I had been playing for a few years when Randy hit...actually started playing the year before EVH hit and back then getting guitar info was like the pony express. You had a few magazines or you sat down with the record and the turntable and tried to figure shit out. You hung out in music stores sitting on stacks of used Marshalls that were bone cheap trying to cop licks from the older guys and very few of them were cool. Some would take the time to show you some stuff but most...no. Trust me as those who grew up when I did can attest...info was scarce.
Basically, even with EVH hitting and picking up little things here and there I was more content to play rhythm guitar...I wanted to be the foundation in whatever band I was in. And it worked because the other guy I grew up playing with wanted to handle the solos...cool with me. That all changed as soon as I heard Crazy Train.
At the time...Ozzy was just the loser from Sabbath...and we all hated Sabbath. I can honestly say, of all the friends I had during that time...nobody liked Sabbath. We were into Kiss, Thin Lizzy, Queen, Journey, Van Halen, Skynyrd, Led Zep, Rush, Bad Company, 38 Special, really just about any band that had cool guitars except Sabbath. Basically, any band but Sabbath. And Ozzy...in or out was still the loser from Sabbath.
So...(true story), my best friend moved to West Palm...summer rolls around and I'm heading down to FL for the month to visit. He'd told me...dude, have you heard Ozzy's new record? Of course not, Ozzy sucks. Get off the plane, into his older brothers car and the first tune on the radio was Crazy Train. It would be 28 years before I ever shared the stage with another guitar player. That's how much Randy changed me. What I heard was exactly what I wanted to do. It was like a light switch. Sadly, I missed his last show, it was just a two hour drive away but it was a school night and times were different. I'll always come back to Randy in one way or another...sometimes brief, sometimes it will last for weeks but I appreciate him more each time.
As for Ozzy...sorry pal, your post Sabbath career and frankly your life was made possible by Rhoads. Thanks for introducing us to Brad, Jake, Zakk and Joe but you still suck and the more that has come out through the years about how you treated Randy, Bob, Jake...basically just about anybody that's ever worked for you is pretty pathetic. Long live RR!