Article - A Tribute to Randy Rhoads by Ozzy Osbourne

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Article - A Tribute to Randy Rhoads by Ozzy Osbourne

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A Tribute to Randy Rhoads by Ozzy Osbourne
Source: Hit Parader - date unknown


I keep saying to myself, "why him?" I would have gone rather than him, because he was just a kid. Randy Rhoads was 25 years old. The day he died, I remember thinking that this was the only way they could have stopped the bastard. He was so good. It was just over a year ago that the plane hit the bus and blew up. I'm lucky to be here now. I felt it. I was sleeping on the bus. Don Airey saw it. At first I thought the bus driver had fallen asleep at the wheel, crashed into a truck and run off the road. The plane ripped the bus into a million pieces. All we've got are fragments.

It was no prank. It was an accident and that's it. For God's sake, if I ever hear anybody say it was one of my practical jokes that went wrong, I'll strangle the bastard. It was an accident, a horrible accident. I was crazy after it happened. I never spoke, I never went out. I didn't do anything for 10 days. I could have been in a hole somewhere. It's just that every day I'd wake up thinking, "He ain't going to be here today." He was a hero, a true legend. It's fucked my head up, but I'll tell you what really fucked my head up. We had personal Ozzy Osbourne track suits made for the crew and band. I was coming out of a hotel somewhere, it was a few days after the accident, and there was this kid standing with a track suit top on. I was shot up with some numbness powder and I looked at this guy and thought, "where did he get that from, we haven't done a gig here yet." Sharon, my wife and manager, asked, "where the fuck did you get that?" He said, off the bus." I was going to kill that little fucker. It was Randy’s suit. I said, "Take that fucking thing off or else your head is going to come off. Get it off! How dare you, fucking animal."

People are sick. They say I'm sick? Take a look at them. There are a lot of sick fuckers out there. The guy wasn't even cold yet, he wasn't put out from burning, and people were phoning up, saying, "I can fit the place, I can do the gig." I understand that life must go on, but have a little respect for these dead people. All these people want to do is meet me. I'm a guy, you've met me, pinched me, fucked me, whatever. But there are so many sickos in this world - glory hunters I call them. They all forget that I lost my life when the guy burned.

I'm trying to pick up the pieces the best I can, and people are trying to harm me. It's fucking insane. They’re trying to make this big deal that I'm the messiah of doom. I'm sick of it. I'm not new to this game. I've been doing this for 15 years, and I've just gone through the heaviest, heaviest deal of my life. "Ozzy Osbourne takes a joyride on a plane and kills the guitar player." All the crap that's gone down doesn't bother me. I don't give a shit what they say anymore. I've become public enemy number one. "Don't let your sons be seen with this guy."

I don't want this aggravation, but I've got a loyalty to the people. I'm a strong person. You can say what you fucking like because sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me. The thing is, it's getting to the point where I have to have bodyguards. Next, I'll be wearing a false beard. Nothing's going to stop me now, though. I owe it to Randy.

Not only was he a good player, he had a good temperament. He didn't ask for much, he didn't require much in his life. He just got on with what he was here for. He played all the time. He wasn't a cocky cunt. There's not one bad thing about him except he began to see the success. It did affect him. It affects us all, but we grow out of it. It's like a part of growing up. Seven weeks before he died, he said to me, "I want to learn to play classical guitar." I said, 'You're crazy, just play rock and roll and make some bucks." He said, "I want to do it." So he started going to these seminars. Every town we'd go into, he'd look in the phone book for classical instructors. Seven weeks later, the classical stuff he was playing was unbelievable. Seven weeks. He worked around the clock to get where he wanted to go. He was a great guy. He was an angel and he was too good for this world. The kid was fucking great. I was with him on the road for two or three years, and he was a dear, dear guy. He was such a beautiful person that he gave me his fucking life. I kept telling him, "You wait until we play Madison Square Garden for the first time." He said, 'what's it like?" I said, "It's got that extra spark Madison Square Garden - the biggest in the world." Two weeks before we get there -pfff, vaporized.

So many fucking assholes deserve to go, and a guy like that doesn't deserve it. If he was an asshole, I could accept it, but he wasn't. Randy Rhoads was the nicest person you could ever wish to meet. Randy was a star, man, he was a born star. He never took drugs. He never even drank that much. I'm the lucky bastard. I drink like a fish and do everything that's bad and I'm alive. Randy should be a national hero because he was a good man.

It's like you go home, you've had some fun, you say to yourself, "My house is on fire," and you can't do anything about it. You haven't got a bucket of water to throw at the fire, so you let the house burn. Randy and I started the whole deal together. Randy was my fucking life, my blood, my energy. I was his biggest fan, he was my biggest fan, and we'd get off on each other. I taught him everything I'd learned, all the chops, all the moves; we worked it out together. We would spend days saying, 'when you do this, I'll make that move." It gelled. It was perfect. Randy Rhoads and Ozzy Osbourne must have been the all-time classic team on a rock and roll stage because we worked so well together. I fought with him a great deal. Some nights we'd scream at each other. I wish he were here to do that now. That grief will always remain with me. I got over the hurdle. The burden is that someone I love is gone. God bless Randy Rhoads
Last edited by Randy Perry on Wed Jan 02, 2008 12:37 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Stewie
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Post by Stewie »

Is there a part forgotten..? Or did you find a corrupted article?
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Post by Randy Perry »

Hey, I got that fixed. I was doing some of those on a laptop with one of those goofy mouse-pad things... I goofed up a few but thought I caught them all. Thanks for mentioning that.
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No problem.. all those interesting articles.. wow 8)
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Post by Gabriel Raphael »

Peace people

I wonder when the day will come for Ozzy to admit how Sharon and her father screwed with Randy's head with there legal cons.

People who signed agreements with Don Arden stuck to them or he would get everything and more then they had agreed to., and the people who found a way out legally as Randy was seeking where hung by there feet of roofs or even disappeared with on going investigations.

It is one thing that Ozzy and Randy may of had some problems between January and March 1982 but another with Randy and the contracts he was loosing out to the Ardens who wanted to own everything he was or going to be, his soul.
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