(guitar riff)
— [Kevin] 1975, I got a little phone message
from a guitar player in Burbank, California
who was forming a rock and roll band,
and he was auditioning lead singers.
I met up with him at his mom's house about a week later.
He plugs a guitar into a little Fender practice amp,
and I tell you what, he played some of the best guitar
I've ever heard to this day.
People, don't ever forget the name of this guy.
He was Randy Rhoads! (crowd cheering)
("Laughing Gas" by Quiet Riot)
All right!
> Oooooh?
2? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!?
> Stay alive!
♪ Just laugh the time away?
> You'll survive 2
> Do what you do your way, all right?
— [Tracii Guns] In the late 1970s,
Randy Rhoads and his band,
Quiet Riot, were tearin' up the music scene in Los Angeles.
> Yeah?
—- [Ozzy] All aboard! (laughs)
— [Guns] Then, in 1979, at 23 years old,
Rhoads etched his place in history as a guitar legend
when he joined Ozzy Osbourne's new solo band.
("Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osbourne)
It was an extraordinary rise to fame on a road
that was paved with hard work, determination, and sorrow.
Randy was an LA kid,
born in Santa Monica, California on December 6th, 1956,
and raised in Burbank.
His parents were musicians and music teachers.
His father left the family when Randy was just 17 months old
and his mother, Delores, raised him
and his older brother and sister.
To support the family, she opened a music school
in North Hollywood called Musonia.
— He grew up in my school, my music school,
and he was very influenced that way.
- We were steeped and immersed in all the music
and all of the activities that were going on.
Randy started playing guitar when he was six.
I started playing drums when I was 12.
- [Guns] Randy took folk guitar lessons at Musonia,
where he learned basic chords and simple pop tunes.
- [Delores] He wanted more than that, so he came and said,
"Mom, I really wanna take electric guitar."
—- [Guns] Randy was taking two to three lessons a week
at Musonia.
His teacher saw that he was no ordinary student.
— This is where Scott Shelly taught Randy for nine months
until Scott went to my mom and said,
"Mrs. Rhoads, I can't teach your son any longer."
My mom said, "Why would that be?"
And Scott's reply was, "For the last month and a half,
he's been teaching me,
and I can no longer keep up with him."
— [Guns] In junior high, Randy formed a band with schoolmate
and neighbor friend Kelly Garni.
He taught Kelly how to play bass,
and the two would have regular jam sessions.
— And I can remember telling them,
"There's this concert we gotta go to.
I'm gonna take you to see Alice Cooper."
And he thought that that was a folk singer,
so he goes, "Well, why do we have to go see her?"
I said, "When you see her,
you're gonna see why you had to see her."
Total epiphany. Changed his life.
- [DJ] KOMP 92.3, The Rock of Las Vegas.
We're talkin' to Kelly Garni here, who grew up with Randy
and was one of the founding members of Quiet Riot,
which was Randy's basically first real band?
- [Kelly] Mhm. Yeah, first real band of any renown.
Everything we had done prior to that
was just little backyard parties and things like that.
- [Kelly] We often performed with no singer whatsoever.
We'd show up, me and Randy,
and whatever drummer we could get that night,
and just jam, and people loved it.
- [Kelly] One of Randy's most stunning features
was his charisma,
way before he had even developed any big talent
as a lead guitar player, but, I mean,
you just looked at this kid and said,
"Someday, he's really gonna be something.
He's really gonna be somebody."
And you could just tell, he glowed.
—- [Guns] Since they were getting more gigs,
Randy and Kelly thought it was time they got a singer.
In March of 1975, Randy reached out to Kevin DuBrow.
DuBrow had been jamming with some friends
but had no live experience.
Known for his flamboyant clothes,
it was clear he always wanted to be center stage.
The only piece missing was a drummer.
— [Drew Forsyth] After my first year in college
in the summer of 1975,
I was looking for something to do
and just, on a whim, called Randy to see,
you know, what he was up to. Maybe we'd get together,
jam, do something, whatever.
And he and Kelly and Kevin were in the process
of looking for a drummer, so that's when I called him.
It was just pure, dumb luck.
(rock music)
— [Jodi Vigier] Kevin DuBrow and I were dating at the time,
and he told me that he had tried out for this new band
to be the singer,
and so he had been rehearsing with them,
you know, quite a few weeks and everything,
and then finally he said, you know,
"Would you like to come down and watch us rehearse?"
So I went down and I walked in,
and they were more hippie-like.
They had long hair and kinda grungy clothes
and very plain, like very simple.
I was expecting something more like a British-style band
‘cause that's what Kevin really loved.
("Trouble" by Quiet Riot)
They started rehearsing and it just sounded really amazing.
It was really fun.
♪ I got a letter in the mail ♪
♪ Sayin' I'm gonna go to jail ♪
> Someone's got an ax?
♪ Lookin' it out for me ♪
— Kevin loved Randy.
He had feelings for him as a younger brother.
He had respect for his talent.
They were very, very close.
Actually, the sun rose and set on Randy,
as far as Kevin was concerned.
— [Kevin] When I first heard the guy play,
I knew how good he was that moment.
It was like, whoa, where did this guy come from?
It was like a secret, like a treasure.
He wasn't really classically trained.
He was a regular rock guitar player,
started out playing blues,
listened to things like Johnny Winter, Leslie West,
Alice Cooper, and then, as time went along,
he started listening to more classical music
and started taking a few classes or lessons,
but to say he was classically trained,
which means somebody who started off playing classic guitar,
and Randy, nah, he was a rock guitar player.
— [Ron Sobol] When I saw him play,
I just couldn't believe it either.
He was like, here's this little skinny kid,
and he was fucking great.
— [Guns] Ron Sobol was a friend of Kevin DuBrow's,
and they both shared an interest in photography.
- We both were photographers, or I was just starting to be,
as far as taking rock pictures.
He says, "Well, bring your pictures over.
I'll show you mine."
And, from then on, we became best friends.
—- [Guns] Ron went on to become the band photographer
for Quiet Riot,
capturing many pictures from their early days,
and he too was blown away
by Randy's abilities on the guitar.
- He could play fast. (quick guitar riff)
He could play slow. (guitar solo ballad)
Or he could play crunchy. (rough guitar riff)
He could play bluesy. (bluesy guitar riff)
And all of it with so much feeling. It was just amazing.
You know, I just loved it,
and he looked good.
You could just tell this guy was gonna become a rock star.
(rock music)
—- Randy kinda had an aura about him back then even.
We'd go up and we played Stough Park just on a whim,
like on a Friday, and 3,000 people would show up.
It was always kinda like that.
—- [Guns] The group decided they needed a manager,
and, through a friend, Kevin found Dennis Wageman.
Wageman converted his garage into a rehearsal space,
and now the band had a place to jam whenever they wanted.
—- And, of course, we weren't Quiet Riot then, either.
Throwing out all sorts of ridiculous names at that time.
— [Dusty] Okay, I gotta know, what was the name?
The previous name? (band laughs)
Come on, you gotta! - [Randy] You got any bleach?
Toss in the Dung Heap. (group laughs)
It was... (laughs) It was Little Women.
— [Dusty] Really? Are you kidding?
—- [Randy] Seriously. — [Dusty] Oh, no.
No wonder you changed it.
—- [Randy] Lasted for about a week.
(band laughs) There was a friend of mine.
There was this group called Status Quo, English band.
