores. We hope you’ll have a listen and enjoy the clip below.