Some guitarists can make your jaw drop the instant they play while others overwhelm you so completely it takes a moment to recover. For Ozzy Osbourne, one musician in particular fell into the latter category.
Yngwie Malmsteen was already making waves in the early 1980s with his lightning-fast runs, impeccable precision, and scale-heavy solos. Technically, he was brilliant. But for Osbourne, there was a limit.
“There are guys who’ll go wingly-wangly up and down the fretboard, and some have emotions and others don’t,” he told Guitar World Magazine.
“This Yngwie Malmsteen guy must have the capability to do some amazing things, but it’s too cold, it’s too much for the mind to take in.”
Osbourne had always valued personality over perfection. Metal, for him, wasn’t about ticking off every arpeggio or clocking the fastest runs – it was about emotion, drama, and letting the music breathe.
And while he could appreciate virtuosity, there was a point where technical wizardry became overwhelming rather than inspiring.
It was in this context that another guitarist entered the picture – someone who would change the course of Osbourne’s solo career.
Randy Rhoads walked into the audition room quietly, but with an unmistakable command. Unlike Malmsteen, Rhoads wasn’t just fast or flawless, he had a sense of melody, a flair for classical influence, and an intuitive grasp of songcraft.
From the start, he took Osbourne’s ideas and transformed them. Songs like ‘Mr Crowley’ and ‘Crazy Train’ weren’t just vehicles for solos – they were complete works of art, with solos that felt like extensions of the songs themselves rather than displays of speed.
Even Eddie Van Halen, revolutionary in his own right, earned Osbourne’s respect – but Rhoads had a different kind of depth. He brought colour, drama, and story to every riff and solo. For Osbourne, who had always emphasised character and emotion over sheer technical skill, Rhoads was the perfect collaborator.
“He understood instinctively that music is more than notes,” Osbourne said of Rhoads. “There are guys at the winning post, and everyone else is a close second.”