It was Richie Parfitt, a really good guitar player,
and I told him the name of the band
of what we used to be called, and he said, "Ughhh."
And he said, "If I had a band, I'd call 'em Quite Right."
"Quite Right", and I said, "Hey, this is Quiet Riot!"
He says, "Say it in English!" He goes, "Quiet Riot!"
And so I took it to the guys in rehearsal that night,
and they said, "Eh, it's cool."
("Get Your Kicks" by Quiet Riot)
— Funny how those things happen in life
‘cause there was no, "Okay. You know, we're a band now."
That didn't happen.
I remember playing San Souci restaurant.
We got there, and it was this, like, Chinese restaurant,
and, you know, there are patrons eating,
and, you know, Randy turns on his guitar,
and it was like, "You can't play here."
♪ Get your kicks, come on everybody, get your kicks ♪
One of the first places I remember us playing,
it was a place in Van Nuys on Oxnard
called The Rock Corporation, and it was like a bikers' bar,
and the patrons there were like bikers,
and it went bad sometimes.
There was one time where we were playing,
as always, too loud.
Randy was always louder than God,
and it was too loud for the club,
and so the management turned off the PA,
and so Kevin plugged his microphone into Randy's amp
and called him an asshole or something like that,
and one of his biker buddies ran from the back of the bar
with a pitcher in his hand and...
just by real quick thinking on behalf
of one of our roadies, Harold,
Harold jumped in front of Kevin,
and the guy beaned Harold right on the head with it.
Probably woulda killed Kevin with it.
I mean, didn't phase Harold.
He was a big, heavy guy with a very, very thick cranium.
— They played a place called La Canada Country Club,
and I did take pictures of the band
playing in front of an audience.
♪ Ooh, here I come?
("Get Your Kicks" by Quiet Riot)
> You got it, rock rock rockin', woo! /
J? Rock rock rockin', woo! ♪
> Everybody get your kicks /
— Dennis gave us some money to do a demo at Sound City.
("Fit to Be Tied" by Quiet Riot)
It was really kind of a beat-up place.
Had kind of a history to it,
but it was kinda, you know, one of those lower-end studios.
♪ You know he's fit to be tied ♪
- [Guns] Randy was obsessed with finding the right tone
and the right guitar.
- Cause you're really playing hard,
and I need, I think if you felt that way, it'd come across.
—- [Randy] Yeah, if I had the right tone.
- You'll get it. —- [Randy] I got it.
— Ronnie! Ronnie, can you movie the—-- Randy, look, say hi.
- Hi, Ron! Well, we had a bad movie here,
but, ah, it's all together now. (laughs)
We'll be just finishing up here,
and then we'll have some pictures after.
— Say hi, Dennis! Hi, Dennis! Say hi!
— [Guns] For an early birthday present,
Dennis bought Randy a Les Paul.
Even though it was a gift,
Randy insisted on paying him back.
—- Best thing he ever did, he gave Randy that Gibson.
> Well, I ain't got no inhibitions
♪ And my daddy gets left, all right ♪
♪ The time for him to make the decision
2 If this is still that place, I'm gonna spend the night?
♪ He says get out, ♪
> You're no son of mine?
> What a problem, you know he's fit to be tied?
— [Guns] The demo didn't get them booked anywhere,
so the band decided they were gonna put on their own show
on Halloween.
They booked a gig at the Machinists Hall in Burbank.
- I remember playing one of those kinda dances
also not going well.
It happened a lot in the early days, it seemed like.
— [Sobol] The police had to come and break up fights.
Kids were trying to get in free,
so it was quite a ruckus.
—- [Guns] It was around this time
Randy got the nickname Snoopy.
— If you looked at his profile,
the way his nose was and his mouth,
and if he kinda went like that,
it's just kind of a Snoopy look.
And he liked that nickname. I mean, he embraced it.
— I remember playing the chili festival.
—- From Van Nuys, the group is called The Quiet Riot.
- It was actually quite a large crowd.
There was like 25,000 people there.
—- [Guns] The band got its first taste
of playing in front of a huge crowd.
("Just How You Want It" by Quiet Riot)
In November of 1975,
Quiet Riot played a show on Club Day at Valley College,
and while the student body got into
Randy's face-melting leads,
not everyone was pleased.
— They were really loud,
and the guy in charge of booking them for Club Day
took a lotta heat
from the faculty and the administration.
♪ When you hold me, a feelin' inside?
> You're givin' and I'm takin' /
2 I know just how you want it?}
> Here goes, just how you need it?
2 I know just how to give it
> I know, I know, I know, I know, I know?
—- [Guns] The band was on a roll, gigging all over town,
but one thing was missing:
playing the Hollywood club scene.
But, as fate would have it,
they got a New Year's Eve gig at a club called The Speakeasy
after a last-minute cancellation by The Runaways.
— There are a few specific gigs I can remember
that were really integral into getting us somewhere.
That show was huge for us.
Once we started to get some notoriety,
that was probably the most fun time.
At first, we were best buddies.
We did everything together, socializing, partying.
You know, we were together a lot.
We were together two, three, four days a week all the time,
so, yeah, it was easy at first, and everybody was happy.
("Ravers" by Quiet Riot)
—- The Starwood, Quiet Riot played frequently.
Every six weeks, they'd play Thursday, Friday,
and Saturday nights, and they'd do two sets,
and they packed the house,
so it was an amazing place to go see them.
♪ Like a rock-mobile ♪
> Our pistons are a-poppin' right under your wheels?
> We're the ravers, oh yeah?
— The first time I saw Quiet Riot, I was 15 years old,
and I had never been to a rock club before,
so Quiet Riot came out, it was this huge sound,
and the sound was coming straight from the guitar player.
I think my ears rang for two days after I went there.
So, back at high school,
I was telling all the kids about Quiet Riot and Randy.
Anybody that would get in the car with me,
I'd take 'em down there to The Starwood.
We'd line up in front of both the gates.
Any door that opened first, we'd fly in there,
because I had to have my position in front of Randy,
in front of the stage. That was where I stood always.
♪ Come on down?
> The ravers, we're here to stay /
—- [Rudy Sarzo] I had just arrived
in Los Angeles in the late '70s,
and I went to see whoever was playing at The Starwood,
and it just happened to be Quiet Riot.
I was just exploring, and they were different
from anybody else I had seen in a club
because they were already projecting an arena band image.
Everything that they were doing was bigger than life.
Even though they had minimal production,
still, they had big production values.
When I saw the band performing that night,
I actually got to speak with Kevin after the show,
and I gave him kudos on how great
their vision and the band was and I told him,
"Hey, you know, you guys are gonna be really big."
— [Drew Forsyth] We played places like The Starwood
and Whisky all the time,
and if you played those kinda places,
you were on their, like, good list.
You could go there any night of the week,
like The Starwood, for instance,
and they would let you in free. You could go see any show.
They had a area upstairs that was just for VIP,
a VIP lounge, and they'd give you free drinks,
and it was just like being a huge celebrity.
I mean, we're like 20 years old, so it was fun.
It was a grand old time.
— The Starwood was a great place and Quiet Riot
had such a solid following,
but the kind of guys that Randy and Kevin
and Kelly and Drew were,
I mean, these guys wanted to be rock stars,
but they were also really nice guys.
That came off to the people that followed them.
It was one big family reunion every time they played.
A lotta high energy and a lotta fun,
people having a great time.
