OZZY OSBOURNE pays tribute to RANDY RHOADS on 43rd anniversary of guitarist's death
08-11-2025
Ozzy Osbourne has paid tribute to Randy Rhoads on the 43rd anniversary of the legendary guitarist’s death.
Yesterday (Wednesday, March 19), Ozzy took to his social media to write: “Randy Rhoads was quite possibly the best composer & musician that I have ever met in my life. He came into my life like a bolt of lightning and as such he was gone again. I consider myself one of the luckiest men alive to have not only met him but also I had the great honor of being able to work with him. I will cherish the time I spent with him till the day I die.
“LONG LIVE RANDY RHOADS. LONG LIVE ROCK N ROLL. I LOVE YOU ALL.”
Rhoads played on Osbourne‘s seminal records “Blizzard Of Ozz” (1980) and “Diary Of A Madman” but tragically died in a plane crash when he was just 25 years old, on March 19, 1982. He influenced many musicians and is considered one of the greatest guitartists of all time. His death was a huge shock to the world and Ozzy wrote in his autobiography “I Am Ozzy” that he almost quit music after Randy‘s passing.
Four years ago, Ozzy told Rolling Stone magazine about Randy: “I knew him for a very short amount of time. But what he gave me in that short amount of time was immeasurable in fucking greatness. To get somebody like Randy Rhoads to play on two albums, and for those two albums to sound as good as the day they were recorded, is something else. And I’m forever in gratitude for that. God only knows where that man would be today. The very fact that he’s not here to breathe the air is just a fucking crime… He was a dedicated, true musician, and he was a lovely guy. I still think about him all the time.”
Rhoads received the Musical Excellence Award at the 2021 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony, which was held at Cleveland, Ohio’s Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
The Musical Excellence Award is given to artists, musicians, songwriters and producers whose originality and influence creating music have had a dramatic impact on music.
Rhoads was inducted into the Rock Hall by RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE guitarist Tom Morello who stated in a video message. “Randy Rhoads is a peerless talent. He revived Ozzy Osbourne‘s career as his gunslinger sideman. And it was Randy Rhoads‘s poster that I had on my wall… You could study Randy‘s songs in a university-level musicology class and bang your heads to them in a 7-11 parking lot.”
Also offering a video tribute was METALLICA‘s Kirk Hammett, who stated about Randy‘s death: “All of a sudden, the curtain came down unexpectedly and the show was over before it really, really got going.” Longtime Ozzy guitarist Zakk Wylde spoke highly about his predecessor, saying “Randy, hands down, sits at” the round table of greatness in the Hall Of Fame alongside Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Eddie Van Halen.
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