ZAKK WYLDE: The Best Thing For RANDY RHOADS Was Hookin' Up With OZZY OSBOURNE

Steven RosenofUltimate-Guitar.comrecently conducted an interview withZakk Wylde(BLACK LABEL SOCIETY,OZZY OSBOURNE). A few excerpts from the […]

By Steinmetal

• June 25, 2011

Steven RosenofUltimate-Guitar.comrecently conducted an interview withZakk Wylde(BLACK LABEL SOCIETY,OZZY OSBOURNE). A few excerpts from the chat follow below.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: You recorded"Iron Man"withWilliam Shatnerfor his"Searching For Major Tom"album. What was that like?

Zakk: We hadFather Shatnerand we beamed him aboard the Black Vatican and we had him come over there. One of the guys that was working on it, I knew him years ago and he said, "Zakk, I'm workin' withWilliam Shatner. Would you want to do this thing with'Iron Man'?" I said, "Yeah, of course, dude."William Shatnerwas part of my childhood growing up. I used to go to the"Star Trek"conventions and all this other stuff so we were talkin' about that when he was there and everything and he was just laughing. A super-cool guy. You know what's so crazy? I'm thinking like he'sJimmy Page's age, 67 or 68, a couple years older thanOzz. Dude, [Shatner's] 80 years old and when you see him he's walkin' fine and he looks like he's about 58 years old. A really super-cool guy. I'm fortunate that I met like all my heroes and I caught 'em all on a good day.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: You appear on the"Thirty Years After The Blizzard"DVD blazing through some ofRandy's [Rhoads] licks.

Zakk: Nothin' for nothin', the best thing forRandywas hookin' up withOzzy. Me andJ.D.[BLACK LABEL SOCIETYbassist] were talkin' about it. "Where is he putting'Diary Of a Madman"on aQUIET RIOTrecord? Where is he putting'Revelation'on aQUIET RIOTrecord? Or'Over the Mountain'or'Goodbye to Romance'?" To me, we were trying to figure out whatQUIET RIOTsounded like and I actually heard a song. You know who they sound like?SWEET. Remember that band? I listened to thoseQUIET RIOTrecords and go, "It doesn't like soundQUEEN" but you hear influences. And you know what was so funny was you listen to all of that andZEPPELINwas at the height of their massiveness andRandywasn't intoZEPPELINat all. NoZEPPELINanywhere orSABBATH.Randyeven said it. He goes, "'I never likedBLACK SABBATH.'" He lovedAlice CooperandLeslie West. I remember reading that inGuitar Playermagazine that he lovedLeslie Westand he mentionedSteve Lukatherand he mentionedEarl Klugh. He was talking aboutEddieand said, "Man, I really digEddie Van Halen. I really love his playing" and stuff like that. He mentionedLeslie Westand he goes, "Man, it just sounds so mean and nasty the way he played the blues."

Ultimate-Guitar.com: You bring up the point that no one ever seems to mention - thatRandyreally flourished once he joinedOzzy's band. InQUIET RIOT, to be honest, Randy was just another good guitar player floating around Los Angeles.

Zakk:Neil Zlozower[famous rock photographer] had seen him and he goes, "I know you loveRandyand he's your guy but I saw him back in the day withQUIET RIOTand it was just like, ehhh." Just like pretty much what you're saying.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: Exactly.

Zakk: BecauseEddie Van Halenwas just destroying everybody. ThenNeiltook those classic pictures ofRandysitting on the couch with all his guitars, and he said, "Zakk, when I took those pictures when they played the Inglewood Forum [17,000-seat arena], I went, 'What did they do? Just lock him in a room for like 12 hours and make him play guitar?'" He goes, "Zakk, it didn't even sound like the same guitar player.'" And nuttin' for nuttin' but you listen to thoseQUIET RIOTrecords and then you listen to"Diary"and"Blizzard"? It's like, "Ahh, get outta here - this isn't the same guitar player."

Ultimate-Guitar.com:Randychanged dramatically when he started working withOzzy.

Zakk: When you listen toRandy's live solo, it has snippets of all his unique traits that he had in his playing. I'm talking about the actual live solo in"Suicide Solution". Me andJ.D.were listening to it and I was like, "Dude, it's all in there." Just snippets of the diminished stuff; him muting with the scales; him with the legato and classical stuff. Just in that short little guitar solo; it's amazing.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: You really liked Randy's live sound?

Zakk: I thought it was better than the"Blizzard Of Ozz"sound; I think the live sound was way better. Because the chorus that he had on his guitar just sounded huge, massive and warm. I think the actual production overall was better on the"Diary Of A Madman"album. Mind you it was the second album. It's like when I listen toBLACK LABELrecords, I know for a fact that this last album we did production-wise and fidelity-wise is the best sounding record I've ever done. Because I listen to all of 'em back to back and it's like when you listen toZEPPELINrecords. They all have their own unique character but definitely"Zeppelin IV"[is the one]. If you were gonna say toJimmy[Page], "You can only leave one record for people to know what you did on this planet," you've gotta leave that one because the production is beyond phenomenal; the songwriting is amazing; and the stars aligned when they did that album. That's their"Sgt. Pepper's", you know what I mean? WithMETALLICA, it's the Black album; withGUNS[N' ROSES], it's"Appetite"; and withAC/DC, it's"Back In Black". The production and the writing is amazing. It's a marriage of all the things that make it great.