("Mama's Little Angels" by Quiet Riot)
— The band everybody was talking about was Quiet Riot,
and the main reason everybody was talking about it
was because of Randy, I mean, Randy was-- was—-
you'd be hard-pressed to find-- as a matter of fact,
you couldn't find anyone that hadn't heard Randy
that just spoke volumes
of his talent, it was just ridiculous.
The minute he walked onto that stage,
it was the most fantastic vision you can imagine
because he looked like a rock star,
and the band hadn't been discovered.
I mean the band, they were still sluggin' down in the clubs.
He played every single note every single night
like they were headlining
the biggest festival on the planet.
—- [Guns] Despite their popularity
in the Hollywood club scene,
the band still couldn't land a record deal.
Frustrated with manager Dennis Wageman,
they fired him and looked for a new manager.
— [McNair] For a while, Kevin shoved me out front and said,
"We don't have a manager so you act like our manager
‘cause big bands have a manager."
You know? And I played that role for a little while,
but, at the time, I was taking bass lessons
from a guy named Adrian Ball,
and he introduced me to his cousin named Susan,
and Susan had gotten a job working for Warren Entner,
and I told her about Quiet Riot, so I said,
"Why don't you have Warren and David go see these guys?
I think it might be a band that they can sign."
And she did.
Susan and Warren went and saw them at The Starwood,
and that started their relationship.
When they first signed that contract,
the feeling with the band and with friends was that,
okay, this is it, this is the start.
Warren Entner was working with Angel.
Angel was on Casablanca with Kiss.
Quiet Riot was waiting in the wings
to be the next big thing
and everything was just gonna go great.
— [Forsyth] He was a really personable guy
and he was in Grass Roots,
so he had some background in music,
and they had a pretty good management company going
at the time.
They had some pull, I gotta say.
TOBY, they were a legitimate management company,
so when we did showcases, it wasn't like a cattle call.
There were specific showcases for specific labels.
That was really efficient. That was the way to do it,
and so when Neil Bogart came, you know,
he came by himself and we played just to Neil.
Neil Bogart was the head of Casablanca Records at the time.
It was really tense. We played like maybe three songs.
He walked out, that was it.
Next day, you know, Warren calls us,
says, "Yeah, he's gonna sign you."
Didn't happen, so then we had to go back
and start doing the showcases again.
So we did one in Buddah. One guy came.
He said, "Yeah, I get it. I'll sign these guys."
— [Interviewer] The album that you have out now,
a lot of people have had trouble finding it
because it is on CBS Japan.
How did it happen that an album like this
gets released on a Japanese label?
Did you record it in Japan?
- [Interviewer] Yeah.
—- We were doing the album for Buddah.
They went bankrupt,
and so TOBY paid for it themselves.
Derek Lawrence produced that album,
but he had no interest in the band.
He just cared about the money.
I'd do a drum track that was a really bad drum track,
and instead of saying, "Let's do it again,"
he'd say, "Oh, yeah, we'll fix it in mix."
And, you know, now I look back.
I don't wanna hear that stuff anymore.
It was just miserable for me.
Quiet Riot One did not showcase anybody in that band well,
which is a real shame.
The band generated a lotta interest in Japan
by virtue of its look.
The Japanese bought that album before they heard it.
They bought it on the strength of a picture,
which gives you some idea of the strength of a picture.
- [Jodi] Kevin and I were very, very close,
and I think we had a really good relationship too,
except that things with the band
and him getting older and a lot of attention,
he didn't know how to have that and a girlfriend,
so that's pretty much what ended our relationship.
— [Sobol] Kevin wasn't the type to stay faithful to a girl,
so it's kinda cool that he stayed friends with Jodi,
and then Jodi and Randy started to have an attraction.
—- Randy came to me and said, you know,
"Id really like to spend some time alone with Jodi."
He was so confident in so many things
but he was like a little kid with this.
He just really wanted to be alone.
— Randy called and he asked if he could come out
and get his hair cut.
Something just really felt different,
and we just clicked
and we talked for hours and hours,
and at the end of the evening,
he asked me if I wanted to go to Disneyland,
and I said, "Sure," and that was our first date.
From that Saturday on, we never parted.
There was a lotta tension with Kevin,
although he would never admit that,
but I do think his ego was hurt.
— [Brian Reason] My dear friend, Lori Hollen,
and my girlfriend, Carolyn Freeman,
they both came home as if they had seen
the second coming of Christ
after having an amazing time watching some band
called Quiet Riot,
and they go, "Brian, you have to see this band!
This band is called Quiet Riot,
and they have this guitar player named Randy Rhoads,
and he's like nothing you've ever seen before!"
When I saw Quiet Riot,
the songs, the music was fantastic.
They just got that whole club shakin'
like I'd never seen anybody be able to do before,
and I completely understood
what Carolyn and Lori were on about that night,
and I then at that moment was hooked on Quiet Riot
and wanting to see Randy Rhoads play again
because, for me, it was all about Randy.
I tell Lori, I said, you know, "Talk to Kevin.
I will work for free and I will be a band roadie
for these guys cause they're amazing."
Next thing you know, I was doing gigs with Quiet Riot
and tuning his guitars and changing his strings.
("Laughing Gas" by Quiet Riot)
— [Kevin] All right!
- "Laughing Gas" would probably be the song
that I enjoyed playing
because it had more of an edge to it.
It was much more metal,
and, you know, of course it had Randy's solo in it as well.
— I think every guitar player that was worth his salt
had his solo time, and Randy's personality came through.
Randy was mischievous, you know. He was fun.
That came through in his solo, you know,
and I think the people loved him for that.
— Every night, Kevin would basically introduce Randy Rhoads
going into this guitar solo.
> I've heard some guitar players, well, well }
♪ But I ain't heard not too many ♪
♪ Like the incredible Randy Rhoads ♪
> And he's gonna play you a little song /
> It's called "Laughing Gas"?
Most guitar solos or drum solos are pretty fuckin' boring,
to be honest, you know.
If you go see somebody play a drum solo for 10 minutes,
after, you know, three minutes, you're pretty much done.
Randy did this guitar solo that was mesmerizing.
(electric guitar riff)
He would crank up the volume
and kick on his distortion peddle.
(electric guitar riffing)
And he would play frets up on the neck.
(electric guitar riffing)
Bend the neck,
and you'd get the sound of bending the neck on the guitar.
("William Tell Overture" by Gioachino Rossini)
(electric guitar riffing)
And I'd be back there behind his amp,
and he had an Echoplex, an old Echoplex,
with a, you know, a tape in it,
and it had settings from zero to like 36 or 24 on it,
and during each part of the guitar solo,
I was back there and he would give me, you know,
my little numbers, you know.
"During this, it'd be a 12, and during this part,
during D it would be a 36, and at this one, 24."
And I would be back there changing the Echoplex
during his guitar solo.
(electric guitar riffing)
The use of volume,
he would roll his hands on his volume knobs.
(electric guitar riffing)
And then he would go into this beautiful classical portion.
(electric guitar ballad)
You could hear a pin drop in The Starwood
when he was playing this.
All eyes and ears were glued to Randy
during that guitar solo,
especially during the quiet moments.
(electric guitar ballad)
(crowd cheering)
Everybody was riveted to Randy and his guitar,
and he made it sing like I'd never seen anybody
make it sing before.
♪ Burn the fire like a flame ♪
- [Kevin] I could just sit there and watch him
from my vantage point on the stage. Look to my left
and there's Randy Rhoads. Even before he was a huge star,
I viewed him as a huge star.
