Ultimate Rhoads

So I picked up the new Guitar Edge magazine with the article about the 30th anniversary of Van Halen. In the second paragraph about that record is an interesting quote from Neil Zlozower:

"The first time I heard Runnin' With the Devil I thought, 'This is sick.' I'd never heard anything like that before, and nobody played or sounded like Eddie Van Halen, not even Randy Rhoads."

Of all the guitar players he could compare Eddie to back in 1978, he compared him to Randy Rhoads. To me that was interesting, considering that Randy was an L.A. hotshot at the time just like Ed.

I also found it interesting that 30 years after Van Halen shook the guitar playing world, Randy's name is still referenced in conjunction with him.

...

I remember when GW did a special "photos" Legends issue and Zloz commented on a photo that he did of Randy and he said that Randy never impressed him really, and that he didn't think there was anything special about his playing during his QR years. He said he changed his mind when he started shooting Randy with Ozzy. He said Randy had gotten so good it was as if he sat in a closet and played guitar for his whole life compared to how he was before, or something to that affect.