I don't buy into it!

[rokket]

Lee joined the band after the songs had been written for Blizzard Of Ozz. If I'm not mistaken after he joined was about two weeks prior to the start of recording that album. Two weeks......enough time to become familiar with the songs and add his own fills and feel to them. So prior to Lee joining we had Ozzy, Bob and Randy............who do you think may have written/arranged and worked those songs up........Ozzy and Randy or Bob and Randy?? Who was writing the music in Quiet Riot? and what might the difference be between the music of Quiet Riot and the music of the "Blizzard Of Ozz Band"??? Very similar or very different??

[GUITARIDOL5682]

A good example of hearing songs wrote badly are the out takes from the Ozzy 'Prince of Darkness' box set. You csan hear Ozzy's efforts, then after a bit of tinkering and a bit of Bob tinkering. He turns the tune into one that phrases better and flows better. On the Ozzy 'Don't Blame Me' dvd you see Ozzy trying to arrange his lyrics in the studio. Again, they are very messy. Ozzy has never been a good song writer. He comes up with the melody and a basic idea for a concept album i.e Horror Werewolves BATM & Killer of Giants castle stage etc. As far as Randy goes, he would never be happy until it was 100%. But he needed to be guided to get that 100%. Pure prediction as to what Randy would of went on to achieve. Look at Jake E Lee he isn't very active in the music scene today. Some times musicians have that hour of stardom and fade away.

[rokket]

When Randy was playing in QR, you hear a few riffs etc that ended up, although sounding more refined, in some of the BOO, DOAMM songs. But with QR did we hear anything as dark as say "Mr.Crowley" or anything as catchy as "Crazy Train"...?? was Randy writing in this style but QR didn't like it or want to do it, or did this style of song writing stem from Ozzy's melody ideas (heavy Black Sabbath influence of course) Bob's lyric skills and Randy and Bob's ability to write music to suit......

It's all very interesting I think.

[Paul Wolfe]

Pure prediction as to what Randy would of went on to achieve. Look at Jake E Lee he isn't very active in the music scene today. Some times musicians have that hour of stardom and fade away.

I agree with this, but I'd phrase it as "move on" rather than "fade away". I'm sure Jake still plays his guitar, as Randy would, just not in front of screaming fans.

[Paul Wolfe]

But with QR did we hear anything as dark as say "Mr.Crowley" or anything as catchy as "Crazy Train"...?? was Randy writing in this style but QR didn't like it or want to do it, or did this style of song writing stem from Ozzy's melody ideas (heavy Black Sabbath influence of course) Bob's lyric skills and Randy and Bob's ability to write music to suit...

As I've mentioned before, metal guitar was Randy's job with Ozzy, so he played to that end: metal guitar. Randy's job in Quiet Riot was glam/pop guitar, so he played to that end. In addition, during the Quiet Riot days he was developing.

Now, Alice Cooper's 1980 album Flush the Fashion featured songs like Clones which is a far cry from Crazy Train. What if Randy had been tapped by Alice rather than Ozzy? Would Randy's playing have been different (playing to Alice's desired style) or would Alice have bypassed a bunch of blah records with Randy on the writing team?

What if Earth, Wind and Fire had said, "Randy, we like what we hear from you and would like you to play with us to create a new genre." They were established, and his mom would have told him that EWF could help him get his foot in the door... but would we be talking about him?

[rokket]

But with QR did we hear anything as dark as say "Mr.Crowley" or anything as catchy as "Crazy Train"...?? was Randy writing in this style but QR didn't like it or want to do it, or did this style of song writing stem from Ozzy's melody ideas (heavy Black Sabbath influence of course) Bob's lyric skills and Randy and Bob's ability to write music to suit...

As I've mentioned before, metal guitar was Randy's job with Ozzy, so he played to that end: metal guitar. Randy's job in Quiet Riot was glam/pop guitar, so he played to that end. In addition, during the Quiet Riot days he was developing.