I said, "I'm playing with one of the best guitar players
there is whether anyone knows it or not
is irrelevant to me."
On lead guitar, this is Randy Rhoads!
—- [McNair] Randy knew how good he was,
but that didn't matter that much to him.
He wanted to be the absolute best guitar player
that he could ever be,
he wanted to be the greatest guitar player in the world,
but he didn't think that made him a better person
or he wasn't arrogant about it at all,
and I know that he disliked arrogance
from other guitar players.
—- This was the years of guitar heroes,
and I think, to a large degree,
bands were judged on their guitar player,
and I think all the guitar players in town
kept up on each other.
— [Lori Hollen] I know that, at some of the 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.
—- There was a little cross-town rivalry there
between Quiet Riot and Van Halen,
so Van Halen, you know, they were playing the Whisky
and Gazzarri's and all those same places, you know,
and everybody's comparing Eddie Van Halen to Randy Rhoads.
- [Interviewer 2] Did you know Randy Rhoads?
- [Eddie] Yeah.
— [Interviewer 2] What'd you think of that kid?
—- [Eddie] He was one guitarist who was honest, anyway.
‘Cause I read some interviews that he did,
and he said that everything he did he learned from me.
- [Interviewer 2] Uh-huh. — [Eddie] You know?
And he was good, but I don't really think he did anything
that I haven't done.
Sure, there ain't nothin' wrong with it, man.
I've copied some other people's licks, you know?
- I would take a picture of Eddie Van Halen,
and just to kind of piss off Randy,
and I would put it on his wah-wah peddle,
which, you know,
he wasn't very excited about, but it was in the perfect place
because every time he stomped on his wah-wah peddle,
he stomped on it as if he wanted to crush it.
- [Guns] Between gigs, Randy gave guitar lessons at Musonia.
At one point, he had upwards of 50 students.
—- [Guns] Some of those licks the students wanted to learn
were from his cross-town rival, Eddie Van Halen.
("Runnin' With the Devil" by Van Halen)
— [Sarzo] But talking about Randy being a teacher,
and, you know, if you look at any of his live photos,
it always looks like he's giving a lesson
to everybody in the arena.
He was never one of those guitar players
that would hide what he was playing.
He always was very articulate, very clear,
in his presentation to the audience.
- I had started to listen to Van Halen,
and so I said, "Well, I really kinda like this,"
and I would bring a cassette and I'd play it for him.
("On Fire" by Van Halen)
I didn't realize at the time
that there was this relationship between the two of them.
Had I of known about that, I probably wouldn't have asked.
But Randy graciously offered to learn the song,
and, you know, I'm sure it killed him
to have to take that cassette home
and learn how to play the songs of his nemesis.
— [Forsyth] Honestly, I never felt any rivalry with Van Halen,
but then again, from my perspective,
I think it was more because it was the guitar hero thing
and since, you know, I'm a drummer,
you know, maybe it just didn't occur to me,
but we did play with 'em that one time at Glendale College.
—- There was a concert that almost didn't happen
because Quiet Riot and Van Halen couldn't decide
who was gonna be the headliner
and who was gonna be the warm-up act.
I mean, it literally came down to a short time
before the concert ever happened,
and then Van Halen signed a record contract,
and then it was like, "Okay, you're the headliner."
- It was a big show, over a thousand. Lotta people there.
That was a big venue for us back then.
Randy had the flu that night,
and I know he really wanted to be at his best that night
because he felt, I think, a bit of a rivalry
because people likened him to Eddie,
so I think he wanted to,
you know, to show that he was as good,
but I don't think his ego was involved,
and what I remember was he stepped off the back
of the stage and fell down and hurt himself,
just cause his head wasn't in it, you know?
He was really feeling lousy.
And, you know, Randy was a real card.
He would always do something to get you in trouble
almost every time you interacted with him,
so he was like, "Oh! There's these dresses.
Oh, let's put 'em on!"
When I look at Ron's pictures now,
it's hard for me to believe it's the same person we lost.
—- Here's our manager, Warren Entner.
He got us all together just like this.
He showed us just how to dress.
— [Guns] On the surface, it looked like the band was having
a good time, but underneath frustrations were boiling over,
especially when Van Halen got signed to a record deal
and Quiet Riot didn't.
- Kevin, he was a real strong personality,
and he and Kelly never really got along from the get-go.
Part of that was due to Kelly's, you know, problems.
He was suffering from a real bad alcohol addiction problem,
and it was getting the better of him and it came to a head.
♪ You give advice for free?
—- To me, it's the most tragic night of Kelly Garni's life.
If there's one night in Kelly Garni's life
that he could have back, I'm sure that's it.
> Bottoms up?
There had always been a tension in the band
between Kevin and Kelly but it never became a crisis
because Kelly always carried his end of playing onstage.
> Say what you wanna say?
Kevin would've replaced him, you know, if he could've,
but, you know, he wasn't gonna fight Randy over it.
> Face is red because you're happy?
Kelly just wanted to be in a bar band,
you know. He was just havin' a good time,
and he wanted to keep having a good time.
> Bottoms up?
I'm not sure that Kelly thought he was good enough
to be in the band.
Kevin was always telling him he wasn't,
so there was a whole lotta frustration going on,
and Kelly was drinking more and more and more.
> Say what you wanna say?
I mean, we all were.
The difference was, Randy and I could go out
and get hammered one night,
but Randy always practiced his parts,
always made it to the rehearsal studio on time.
He always did what he needed to do.
Kelly, on the other hand, didn't.
They'd been listening to tapes of the recording,
and Kevin was very critical of Kelly's playing,
was critical especially of some of the background vocals,
and basically had told Randy
that Kelly wasn't taking it seriously enough,
and, for the first time, Randy was kind of,
"You know, you might be right."
But I think Randy really believed that he could go there
and talk to Kelly and Kelly would change.
—- One night, Randy wanted to confront him,
so he went over and took Kim with him to confront Kelly
about all the problems they were having
and tell him if he didn't shape up, you know,
they were gonna have to get somebody else to replace him.
—- Randy and I went over there, and by the time we got there,
Kelly was already pretty hammered,
and Randy was not comfortable wanting to confront Kelly
about what was gonna happen,
so there was some real tension in the room right away.
As the evening progressed,
it became more and more confrontational.
Randy was pushing Kelly.
"You need to not drink. You need to learn your parts.
You need to do what's necessary. You need to cooperate.
You need to work hard."
It just got more and more aggressive,
and finally Kelly just said,
"I wanna show you how much I don't care."
And he pulled a gun out from the sofa,
and Randy's like, "What the hell are you doing?"
He aimed the gun and started firing it off.
(gunshots) > Say what you wanna say?
That really pissed Randy off,
and Randy just took a run at Kelly at that point
and just basically tackled him and it was just total chaos.
You know, in retrospect, it was a very tragic night,
and I know both of them felt equally bad about it later.
I think Randy walked in there with dreams
that his boyhood band could make it as is,
and he walked out going, "Okay, it's time to move forward.
Now I have to make decisions for me.
I have to do the right thing for my band."
It was a line that was drawn, okay,
where Randy moved from being in a garage band
to being in a professional band.
— [Guns] With Kelly outta the band,
they needed to find a new bass player.
One of their first auditions was with Nikki Sixx.
— [Forsyth] And Nikki,
at the time, quite some time ago,
he couldn't even tune the bass.
