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midnight or 1:00 A . M .’ They said , ‘ That ’ s alright . Come whenever you get through , but just come .’ He still didn ’ t want to go . I said , ‘ Randy it can ’ t hurt , just go and see what it ’ s all about .’ So he did . He took his little old Fender practice amp , which he loved . He wasn ’ t gone all that long . When he came back I asked , ‘ What happened ?’ He said , ‘ I don ’ t know what happened . I was just warming up , tuning up , and Ozzy came out and said , ‘ You ’ ve got the job .’ I don ’ t know what job I got , but he says I got it .’ Randy said , ‘ It ’ s just one of those things . It probably won ’ t amount to anything because Ozzy has to go back to England . Ozzy said he would call me in two weeks , but you know how these things are in music . You take it with a grain of salt .’ Ozzy did call in exactly two weeks . — Delores Rhoads
He didn ’ t tell me about the audition . He said , ‘ You ’ ll never guess who I ’ m playing with . Ozzy Osbourne .’ I said , ’ What are you going to do with him ?’ He said , ‘ I don ’ t know yet , but at least it ’ s some kind of an opportunity . He has money and stuff . I ’ ll see where it goes .’ Then he started to see it was going to go somewhere . It was on a different level than Quiet Riot . Even though we had our local following and albums out in Japan , we didn ’ t have a pot to piss in . — Kelly Garni
He figured that Ozzy was a flake and nothing would come of it . Then , after a particularly bad rehearsal , he got called again and went down to some recording studio . I think it was in Malibu . He played through a Fender Princeton amp and the next day he told me he got the gig . To be honest , he waited for two months to hear from Ozzy . He got the call just before Thanksgiving and went off to England . — Kevin DuBrow
He didn ’ t like the Black Sabbath stuff at all . In fact , even though after he got the gig , my mom is the one who made him go . He goes ‘ I don ’ t want to be in a band with that Black Sabbath guy .’ My mom said , ‘ This is your break , you ’ re going .’ — Kelle Rhoads
At the time I auditioned Randy Rhoads , I had gone through at least 50 guitar players . They come along and play every lick in the world . I was drunk as a fool when I met Randy Rhoads but I knew . I could search this town forever and a day and fall over the guy on my doorstep . — Ozzy Osbourne
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If you ’ ve got looks and attitude the rest will follow . If you ’ re a crap guitar player it was ‘ get on your bike man don ’ t waste my time .’ But Randy had a style and you don ’ t have to sit there for three hours of auditioning to realize a man ’ s got class and style . That man was one of the classiest human individuals I ever had the privilege to meet . Thank God I met him . What a terrible loss to the musical world that he died . — Ozzy Osbourne
44 GUITAR TRICKS INSIDER DIGITAL EDITION JANUARY / FEBRUARY