Ultimate Rhoads

I think Randy would have eventually produced a solo album..bet you Mike Varney Shrapnel Label Group, would have been all over him to do a solo shred album..but he may have put his education first..Either way, he helped pave the way for that genre which is why he is still relevant to us.

I think that if Randy had released a solo album, it would have been acoustic classical guitar.

As a rock player I think he valued songs the way Slash and Eddie do. Songs being the vehicle to present all of his skills - compositional as well as technical.

He was for sure the best of all rock guitarists in that element. Most rock/metal bands have two guitarists a rhythm and a lead. Like Judas Priest, GNR etc. But Randy made it all seem so seamless. Like Crazy Train with all the licks interweaved with the rhythm parts, it really creates the illusion of two guitarist playing together, he was so good at that and kept it so interesting and exciting, there's was no need for a 2nd guitarist in the band, they would have only gotten in the way. (of course VH and poison also had only one guitarist, but still something about the way randy did it made it seem bigger and more complex and full sounding. Not talking about his triple tracked studio stuff, I'm talking about his live stuff, sounded huge and very busy.

Personally I think if the world had received Randy first the only difference from reality would be exposure. In my May 82 Guitar World, which was written while Randy was still with us, he was seen as more of an up and comer trying to dethrone Eddie. I think the "dethroning Eddie" would have been the common string in both situations.