Jake E Lee talks about Randy.

[Stiltzkin]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InTZGAypUY8

Fairly recent interview with Jake where he for the first half of it talks
Ozzy and even a bit Randy.

He also mentions, If I got this straight, that George Lynch was the 1st choice
before him(which we knew), but also that he was the 1st choice even before
Randy (which I certainly DID NOT KNOW)

thought on this?

[BowTie29]

Probably gonna hear about this, but I think George was a better player than Randy. I feel that Randy is better as a musician with his knowledge, however I do feel George was a better player with better feel (for me personally at least). Same thing with Jake, but obviously something wasn't working between Ozzy and George. Saying all that, these 3 are all some of my favourite players

[Tito]

Nothin wrong with how you feel on that not at all!!!matter of fact i respect you for saying what you feel about it..good points bowtie!

[sytharnia]

Nothin wrong with how you feel on that not at all!!!matter of fact i respect you for saying what you feel about it..good points bowtie!

this

george has something that to me no other guitarist has and I love him for it ..... but to me randy was a far better song writer and was the perfect fit for ozzy

oh and I posted a link to this interview in the bob grail thread a few days ago

[Paul Wolfe]

I'd heard that George "had the gig" prior to Randy auditioning... Randy simply had something that made Ozzy sit up and take notice that George didn't have at that point. No doubt George had the talent, even Randy liked his playing... it's the intangibles that make the difference. Obviously Randy looked enough like a chick that Ozzy assumed he was gay, yet he hired him over George, who I'm sure didn't look like a chick (even with the stupid Q-tip hair).

[Stiltzkin]

I'd heard that George "had the gig" prior to Randy auditioning... Randy simply had something that made Ozzy sit up and take notice that George didn't have at that point. No doubt George had the talent, even Randy liked his playing... it's the intangibles that make the difference. Obviously Randy looked enough like a chick that Ozzy assumed he was gay, yet he hired him over George, who I'm sure didn't look like a chick (even with the stupid Q-tip hair).

Q-tip hair
Speaking of that, I once heard a crazy rumour that George lost out to Jake
because Jake had better hair. Looking at pictures at both from that time,
maybe there's some truth to that claim?

Who knows why he got the boot the first time?
Maybe, like Jake said, he got talked out of it be his manager?

[Donnie]

Yeah I read somewhere where Randy himself thought George was the best guitar player in LA at the time even better then Eddie. I saw Dokken In the mid 80's and Geroge's live solo was unbelievable it was so good. But it all really comes down too is writing. Nobody sits down and talks about what a virtuoso player Mozart or Beethoven were but they dont need to because of all the music they wrote. I wonder what people will think of the 20th century music in 200 years from now?

[CanuckRhoadsFan]

I'd heard that George "had the gig" prior to Randy auditioning... Randy simply had something that made Ozzy sit up and take notice that George didn't have at that point. No doubt George had the talent, even Randy liked his playing... it's the intangibles that make the difference. Obviously Randy looked enough like a chick that Ozzy assumed he was gay, yet he hired him over George, who I'm sure didn't look like a chick (even with the stupid Q-tip hair).

I wholeheartedly agree here. The "intangibles", X-Factor, or whatever you wish to call it make a huge difference. Randy had those intangibles in droves. I think it's a fair assumption to say that those first two records would have turned out differently and sounded differently than the ones we know and love had someone else been on guitar for them.

Also, the chemistry between Randy, Bob, Lee, and Ozzy was special. With all due respect to the other excellent players listed in this thread, I don't know that they would have created something as enduring and endearing had it been someone else playing guitar. It's not everyday that a band creates albums that people talk about so many years later with as much reverence and respect as those first two. Those are classic album by almost anyone's standards.

[CanuckRhoadsFan]

Yeah I read somewhere where Randy himself thought George was the best guitar player in LA at the time even better then Eddie. I saw Dokken In the mid 80's and Geroge's live solo was unbelievable it was so good. But it all really comes down too is writing. Nobody sits down and talks about what a virtuoso player Mozart or Beethoven were but they dont need to because of all the music they wrote. I wonder what people will think of the 20th century music in 200 years from now?

I personally think it's more about the medium of the music these days than the actual music itself. I think that's what people will be more concerned about. We've gone through so many formats (record,8-track, cassette, cd, downloads, streaming) that people are always concerned whether they can get the music they like or the newest format.

Sadly, I think people end up taking the music that's important to them, and just music in general, for granted. It's almost secondary to how the music is delivered to them. And I hate to sound cranky, but a lot of music being made today lacks the heart and soul of older music. I fear that music has lost much of its power and effect on people, because it's so bland and mediocre these days. Of course there's still good music out there. But it just seems it's harder to find.

Hopefully people preserve the music of the past, and break out of the lull we're in and make good music for the future.

[devorerd]

Never heard George had the gig before Randy..not buying that....heard he had the gig before Jake, and then Ozzy changed his mind, and never heard Lynch talk about having the gig before Randy.....He talks about showing Randy the tapping part on Flying High Again...so you would think that he would mention that he declined the gig..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FLPzpjkpZM

Lynch was working for UPS at the time playing an Aria Pro guitar, if Ozzy wanted him, he would have went, easy decision.

[mojopin70]

Randy was humble and had no ego, so he thought nothing of bigging up other players. He was just more talented than the majority .I can see why ozzy chose him if you see his reaction to the " lost solo" thing from the Blizzard tapes from Ridge Farm i would imagine thats what happened when Randy started doing his modal,warm up spotlight solo thing....

[skezza]

That's a great interview

[Paul Wolfe]

Never heard George had the gig before Randy..not buying that....heard he had the gig before Jake, and then Ozzy changed his mind, and never heard Lynch talk about having the gig before Randy.....He talks about showing Randy the tapping part on Flying High Again...so you would think that he would mention that he declined the gig..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FLPzpjkpZM

Lynch was working for UPS at the time playing an Aria Pro guitar, if Ozzy wanted him, he would have went, easy decision.

He didn't decline, Ozzy heard Randy after he'd heard George and that changed his mind. I heard this years before he claimed to have taught Randy the Flying High stuff.

Randy was humble and had no ego...

I know what your getting at, Randy did know he was talented but also could recognize talent in others and wasn't threatened by them. He clearly understood that guitar playing is not a competition.

[dfanucci]

I got to give Ozzy a lot of credit. George's style would just not fit with Ozzy. Randy was the perfect fit.

Having said that, I agree with some others. George Lynch is simply phenomenal, and in my opinion a better "guitarist" than Randy. Randy had musicianship in spades, and was simply the finest well rounded "musician" to ever pick up a guitar. The man had the "ear" for music and conveyed it perfectly with his guitar.

For chops, licks, speed, originality... man... George Lynch is really hard to top. I saw George live snap 3 strings and it was absolutely amazing what he was still able to pull out of the bag...

His style with Ozzy would have been horrible, imho.

[Paul Wolfe]

However, Ozzy didn't have a "style" at that point... just a voice. Randy, Bob and Lee created Ozzy's "style" (as far as his solo career), so had he gone with George, the Ozzy sound we know would simply have been different.