Randy had to show him how to tune the bass,
and he was trying to show him songs,
but, you know, Nikki had no formal training,
so he didn't know, you know, Randy would say,
"This is in C" or "This is in E" or whatever.
Nikki didn't know what that meant.
[DJ] Oh, you're kidding.
—- [DJ] Was Nikki any good at that time or?
[DJ] Oh, really.
— So we realized this isn't gonna work because, you know,
Randy was a real virtuoso, and he just couldn't be
playing with some guy who didn't even know
you know, what key things were in,
so we auditioned a few guys, one of which was Ronnie Barron,
and the look didn't quite work.
It's hard to find somebody who weighs less than 100 pounds
to stand next to Randy onstage.
Rudy had the look. He was a solid player,
and he matched real well on the pictures.
- [Interviewer 3] How did you find Rudy?
— Unfortunately, Quiet Riot never operated
like a band should.
It was one of the problems I had with it from day one,
and part of it was because Randy and Kelly
were so close together.
They grew up playing together all the time.
Randy taught Kelly how to play bass,
you know, bands, the way they're supposed to work,
the drummer creates the time,
and then everybody plays with that time.
(energetic drum beats)
But it didn't work that way ever in Quiet Riot.
Kelly played with Randy. Randy played with Kelly,
and I was just back there. Nobody ever listened to me.
— [Kevin] Drew Forsyth on drums!
- So, Rudy brought a different thing to the band.
Immediately was better.
He was a better musician than Kelly by far.
The band became more professional.
("Killer Girls" by Quiet Riot)
—- Doo-doo-den, doo-doo-den, dun-dun-den,
dun-don da-da-den-den-den.
Actually, "Killer Girl",
it's the song that I had to learn for my audition,
and I took it for granted that,
since the riff sounded like a typical E,
in the key of E, riff, that that's how the song went.
‘Cause it's doo-doo-den, doo-doo-den, right? Open string.
But no, it happened to be an F song.
> The chicks in town been runnin' around 2
When I went in to audition, started playing the song,
of course it was total cacophony
‘cause I was playing it in the wrong key, and, anyways,
I just had to transpose everything really quickly,
but it felt really comfortable, really good,
to be playing with really polished musicians.
> Killer girls waitin' in line for me 2
"Killer Girls". Very, very unique song.
And it's a very well-crafted song.
It has a lot of not only key changes but tempo changes.
You know, very, very sophisticated, you know,
for a bunch of kids from the valley.
But, you know, Quiet Riot liked to do things
a little bit outside of the box.
We were not really a cover band and that was very refreshing
because that's exactly what I was looking for,
an original band.
— [Announcer] We interrupt this music to bring you
a special bulletin.
We've just received information about the riot
that has broken out downtown.
— [Brian] The house lights would go out in The Starwood,
and there were police lights.
We had these red police lights.
— [Announcer] A young singer, Kevin DuBrow.
— [Brian] The sirens would go.
—- [Announcer] A new person, bassist Rudy Sarzo.
— The place would be going nuts.
- [Announcer] Guitarist Randy Rhoads.
— You know, kinda creating some kind of a riot or a chaos
right before the band started to play.
- [Announcer] Bassist Rudy Sarzo,
one man whose vibes would be the cause of disturbance,
guitarist Randy Rhoads. — (crowd cheering)
Collectively, they are known as Quiet Riot.
The mobs are gonna be seen.
— There's nothing like a little sweat before you go on!
This is the part that Quiet Riot gets to be nervous.
You know, on the sound effect intro,
the mentioning our names before we go out,
cameras, lights, action.
- [Ron] Woo! - Go on!
(roadie speaking Spanish) (Kevin speaking Spanish)
- [Roadie] Get 'em, Kevin! — [Kevin] Hal
— [Roadie] Happy birthday! — Thank you! (speaks Spanish)
— [Forsyth] You know, we were doing great,
but we weren't doing well as a business.
The TOBY organization sent out demos all the time,
and they had a relationship with Atlantic,
and the guy at Atlantic, you know,
every couple of weeks they'd send him something,
and we would get a letter back each time,
and, you know, which they'd say "pass",
"We're gonna pass on these guys,"
but after like the 10th time, he got a letter.
They sent a letter back that said,
"Pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass.
In case you don't understand what this means, pass!"
So, Atlantic was outta the question for us.
That was never gonna happen.
— [McNair] We believed we had a great band
that was gonna go out there and really do something,
and then suddenly it was stuck,
you know, and it went from the greatest of optimism to,
"What's happening next? Where are we gonna go?
What's gonna happen to the band?"
— [Guns] In 1979, Warren Entner was out as their manager
and was replaced by David Forest.
The pressure was building as to whether Quiet Riot
could finally get a record deal.
— [Forest] I also happen to manage this band, Quiet Riot,
which happens to be kind of a weird phenomenon
‘cause they don't have a record deal,
and yet they're drawing huge crowds.
They don't have a record deal yet.
If they don't in the next six months,
I doubt that they'll stick together.
- [Guns] Punk and new wave exploded on the music scene,
and bands like X and the Go-Go's were getting more popular.
— [Forsyth] Those bands were now being signed,
and we still weren't getting any toehold
with the record labels.
—- [Sarzo] The record company were very short-sighted.
They were just focusing on whatever happened
to be selling records at that time in that certain spot,
which happened to be new wave music.
After The Knack became very big,
they really shut the door on any
of the other rock bands up and coming,
and we were going into a record company and saying,
"Listen, we got this demo here,"
and the guy would say, pull out Billboard magazine and say,
"Okay, if you guys come up with a song
like 'Do You Think I'm Sexy' by Rod Stewart,
I will have to check it out."
So, yeah, we would go out, rehearse, record some songs,
go to a record plant, you know, spend money and time,
go back to that guy and, by then,
You Think I'm Sexy' is off the charts.
It was like, "Nah, that song is dated.
Come up with this other song."
You know, it was like we were basically chasing our tails.
- You're not working for the record company.
The record company's working for you.
They contract you to make a record for them.
You basically sort of employ them to release the record,
but when they're holding the money,
what are you supposed to do?
You can't go down there with a gun,
although God knows we've all wanted to.
For the most of this last week,
we have been recording some stuff here
in our never-ending attempt to make
these American record labels give us a deal.
(crowd cheers)
And when I say never-ending, you can count on the fact
that I mean never-ending, all right?
— [Audience Woman] All right!
> One in a million, baby?
> You're a lucky charm 2
- There was some push for us, especially from management,
to do some things.
Like, "One in a Million" is a perfect example.
It's a disco song.
Why are we doing this? I don't know.
Gonna try anything to get us signed,
so we were trying a lotta things that,
in retrospect, weren't a great idea.
You have to do what you do best
and not worry about anything else.
That's what you need to do, and we never did that.
There were too many times where we made exceptions.
"One in a Million" is a perfect example of that.
— We coulda given them "Sgt. Pepper"
and it didn't matter.
We were not a new wave band,
so, out of desperation, I say,
"Hey, how about if we take our fan club
and have them picket at every single record company?"
I just said that, probably the most ridiculous thing
I could come up with, you know, just as a joke,
and Kevin said, "Wait a minute!
This sounds like a great idea!"
And I went, "Whoops!" (laughs)
— [Guns] Fan club president Lori Hollen wasted no time
getting the word out.
—- She was able to recruit fans all the time,
so our fan club just kept growing and growing and growing,
and in the days, you know, before Facebook or MySpace
or anything like that, she did an incredible job.
