CoronaVinyl Day 107 (RS Greatest Guitarists 1-50): Blizzard of Ozz by Ozzy Osbourne

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is the second of two to feature Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All-Time, and we're looking at guitarists ranked in the Top 50.  I've already featured several of them, and today I'm going with one of many musicians who left us too soon:  Randy Rhoads, who falls in at #36 on Rolling Stone's list.  He was Ozzy Osbourne's guitarist on Ozzy's first two solo albums, Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman.  I have Blizzard of Ozz on vinyl, and as you can see from the picture above, my copy is autographed by Ozzy, and it's framed and hanging up in my Rock and Roll Staircase.

Rhoads was a soft-spoken, polite, classically trained musician -- the son of two music teachers -- who happened to be a guitar virtuoso.  While he had been in Quiet Riot before they got big, he was a relatively unknown musician until he auditioned for Ozzy Osbourne's solo band in late 1979.  Ozzy was blown away by the audition and immediately offered Rhoads the job.

At that time, Ozzy was reeling. In addition to having major alcohol and drug issues, he had parted ways with Black Sabbath in early 1979.  In his absence, they had hired Ronnie James Dio as their new frontman and released a great album in early 1980, Heaven and Hell, which had done well on the charts. He needed to reinvent himself and show the metal world that he could be something outside of Black Sabbath.

In addition to Rhoads, Ozzy assembled a solid band, with drummer Lee Kerslake (of Uriah Heep), bassist and lyricist Bob Daisley (of Rainbow), and keyboardist Don Airey (of Rainbow and who had also been a session keyboardist on Black Sabbath's Never Say Die! album).  That is who would record Ozzy's first solo album, Blizzard of Ozz.

Released in September 1980 in the UK and March 1981 in the U.S., Blizzard of Ozz was not only Ozzy's reintroduction to the music world, but also Rhoads's coming out party.  The songs on the album were mostly co-written by Ozzy, Rhoads, and Daisley, and Rhoads brought classical music techniques and conventions to the songs, in addition to fantastic riffs and solos.  The songs are metal standards, and the album propelled Ozzy into solo superstardom. Rhoads's guitar work on the album is phenomenal guitar, and the other musicians bring it all together for a tight package that every hard rock or metal fan should own.

The album reached the Top 10 on the album charts in the UK and Canada, as well as #21 on the Billboard album charts.  While it didn't have a Top 40 hit in the U.S., the song "Crazy Train" put Ozzy back on the metal map and has become one of his signature solo songs, thanks in large part to Rhoads's now-iconic riff.  The album also features several other songs that would become some of Ozzy's standards, like "Mr. Crowley" (basically a diss track aimed at infamous British occultist Aleister Crowley, even though he had been dead for over 30 years), "Goodbye to Romance" (a ballad about Ozzy's break-up with Black Sabbath), and "Suicide Solution" (an ode to recently deceased AC/DC lead singer Bon Scott's alcohol-related death that would eventually become the center of a lawsuit against Ozzy after a teenager committed suicide while listening to the song, though thankfully the suit was dismissed).  Blizzard of Ozz has gone platinum five times in the U.S., and it is one of the few albums to go multi-platinum without a Top 40 single.

As for Rhoads, he played on Ozzy's next album, 1981's Diary of a Madman.  During the tour for that album, Rhoads had indicated to several people that, once his contractual obligations to Ozzy and the record company were complete (which involved one more studio album and tour), he intended to quit rock and roll to pursue a classical music degree from UCLA.  Sadly, he never got the chance.  

During a stop in Florida between tour dates in March 1982, while the air conditioning on the bus was being fixed and other band members slept, the bus driver (who also had a pilot's license) took Rhoads -- who was scared of flying -- up in a single-engine plane that was at an airstrip where they were stopped.  They "buzzed" the tour bus a couple times in an effort to wake up some of the sleeping band members.  On the third "buzz," the wing clipped the tour bus, causing the plane to crash into a nearby tree and then explode.  Rhoads, the pilot, and the other passenger were killed instantly, and their bodies were burned beyond recognition, such that they had to be identified by dental records and jewelry.  Rhoads was only 25.

The Spotify version of the album is the 2011 expanded version, which features three additional tracks, including what might be my favorite Ozzy solo song, "You Looking at Me, Looking at You."  I still can't figure out why that didn't make it onto the actual album.  If you need any justification for why Rhoads is considered one of the best guitarists ever, listen to the final track embedded below, entitled "RR - Outtake from 'Blizzard of Ozz' Sessions."  It's a minute and fourteen seconds of Rhoads beautifully shredding.

Favorite song from Side 1:  "I Don't Know"
This is a solid start to the album. Rhoads starts off with a nice riff, and Ozzy's trademark shrill voice kicks in. The song seems to be Ozzy telling the world "I don't have all the answers, but I will continue to rock. Follow me on my journey."

Favorite song from Side 2:  "Steal Away (The Night)"
Not to be confused with one-hit wonder Robbie Dupree's yacht rock song "Steal Away," which was released earlier in 1980 -- perhaps leading to the addition of the parenthetical on Ozzy's track -- "Steal Away (The Night)" bears no sonic resemblance to Dupree's song.  This is one of those songs you hear and you ask why this wasn't a single. Not only is it fast-paced, but it's catchy as hell. Rhoads's guitars are awesome. It's a great song that would seem to have captured both metal fans and non-metal fans.