In March 1982, Randy Rhoads would play the final live shows in his all-too-brief life. At just 25 years old, he had already made an unquestionable impact on the world of hard rock and heavy metal electric guitar playing — an impact that, decades on, is still being felt.
But because he left us so young, there are simply far too few clips of him in action — and not enough of them are in decent quality. Hence, a rare glimpse of the guitarist firing up his live rig before a show is like precious metal for Rhoads fans.
And that's exactly what we have here — captured on a handheld camcorder midway through the second U.S. leg of Ozzy Osbourne's Diary of a Madman Tour.
Following the location tag stating "Soundcheck Beaumont, TX, USA 2/18/82" in Ozzy's signature Diary font — though the Beaumont show actually happened on the 15th of that month — the video clip opens with the words: "This is the only known footage of a Randy Rhoads soundcheck... February 1982."
The soundcheck starts around 2:50, but it doesn’t really take off until 3:40.
In the short, rare footage, Rhoads' silhouette and sonics are unmistakable. Playing his Alpine White 1974 Gibson Les Paul through his Marshall Super Lead heads, he runs through some heavily percussive three-note-per-string scale patterns, occasionally dropping in a flat 7 for good measure. The playing section might be brief, but it's incredible how instantly recognizable his style is, even after just a few notes.
Sadly, Randy would only play a dozen more shows, his final performance taking place on March 18th at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum in Knoxville, Tennessee.
The footage is followed by an interview with Ozzy, conducted on the same day the soundcheck footage was filmed. Ozzy reflects on the tour's success so far and says he is struck by the phenomenal U.S. crowds they'd been pulling in — regularly packing out arenas with 18,000 to 20,000 fans a night.
Curiously, he was also perplexed by a new animal cruelty myth circulating at the time, claiming that he'd turned his back on bats and had now set his sights on some new prey.
"We're getting a lot of hassle from the animal society, because there's a rumor going around that I'm blowing up goats," Ozzy says, clearly baffled. "I don't know where that comes from."
Ozzy, at least health-wise, appeared to be in a better place post-Sabbath. "I'm cleaned out now. I don't touch anything… I live on the tour bus now.
Unfortunately for Randy and the band's seamstress, 58-year-old Rachel Youngblood, their tour bus driver, Andrew Aycock, didn't share Ozzy's newfound abstinence from narcotics. On March 19, 1982 — the day after Randy's final gig in Knoxville, Tennessee — the band drove through the night, heading to a show with Foreigner in Orlando, Florida.
They stopped off at the bus depot to pick up some parts and enjoy some downtime. But unbeknownst to some of the sleeping crew, Aycock had taken cocaine before deciding to pilot a light aircraft from a nearby airstrip. Moments later, the small plane clipped Ozzy's parked tour bus and exploded on impact, killing everyone onboard, including Randy.
A little less than two weeks later, Ozzy and the band were already back on the road, with Irish guitarist Bernie Tormé stepping in. However, after ten days, Tormé would exit the role, with Brad Gillis taking over for the remainder of the tour.
Randy’s brief but celebrated turn with Ozzy has been discussed frequently in recent months. Bassist Bob Daisley, who helped Osbourne pull together the lineup featuring Rhoads, reflected on meeting Randy and having the sense that he would be a star. “I had a premonition people would ask what it was like to play with him,” he recalled.
Daisley has also shared the origins of the title “Crazy Train,” perhaps the most famous Ozzy track from the Rhoads era.
"Randy had an effect pedal, and it sort of chugged a bit, even when he wasn't using it,” Daisley says. “If it was switched on and it was going through his amp, it made almost like a train sort of sound. Or it reminded me of that anyway. I knew Randy was a fan of model trains, and so was I.
"And I said, 'Randy, it sounds like a train, listen!’ It had a sort of psychedelic, kind of trippy thing about it. And I said, 'It sounds like a crazy train.'"
Osbourne himself shared his love for Rhoads in an interview with Guitar Player shortly after the guitarist’s death.
“I’m sad by the fact that the guy’s died. The guy was so unique. I don’t think people have ever fully realized what a talent that guy was – not only in rock and roll, but in every other field, you know. He was not only a great rock and roll player, but in the classics, and in every other field, he was phenomenal.
“I loved him in an instant. I fell in love with him as a player, and I fell in love with him as a person.“
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