Heartbreaking: Randy Rhoads has been involved in a ghastly car accident in the early hours of today along…
“Everywhere we went he’d find a classical guitar teacher. He was practicing a piece his tutor had given him. He was turning that into an intro”: Ex-Ozzy Osbourne bassist recalls how Randy Rhoads wrote the guitar parts to Diary of a Madman.
In a sprawling new interview, Bob Daisley has given fans a fresh look behind the curtain at Ozzy’s first two solo records – and Rhoads’ virtuosic guitar talents
Former Ozzy Osbourne bass player Bob Daisley – who was a key part in establishing the Prince of Darkness’ solo career – believes Diary of a Madman is one of the best representations of Randy Rhoads’ electric guitar talents.
The title track to Osbourne’s second solo record – and the last to feature Rhoads’ dazzling chops before his untimely passing in 1982 – combined the guitar icon’s well-documented love for classical guitar with a suitably maddening musical complexity. Randy’s playing, as Daisley says, is at the heart of the song.
Daisley’s CV is vast: away from Ozzy, he’s shared studios and stages with Uriah Heep, Gary Moore, and Black Sabbath. As such, he knows what it’s like to work with a great guitarist.
When asked to pick the definitive Randy Rhoads guitar song during a conversation with YouTuber Johnny Beane, Daisley quickly highlighted Diary of a Madman – which was apparently inspired by a piece of classical music.
“Crazy Train is a great radio-friendly song,” Daisley says of Rhoads’ guitar talents. “It was a great riff, Randy and I put that together. But Diary of a Madman came about because everywhere we went, he’d find a classical guitar teacher, and he was practicing a piece called Etude that his tutor had given him.
“He was turning that into an intro for a song. It was an embellishment, or an elaboration, of the exercise that he was doing.”
Indeed, those influences can be clearly heard in the finished version, which would eventually go on to become the title track of Osbourne’s ’81 LP – but not before the classically-informed guitar showcase received some initial pushback from the vocalist.
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