Now, Alice Cooper's 1980 album Flush the Fashion featured songs like Clones which is a far cry from Crazy Train. What if Randy had been tapped by Alice rather than Ozzy? Would Randy's playing have been different (playing to Alice's desired style) or would Alice have bypassed a bunch of blah records with Randy on the writing team?

What if Earth, Wind and Fire had said, "Randy, we like what we hear from you and would like you to play with us to create a new genre." They were established, and his mom would have told him that EWF could help him get his foot in the door... but would we be talking about him?

It's difficult to know the answers to any of it I guess. I'm glad Randy didn't end up with Alice, no disrespect to Alice but I've never been a "fan", and even if Randy had of been in his band, to me, the albums would still be "blah" because of songs and lyrics.

So who's 'driving the bus" so to speak. Who was the driving force behind the structure, writing and lyrics for Quiet Riot that saw Randy "doing his job" playing glam/pop, and who was "driving the bus" in "Blizzard Of Ozz", where Randy's job was playing metal........??

The mind boggles.........

[Paul Wolfe]

I'm glad Randy didn't end up with Alice, no disrespect to Alice but I've never been a "fan"...

Actually, I think it would have been very interesting, because Alice Cooper was the show Randy saw that caused him to say, "I want to be a rock star." So he knew Alice songs already and would have likely been thrilled to be writing Alice songs.

[Isodee]

After reading these posts we finally dare to say:

1. Ozzy himself has done something right to become the famous Ozzy Osbourne we all know?
2. He's even made other musicians alongside him famous?

Who's been the driving force in Ozzy's band for the last 30+ years? Sharon without a doubt. Without Sharon Ozzy would be nobody - with or without Randy & the dynamic duo in his band.

Just my 2 cents.

[Paul Wolfe]

Randy & the dynamic duo

That could have be Randy's solo band name!!

[RRFan4Ever]

When Randy was in QR, they were some teenagers trying to get a record deal- sure they had their own signature flow and a huge local following- but at that point, the only professionalism that Randy had been exposed to was probably the record execs- and Kevin leading the band through (which he lost his ass on Metal Health's sales, so that shows his inexperience, too).

I think that Randy was able to try different things that he had kicking around in his head, that didn't fit into the QR image. We can see that in his solos, excellent quality video btw!

Bob was probably the biggest influence that Randy had in Blizzard of Ozz, and I suspect that together they laid down 2 beautiful albums that remain relevant and sound new to this day- but could Bob have done that without Randy? No. On the other hand- without Ozzy, they wouldn't have recording.

IMO Randy is what makes Blizzard and Diary beautiful. We'll never know exactly what conspired as we weren't there. Bob has stayed on point, truthful, and available to the fans, whereas Ozzy and Sharon's stories over the years have changed, been disingenuous, lied by omission, and/or painted the prettiest pictures possible. Then they went into reality television.


What I don't buy is that Ozzy was all that close to Randy at the end, yeah we have the story where he punched Randy a couple weeks before Randy died. There's other mannerisms that that scream of excess testosterone- like introducing Randy as the guitarist "whose also gay"- or when he's grab Randy by his hair and thrash his head while he was playing. I'd imagine that must've irritated the shit out of Randy. Did Ozzy ever grab Jake or Zakk like that? I don't know that it was schtick, it could be- but I think that shit is plain spiteful. And I still don't buy that Randy screwed Sharon. Stories do not add up, the time(s) it occured don't make sense.

Yeah, there's a lot that I don't buy, either.

[Stiltzkin]

Did Ozzy ever grab Jake or Zakk like that?

oh yeah he did. There's even video to prove it

[RRFan4Ever]

Did Ozzy ever grab Jake or Zakk like that?

oh yeah he did. There's even video to prove it

Thank you, had no idea. Just seems like a passive aggressive thing to do to one's band member, IMHO.

[Stiltzkin]

...and in the case of Jake, on the Ultimate Ozzy video,
Ozzy first kicks Jake in the end of his solo spot and then
proceeds to yank his hair like a TRUE madman

[RRFan4Ever]

if that's what that is, I guess- along with that frog leap thing Ozzy did/does- yup- he's mad alright.

[Alex]

xx123456