 The great ones almost always play a cool distinctive instrument, Clapton with psychedelic Fool guitar, George Lynch with the Skull N' Bones, Van Halen & all his striped creations, Zakk Wylde & his Bullseye motif, Billy Gibbons & his Jupiter Thunderbirds & all the other crazy guitars he has been using for 35 years. Lindsey Buckingham & his Turner Model one, Steve Vai & his Jems, etc etc. The corporate guitar companies will do anything to stop this.. They don't want to foster any originality or creativeness. They will try to buy them off offering them large sums of money to help dumb down the kids in America. After all dumbing them down keeps them programmed and basically stupid. Today Randy would have a tough time making it if he didn't have the support of all the big corporate boys. The only way to get their support is to dummy up and play one of their bland everyday models that are sold in Best Buy and Guitar Center. Randy Rhoads was known for his radical Vee shaped custom made guitars, The corporate moguls are buying up all the small companies who have the rights to make them. Remember this, When Randy bought his White
pinstriped Jackson, No one had ever heard of Jackson guitars. As for
his polka dot Vee with the strange headstock that came from a small one
man shop !!!! Randall William "Randy" Rhoads 12/6/56 to 03/19/82 was an American Heavy Metal Guitarist who played with Ozzy Osbourne and Quiet Riot. Despite his short career, he is cited as an influence by many contemporary heavy metal guitarists. A devoted student of Classical Music, Rhoads often combined his classical music influences with his own heavy metal style. While on tour with Ozzy Osbourne, he would often seek out classical guitar tutors for lessons.
BiographyEarly lifeRhoads was born on 12/6/56 at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica California. He was the youngest of three children. His older brother, Doug, who goes by the name of Kelle Rhoads, is a drummer and vocalist who also arranges classical compositions. His sister's name is Kathy. When Randy was 17 months old, his father, William Arthur Rhoads,
left his mother, but he stayed in touch with Randy even up until his son's
death. Delores Rhoads, and the three children. Mrs. Rhoads has owned and
operated the
Quiet RiotAt the age of 14 Rhoads formed a cover band called Violet Fox (after his mother's middle name, Violet), with his older brother Kelle on Drums. Violet Fox staged several performances in the "Grand Salon" at Musonia, Delores Rhoads' music school. Among their setlist was Mississippi Queen by Mountain as well as songs from The Rolling Stones, Alice Cooper, and David Bowie After the dissolution of Violet Fox, Rhoads taught his best friend Kelly Garni how to play bass, and together they formed a band called The Whore who spent several months playing at backyard parties around Los Angeles. Together the pair went on to form Quiet Riot when Rhoads was about 17 (according to Rhoads' mother). Kevin DuBrow auditioned for vocalist in Rhoads' kitchen after he convinced Rhoads and Garni to give him a chance. The drummer, Drew Forsythe, was already in the picture and had periodically played with Rhoads and Garni in the past.
