Ozzy Osbourne has released his new album, “Patient Number 9,” and “The Prince of Darkness” has been busy making the publicity rounds. In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Osbourne commented on the rivalry between two late, legendary guitarists in Randy Rhoads and Eddie Van Halen.
When Rhoads was in Quiet Riot, the band gigged on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood at the same time as Van Halen. Both guitarists became wildly influential, but it was Eddie Van Halen who found mainstream success first. The rivalry between Randy and Eddie was highlighted in the documentary “Randy Rhoads: Reflections Of A Guitar Icon”, which was released this past May. The film contains archive audio of Van Halen discussing Rhoads. “He was one guitarist who was honest, anyway,” Eddie said. “Because he said everything he did he learned from me. He was good. But I don’t really think he did anything that I haven’t done. And there ain’t nothing wrong with it. I’ve copied some other people, you know?”
Osbourne commented to Rolling Stone: “I heard recently that Eddie said he taught Randy all his licks … he never,” Osbourne said. “To be honest, Randy didn’t have a nice thing to say about Eddie. Maybe they had a falling out or whatever, but they were rivals.”
Quiet Riot fan club president Lori Hollen spoke in the documentary “Randy Rhoads: Reflections Of A Guitar Icon” saying that David Lee Roth and Eddie often attended early Quiet Riot shows. “We would see David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen there, which was always interesting to me. Because I know Randy never went to see them play. But they would always come to see Quiet Riot and Randy play.”
Rhoads was killed in a 1982 plane crash at age 25. In his “Biography: The Nine Lives Of Ozzy Osbourne” special, Ozzy talked about first meeting Rhoads after his departure from Black Sabbath: “I knew instinctively that he was something extra special. He was like a gift from God — we worked so well together. Randy and I were like a team. One thing that he gave to me was hope, he gave me a reason for carrying on. He had patience with me, which was great. He was great to work with. He pulled the best out of me. We had a lot of fun.”
Rhoads played on perhaps Ozzy’s two most revered records, “Blizzard Of Ozz” and “Diary Of A Madman.”
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