— Everybody went to Ron and Kevin's house,
and we printed T-shirts.
They were hanging on the beds and the dressers
and all over the place.
We screened all these T-shirts that said "Quiet Riot"
so that all the fans could have a T-shirt on
while we picketed the record companies.
We made big signs and banners
and got all the kids organized
at this park in Burbank.
And they went from record company to record company
to record company trying to get that band signed.
— The idea was to make as much noise as we could.
—- So we went to all the major record companies,
Warner Brothers.
— Carrying on to Capitol Records.
- A&M. — Elektra.
— CBS and Century City.
—- Kevin had laid out the whole route, and we've got signs
saying "Sign Quiet Riot! Sign Quiet Riot!"
— Kevin's ultimate idea was to try to get
news coverage for this, so he had a little schedule.
- Unfortunately, on the first stop
in Burbank at Warner Brothers,
we didn't have a permit to demonstrate.
We were chased out of there,
so the schedule was pushed about half an hour ahead,
So every time news media was alerted
that the demonstration was gonna happen,
they missed it by half an hour,
but eventually on the very last stop at CBS Records,
they actually got to catch the demonstration
and actually appear in the news.
- We did get the news people and we did get
on several of the news stations,
but if we'd had a publicity agent
who could've really got the people there,
that might've helped us.
— Did we get a record deal? No.
But we got a hell of a story out of it.
—- [Guns] With no deal on the table,
the future was uncertain for Quiet Riot,
but for Randy Rhoads,
things were about to take an unexpected turn.
Across town, singer Ozzy Osbourne was holed up in a hotel
after being fired as the front man of Black Sabbath.
The band had enough of his out-of-control behavior
and sent him packing.
Down but not out, Ozzy still wanted to make music,
and he came to Los Angeles to find a lead guitarist.
— After leaving Black Sabbath,
I've never, ever auditioned anyone in my life
‘cause Sabbath just formed, we were mates,
so I didn't even know how to go about auditioning.
—- [Guns] Randy was familiar with Black Sabbath,
but it wasn't his cup of tea.
— And he used to tell me, he used to go,
"I don't like Black Sabbath very much.
I know you do so we're not gonna get into it," but he goes,
"Who the fuck would write his name on his hand?"
He goes, "l don't understand that."
Didn't care for Sabbath.
Thought it was too dark and too sluggish.
—- Dana Strum.
—- [Guns] That bass player was Dana Strum,
and he had only one person in mind for that audition.
— I was calling Randy Rhoads at his mother's music studio
in Burbank, Musonia.
— And he said, you know, "I'm here with a guy
that wants to audition you.
He wants you to be in his band. This could be really big."
— Just come down but bring the shit
that you used at The Starwood.
If he doesn't get what I get when I see what I see
from that balcony looking down, then I really thought,
"I'm as wrong as could be and I'm fucked and whatever,
but I have a feeling there's no one
that isn't gonna get what I get
if you're put in the right circumstance."
— [Kelle] And Randy said, "Well, I teach here 'til 9:30,
10 o'clock at night, I'm tired, I don't know,"
and then Dana said, "Look, all right, trust me.
Something tells me you need to do this."
— [Strum] Meeting Ozzy was a freaky experience,
and I went to the hotel and, as I opened the door,
I made my way through 50 Heineken bottles.
"I've got a list." He had a list of guitar players.
I'm like, "Can I see the list?"
"Yeah."
He had no way to get there, no plan, just hands me a list.
"We're gonna go see these people?"
I said, "Well, I know a few of these people. Nope."
I said, "But I have the guy."
— And I met this bloke.
This guy introduced me to Randy Rhoads.
He said, "This guy, you gotta hear this guy play.
This guy's amazing."
— Pulls out this little combo amp.
"Wait 'til you hear this." He goes, "It's huge."
I said, "Let's hear Jesus now. Let's hear the man now.
Let's hear the Messiah."
— And he starts tuning up and doing arpeggios.
(electric guitar riff)
- I'm like, "Go, kid. This is it."
(electric guitar riff)
— And I remember Ozzy went from the hair down to
almost stammering.
— And I says, "Just play something,"
and I thought I was dreaming when I heard this guy play.
(electric guitar riff)
The guy was a little guy with such a big, big sound.
(electric guitar riff)
- And it just happened like that,
and I flew back to England and I said to Sharon's father,
who was still involved with us then,
"You gotta hear his playing!"
And he says, "No, no, we'll find one here."
Meanwhile, Sharon came from America,
and I said to Sharon, "Please get me this guy,"
and Sharon went back and got Randy.
- [Hollen] I had an 18th birthday party,
and Quiet Riot came to my party,
and Randy and I were strolling in behind everybody,
and he goes, "Hey, Lori, come here.
I gotta tell you something."
I said, "What?"
He said, "Do you know who Ozzy Osbourne is?"
And I said, "Is he that guy in Black Sabbath?"
And he goes, "Yeah."
He said, "I auditioned for him today."
I said, "You what?"
"All I did was plug in my guitar,
and all I did was go do-da-loo-da-loo-da-loo,
and he goes, You're the guy!"
And I said, "Well, what does that mean?"
And he goes, "Well, I'd have to leave Quiet Riot
and go on tour with him, what do you think?"
I said, "Well, Randy, I think you should go
and make a name for yourself,
and you can always come back and get Quiet Riot."
- He gave it some great thought and decided to go with them,
but I know he was in horrible turmoil inside.
He really felt that he was betraying the band,
especially Kevin.
—- He was scared to death of having to walk up to Kevin
and say, "I'm leaving the band."
You know? He knew it was gonna hurt Kevin really bad.
And I think that was probably the hardest part of it,
but I don't think there's any doubt
that it was the right thing to do.
I'm sure Kevin was obligated to try to save it.
I mean, who wouldn't?
— [Forsyth] When you're in a band, you kinda feel like
you're all part of this machine,
and so it felt like a betrayal of a sort.
I don't remember exactly how I found out
that he was gonna play with Ozzy.
What I do know is that he didn't call me himself.
That was the thing that I was most disappointed in,
was that he didn't make the effort to call me,
after, you know, spending all these years with him,
that he wouldn't pick up the phone and say,
"Hey, you know, this is what I'm gonna do,"
so I was disappointed in that and his lack of character,
but I certainly understood why.
Part of the reason he moved on
was because of his writing relationship with Kevin.
It was, you know, toxic to him.
He could not write
what he wanted to write with Kevin.
— [Reason] The last gig of Quiet Riot at The Starwood,
everybody... was walking on eggshells
that night because nobody really knew what was happening,
but they kind of knew, and it was a very odd night.
And at that time, I knew that that was the end of an era
for that band and that time.
— The night before Randy left to go to England to join Ozzy,
we all were at Randy's house reminiscing about old times
and what it would be like for him to go.
(slow guitar ballad)
— That night, I remember that we just had fun, you know?
We had fun like we used to have fun.
There are certain nights that are snapshots for me of Randy.
I'm sure that's a night that Randy probably put
in his pocket, and whenever he felt homesick,
he could think of a night like that.
- I think it was in September 1979,
I'm sitting in my apartment in West Hollywood
getting ready to go to a rehearsal,
and I get a call from Randy out of nowhere,
and the phone rings and he goes, "Frankie?"
And I go, "Randy?" And he goes, "Yeah."
And he was, like, very direct, right to the point.