Career with Ozzy OsbourneIn 1979, ex-Black Sabbath singer Ozzy Osbourne was
forming a new band. Future Mark Slaughter bassist Dana Strum recommended Rhoads
to Osbourne. Rhoads got the call for the audition just before his final
show with Quiet Riot. He walked in with his guitar and a practice
amp and started warming up; Osbourne immediately gave him the job. Rhoads
recalled later, "I just tuned up and did some riffs, and he said, 'You've
got the gig.' I had the weirdest feeling, because I thought, 'You didn't
even hear me yet.'" Osbourne described Rhoads' playing as "God entering my
life." Rhoads subsequently recommended his friend Greg Lyon, who also
taught guitar at Musonia for Rhoads' mother, to replace him in Quiet Riot,
and then departed for the UK to write and record with Osbourne in March
1980. The band, then known as the Blizzard of Ozz, headed into the studio to record the band's debut album, which would also be called Blizzard Of Ozz. Rhoads' guitar playing had evolved rapidly from his work with Quiet Riot, which has been criticized as being "dull". Propelled by Rhoads' neo-classical guitar work, the album proved an instant hit with rock fans, particularly in the USA. They released two singles from the album: "Mr Crowley and the hit "Crazy Train" The band toured extensively in the UK and USA and then quickly wrote and recorded a follow-up album. Diary Of A Madman was released shortly thereafter and Osbourne launched another tour with this same lineup. Around this time Rhoads remarked to Osbourne, fellow Ozz bandmates Tommy Aldridge and Rudy Sarzo and friend Kelly Garni that he was considering leaving rock for a few years to earn a degree in classical guitar. In the documentary Don't Blame Me, Osbourne confirmed Randy's desire to earn the degree and stated that had he lived, he didn't believe Randy would have stayed in his band. Friend and ex-Quiet Riot bassist Kelly Garni has stated in interviews that if Randy had continued to play rock, he might have gone the route of more keyboard-driven rock, which had become very popular through the 1980s. It was at this time that Rhoads was beginning to receive recognition for his playing. Just before his death Jackson Guitars created a signature model, the Randy Rhoads or Randy Rhoads Pro (though it was recommended to be called the Jackson Concorde). Randy received two prototypes — one in black and one in white — but died before the guitar went into production. Rhoads also received the Best New Talent award from Guitar Player
DeathRandy Rhoads last show was played on Thursday March 18 1982 at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum in Knoxville, Tennessee. On March 19 1982 the band was headed to a festival in Florida After driving much of the night, they stopped at the house of Jerry Calhoun, the bus company's owner, in Leesburg Florida The driver, Andrew Aycock, took Rhoads and hairdresser Rachel Youngblood on a flight in a Beechcraft Bonanza he had taken without permission. Apparently, during the flight, an attempt was made to "buzz" the tour bus where the other band members were sleeping. They succeeded two times but the third attempt went wrong. The right wing clipped the left side of the tour bus by accident, leading to the crash of the plane into Calhoun's nearby mansion, completely destroying its front. Nobody in the mansion was hurt. Rhoads, age 25, was killed instantly, as were Aycock, 36, and Youngblood, 58. It was later determined in an autopsy that Aycock had a trace of cocaine in his system at the time; Rhoads' toxicology test revealed no illicit drugs. The NTSB investigation also determined that Aycock's medical certificate was expired and that the biennial flight review required for all pilots was overdue. Randy's funeral was held at the First Lutheran Church in Burbank Ca., which he attended as a child. He was interred at Mountain View Cemetery in San Bernadino where his grandparents are also buried. At the time, Randy's mother was living in Burbank.
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Ed generally will have a large selection of different USA made RR Guitars. He also will construct you an exact Replicas of the Polka Dot Model and on rare occasion he has made a couple of player guitars for collectors who don't want to use their originals. Ed is always buying any old Jackson guitars especially interested in discontinued models like the White Ltd Edition Sharkfin Vees, Vinnie Vincent Models, Axe Basses, Warthogs, Demons, Death Angels, Explorers, Firebirds, Y2K Vees etc etc. Please contact Ed directly if you have one to sell. Top dollar paid ! |
Musonia School of Music in North Hollywood,
California since 1949. Rhoads started playing guitar at age 7 on his
grandfather's old Gibson "Army-Navy" classical acoustic guitar According
to Rhoads' mother, he learned to play Folk guitar, which was a popular way
to learn guitar at the time, although he did not take lessons for very
long. Rhoads was always evolving toward a Hard Rock/ Metalhead guitar
style, but he was heavily influenced by classical music as well. This can
be heard on Ozzy Osbourne tracks like "Dee" (an instrumental he named for
his mother Delores), "Mr. Crowley", "Diary of a Madman", "You Can't Kill
Rock And Roll", "Crazy Train" and "Revelation (Mother Earth)".
Quiet
Riot initially played in small bars in Hollywood and local parties in
Burbank, eventually playing at the two main L.A. music clubs of the day 
