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Randy Rhoads: An Appreciation…

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You know how sometimes you just have to listen to a

particular album? Maybe you’re sad, maybe a bit down;
maybe you just love that album so fucking much that it TRENDING
transports you to a place of absolute joy when you listen to
Reviews
it. For me it wasn’t just an album but a series of albums
Sevendust – Truth
that I simply had to listen to again. Recently coming out of a Featured
Killer (Napalm
serious Black Sabbath bender where I listened to every Cheap
Records) Trick’s
Robin Zander:
album chronologically, I naturally went on to listen to a ‘We’ll go on until
whole bunch of solo stuff by Dio, Gillan, and of course, the we can’t write
whole suite of Ozzy’s solo albums. songs anymore…
or until one of us
Featured
It was at some point during my total immersion in Blizzard of dies!’
Napalm Death’s
Oz (released in 1980) and Diary of a Madman (released in 1981) Barney Greenway:
that my profound appreciation for Randy Rhoads’ guitar “There’s Always
Gonna Be
work was reignited. I say ‘reignited’ because twenty or thirty
Something To
years ago, I had been a massive fan – and yet his six string Write About”…
skills had somehow slid out of my mind like that crazy
slide/scratch opening note of I Don’t Know. I recall sitting
there, almost dumb-founded, that I had completely
forgotten how much I absolutely adored his work – and of
course, one cannot but be delighted with those absolute
Behemothic bass lines courtesy of Bob Daisley (never mind
all of that ‘unpleasantness’ associated with the 2002 re-
issue controversy). But it wasn’t enough for me to listen
back to the studio albums of Diary and Blizzard; I had to hear
his live playing again, perfectly exemplified by Tribute
(released 1987).

I must confess that while I loved Rhoads’ guitar work with

Quiet Riot (which he co-founded way back in 1973), it was
his work with Ozzy that really stood out for me – even if
some folk say he did recycle a bunch of old Quiet Riot riffs
with Ozzy; I like to think of it as breathing new life into an
old tune (and I’m sure anyone who’s ever played in a band
will admit this happens more often than not).

Rhoads’ technical skills have been labelled many things

including ‘heavy metal’, ‘hard rock’, and my personal
favourite ‘neoclassical metal’ – his ability to create solos of
exceptional beauty, instantly recognisable as his own, his
fusion of the heaviest rock and metal riffs with the

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8/23/23, 9:30 AM Randy Rhoads: An Appreciation... - Sentinel Daily

technical precision of classical music, these all worked

together to result in a style of playing that changed the face
of metal in the late seventies/eighties.

He began learning folk and classical guitar at the age of

seven, attending his mother’s music school, with his
attendance at an Alice Cooper gig in 1971 acting as a
defining moment for him. He was struck by the revelation
that ‘this’ is what he wanted to do. He actually began
teaching guitar at his mother’s music school when he was
sixteen, and at the same time formed Little Women with
Kelly Garni, which became the predecessor to Quiet Riot.
Again, as much as I loved Quiet Riot, it was Rhoads playing
with Osbourne that really blew my mind – there seems to
me a certain delicacy on Blizzard and Diary that really show
the dexterity with which Rhoads handled his instrument.

I mean, check out the joyously chunky riffs of Over the

Mountain – but then the breaks are just so deliciously
restrained, and then the solos (Oh. My. Word.) that Rhoads
bangs out explore every fret on the guitar, reaching ever
higher until there’s just nowhere else for his fingers to go.
Not to mention the unforgettable riff of Flying High; and
again, those solos. But Rhoads didn’t just bang out riffs and
searing solos – his haunting work on You Can’t Kill Rock and
Roll and Diary of a Madman; with every break and solo he
wrings every fucking note out of the neck of his guitar. Just
incredible.

I honestly believe that Rhoads contributed to the

development of symphonic metal with its’ classical stylings
– I have no proof for this but it’s something I definitely like
to think is a strong possibility.

And all of the above are some of the reasons why I had to
revisit the unique guitar stylings of the late, great Randy
Rhoads. Yes, it’s a bit of self-indulgence on my part but I was
commanded (perhaps by the Devil himself?) to pen these
words – and with any luck this article might see a new
swathe of Randy fans discovering his work for the first time
– or at the very least, reignite the passion and interest of
some older our (ahem) older readers who already know and
love his playing.

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Randy Rhoads - ''Mr. Crowley'' - Guitar Only.

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About the Author: Albert Petersen

You want the moon on a stick...

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