He goes, "You wanna go play with Ozzy?"
And I said, "Ozzy?"
He goes, "Yeah, the Black Sabbath guy,"
and we drove to a rehearsal studio that I knew.
It was Mars Rehearsal Studio,
and I walked in and set up my 1969 green sparkle Ludwig kit
with a 38-inch gong and everything,
and then I finally met Mr. Ozzy Osbourne himself.
Right away, we started playing.
So the first song we started working on
was the beginnings of what became "Over the Mountain."
Randy was pretty much running the rehearsal
in that Ozzy sat there for the most part
and just looked and nodded in approval,
and everything seemed like it was gonna be a go,
but, as luck would have it,
I am told that Jet Records had decided
that they were gonna record in the UK rather than the US.
They were only gonna bring one person over,
and the choice hands-down was clear.
It had to be Randy. It certainly wasn't gonna be me.
But I have wonderful recollections of that
because I actually got to be in the room with Randy
at the very, very beginning of what turned out to be
a wonderful musical experience for the world.
- Then he came to England and he lived with me in my house.
We lived together for about a year
in my house writing songs.
—- [Guns] It was Randy's riff for "Crazy Train"
that would not only jumpstart Ozzy's solo career,
but it would put Randy on the map as a guitar legend.
"Crazy Train" was the first single off the album
Blizzard of Ozz, which was released in 1980.
- I'll never forget a memory I have,
and I'm crossing the street in front of Warner Brothers.
There's about four cars at the stop sign,
and I walked in front of them,
and every car was playing "Crazy Train".
He was in a big band,
and he was being played on the radio all the time.
— [Guns] The Blizzard of Ozz line up was now complete
and featured Ozzy Osbourne on vocals,
Bob Daisley on bass,
Lee Kerslake on drums,
and Randy Rhoads on guitar.
A huge commercial success, Blizzard of Ozz was certified
four times platinum in the US,
went on to sell over 7 million albums worldwide.
— I truly, truly believe that Randy was the one element
that made it possible for Ozzy to reach greater heights
than he even had with Black Sabbath
which is unheard of.
- [Guns] Randy's influence on a generation of guitarists
was felt immediately.
—- [John] If it wasn't for him,
I wouldn't be playing the way I do.
On top of the great songs or the great riffs,
I mean, any Randy song, you could take a riff,
and you play it and people know.
- I remember, you know, being, a...
gosh, I guess like a 12-year-old kid
and like walking up to my local mall
and going to the Musicland
and buying the Blizzard of Ozz cassette
and gettin' home and poppin' it in
and hearin' "lI Don't Know", and it just like blew me away,
and I was like, "This is like the coolest guitar
I've ever heard in my life,"
and it was really like rock and roll perfection.
— [Bruce] The playing was just meticulous and unique.
I knew they were double
you know, and tripling his solos,
which I know how hard that is.
These riffs and these songs were really special
and gave such an amazing, you know, template
for Randy to shine.
- Right away, I thought, "Wow, Ozzy's really done something"
‘cause, you know, I'd been a fan of Black Sabbath,
and I liked Ozzy
and he left and I really loved when Black Sabbath got Dio,
and that was cool but we kinda wondered,
"What's Ozzy gonna do now?"
— [Guns] In September, 1980, the Blizzard of Ozz tour
kicked off in Europe with a North American leg
soon to follow.
- [Interviewer 4] Is this pretty close to the dream,
being with Ozzy
and starting out with this magnificent stage?
—- [Guns] But behind the scenes, tensions were rising.
During a management dispute, bassist Bob Daisley
and drummer Lee Kerslake were fired
before the North American tour started.
Back in LA, Quiet Riot was struggling
without its lead guitarist.
— [Forsyth] There was a short period of time there,
a couple of months probably where we weren't certain
whether Randy was gonna stay with Ozzy
and be a permanent thing
because he was kinda leading us on that he would come back,
so there was a time of just, you know, foundering,
and then after that we realized he wasn't coming back.
Certainly, the Ozzy stuff shows more where he wanted to be.
— After Randy left Quiet Riot to join Ozzy,
he returned to LA and we did a reunion show.
I had cut my hair and wanted to turn new wave,
just because, you know, I had to eat.
— I met this kid called Eddie. He called me and said, "Hey."
You know, "Randy's playing at the Whisky.
He's gonna be playing with Kevin DuBrow."
I do remember we came back down
to the second level of the Whisky,
and we watched Randy come out and play.
He played a couple songs.
(energetic rock music)
I can just remember today that his guitar sound
just stickin' to my face.
— [Forsyth] He came back to do that show,
and the whole time his demeanor is,
"Oh yeah, we're gonna continue to do this,"
which I think he had no intention
of continuing to do that.
- It was great to have Randy back playing with us,
but it was also very sad knowing
that it was gonna be very short-lived.
- [Forsyth] When Randy left, Kevin was a little bit deluded.
I think Kevin really thought in his gut that,
at some point, Randy was gonna come back
and play with him in Quiet Riot again.
I mean, I really think he believed that,
and I don't think there was a chance in hell
that was gonna happen.
Randy had moved on.
—- [Guns] Classical guitar became Randy's focus.
He would spend hours practicing after shows.
- He would always be doing his scales.
I could hear him in the next room.
Doo-da-loo-da-loo-da-doo, all day, every day.
— Randy would say to me,
"I don't know if I'm doing the right thing here."
He was quite apprehensive about the whole thing
because he was studying classical guitar,
and actually I think he felt it was interrupting his studies
in a way. — Right.
—- And I said, "No, this is great for you, man.
You gotta do this, you know?" And it's like, I think
I gave him the right advice.
— [Guns] On Blizzard of Ozz, Randy wrote
an incredible classical piece dedicated to his mother, Dee.
It's a piece that's inspired musicians for decades
and one that is often covered in tribute to the man
that never stopped teaching.
— One of the things that Randy would always do
was we had support bands, and they asked him,
"How do you get that kinda sound?"
He would teach the other bands,
and he would give them lessons always all the time.
He always had time for musicians, always.
—- You know, I think another thing that Randy did
was he made classical cool.
I'm the son of two classical musicians,
and, you know, I couldn't wait to get away
from learning cello and piano when I was a kid
and play rock guitar,
and, you know, all of a sudden when I heard Randy
and I was introduced to the concept
of classical music being quote-unquote "cool,"
it really made me reevaluate everything
that I had been through.
— [Dweezil] Really trying to figure out all of the parts
that were in "Revelation (Mother Earth)",
if you've never heard Randy's music
and this is one of the first songs that you hear,
you'll notice a heavy classical influence on that,
and he's playing acoustic guitar
and all the overdubbed parts are all these puzzle pieces
that make it challenging to figure out
what the voicing is for each thing,
so you can't necessarily figure out an easy accompaniment.
I got into other kinds of classical music
because of his playing.
- [Guns] Randy's virtuoso performance on Blizzard of Ozz
and his eclectic style was making waves
in the music industry.
In 1981, he was presented with the Best New Talent award
from Guitar Player Magazine.
It was a proud moment for the kid from Burbank
to finally land on the world stage.
Less than a year after recording Blizzard of Ozz,
the group headed back to the studio to begin recording
their follow-up album Diary of a Madman,
but unlike Blizzard of Ozz,
where the band took their time crafting songs,
Diary of a Madman was recorded in just over a month.
—- [Guns] Despite feeling rushed in the studio,
Randy's neoclassical guitar work reached new heights.
The complex music showcased his ability to shred,
create great riffs, and weave in classical themes.
- You know, one of those players
that I personally love listening to,
and I know a lotta people do, where they're just not trying.
They're serving the composition, for one, and secondly,
not trying to show off.
But he was really pickin' his spots,
and he was very economical in the way he played
and very smart and served the song.
— [Guns] In support of Diary of a Madman,
the group was gearing up for their second concert tour.
Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake were replaced
with drummer Tommy Aldridge and, on Randy's recommendation,
his former Quiet Riot bandmate, Rudy Sarzo, on bass.
(electric guitar riffing)
It was a tour highlighted by some moments
only Ozzy was capable of.
It was during a show in Des Moines, lowa
that a fan threw a dead bat onstage.
Thinking it was a toy,
Ozzy picked it up and bit its head off.
Then in San Antonio, Texas,
after yet another night of drinking,
Ozzy was arrested for relieving himself on the Alamo.
- [Ozzy] I remember Randy was saying to me,
"Ozzy, why do you drink so much?
Why do you take so much dope?
Why do you get stoned all the time?"
He never drank much. He never took drugs at all.
He never smoked a joint.
He smoked cigarettes, but that's about it.
He had the occasional drink,
but I was drunk and stoned all the time,
and he would say to me,
"You know, Ozzy, you're gonna die soon."
—- [Guns] For Randy, touring was exciting,
but he was in uncharted waters
as a guitar hero in a heavy metal band.
—- [Guns] The tour was a huge success.
After weeks of playing to sold-out venues,
they played what would be Randy's last show
at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum on March 18th, 1982.
(heavy metal music)
(sad piano music)
After the gig, they boarded their tour bus
and headed to Orlando, Florida to play Rock Super Bowl XIV,
which featured Foreigner, UFO, and Bryan Adams.
(sad piano music)
On the way to Orlando, bus driver Andy Aycock
made a pit stop in Leesburg, Florida
to fix a broken air conditioning unit on the bus.
They pulled into the estate of country singer Jerry Calhoun,
who was the owner of Florida Coach.
Aycock lived on the property,
which housed an airstrip and several small aircraft.
Aycock, who knew how to fly, convinced keyboardist Don Airey
and tour manager Jake Duncan to go for a flight.
He took the plane without permission
and headed on a joy ride.
After buzzing the bus several times,
they landed safely and now Aycock wanted Randy
and makeup artist Rachel Youngblood to go for a ride.
Youngblood had a heart condition and was hesitant to go.
Although Randy didn't like flying,
he agreed to it when Aycock said he would do nothing risky
because of Youngblood's condition.
Randy also wanted to take some aerial photos
to send to his mother.
During the flight, Aycock didn't stick to his word.
Instead, he buzzed the tour bus several times,
flying at over 150 miles per hour,
and on his last attempt, everything went wrong.
(intense music)
The plane's left wing clipped the top of the bus,
sending the aircraft spiraling outta control.
The plane hit the top of a pine tree and burst into flames
after crashing into the garage of the mansion.
Everyone on board was killed instantly.
(sirens blaring)
—- [Ozzy] It's amazing in one second how your whole life
can turn around, you know.
You go to bed on a bus driving down a freeway,
and you wake up and you're in the middle of a field
and there's a house on fire,
and there's bits of airplane everywhere,
and people are like running around screaming.
It's horrendous!
— [Reporter] According to police, the three were on
an early morning joyride after staying up over 24 hours.
While some members of the Ozzy Osbourne band slept
in their tour bus parked next to the house,
the other three buzzed overhead,
circling the bus three times.
On the fourth time, they didn't make it.
- [Ozzy] Is this really happening?
You don't think it's happening.
You don't think it's not happening.
You can't understand what's happening.
You're just kind of like locked in a time lock,
and it's like horrible.
And you can't get out, every time you turn around,
there's something worse happening, you know,
and it's like being in a battlefield, you know.
(sad piano music)
— And I'm pretty sure I heard about it,
I was listening to the radio and they said it,
and as soon as I heard it, I called Kevin
and he was crying.
He couldn't believe that that happened.
And, of course, everybody wanted to know what happened,
why, how. It's just a tragic thing that happened.
—- Kevin was destroyed when Randy died when he got the news.
I remember going to the funeral.
Kevin was one of the pallbearers.
It was just awful. He was just so upset and so depressed,
and it was a terrible, terrible thing.
My heart went out to his mother and his family
and to my own son, who was so deeply affected
by having lost this friendship.
- [Sarzo] You know, it was very hard for me personally
to carry on playing in Ozzy's band after Randy's death.
Every time we went onstage, it was, you know.
The memories, you know.
It was the same stage, production, clothing.
Even the intro of the show was Randy playing
Diary of a Madman,
and,
I don't know, I had become very robotic onstage,
and the only way that I could really survive the show
was just to shut down and just, you know, play.
—- [Guns] In 2004, Randy received another honor.
He was inducted into Hollywood's Rockwalk of Fame.
Fans and fellow musicians joined in
to celebrate his life and legacy.
—- Today, we're here to honor the memory
of an extraordinary musician.
He was a man that, during his brief 25 years on this planet,
touched millions of people just like you and me
with his talent and he left a musical legacy
that will never, ever be forgotten.
Randy was just 22 when he joined Ozzy
for the Blizzard of Ozz album.
He wrote many of the songs on that record,
and after Blizzard of Ozz, of course,
Randy went on to write music for the next album,
Diary of a Madman, (crowd cheers)
and it's his work on just these two albums
that have guaranteed Randy Rhoads
a lasting place in rock history
and his induction today into the Rockwalk.
Ozzy Osbourne, folks. (crowd cheers)
- It seems such a long time ago
that I played with Randy Rhoads,
and yet it seems so like yesterday I knew him,
but what all I can say about my memory of Randy Rhoads
is that I will never forget as long as I live
that he was a small guy with such an enormous, giant talent,
and he's so certainly missed in my family,
and there's not a day goes by without us thinking of him.
He'll never die in my heart. He's there forever.
God bless Randy Rhoads. (crowd applauding)
(somber guitar music)
- [Jodi] I feel that,
in my heart, definitely Randy and I were soulmates.
— [McNair] It's funny when you talk about that "it" factor
and the presence that Randy had.
He'd enter a room and people would just turn and look,
you know, and it was amazing,
but that wasn't what made him who he was.
I mean, part of who he was was the fact that,
it's like his talent, it's like you're aware of it,
but it's not the big deal?
He was my friend and,
at the time, we were just two guys
that were having a great time.
— [Forsyth] Randy had celebrity, is what he had.
There are certain people that just have that.
From the time I first met him,
you know, we would play a party
and thousands of people would show up.
You know, at the time, he was like, you know, 15.
It wasn't because he was such a great guitar player
at the time but he had celebrity, he drew people.
When somebody is a celebrity, when they have that essence,
that light, everybody gravitates to it.
They're like moths to the light, and that's what Randy was.
When you're watching the band on stage, you know,
all the audience gravitated to that side of the stage
because that's where the light was.
Randy was the light and everyone gravitated to the light.
(audience applause)
- [Guns] And Randy's light continues to shine.
In 2021, he was recognized for his contribution
to the music world
and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
In a short time, Randy inspired millions across the globe.
It's a legacy that continues to this day.
("Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osbourne)
("Revelation (Mother Earth)" by Ozzy Osbourne)