FTV: Guitar World

 

          After frequently using and citing references from Guitar World magazine, I was asked why a drummer would subscribe to a guitar magazine.  It was a valid question and my tongue in cheek answer was, “Well, with my guitar playing skills, it isn’t for the articles about shredding solos or pentatonic scales.”  The truth is, it helps me keep up with both new and classic artists and their bands.  When I first started teaching back in 1975, I had a very large study hall the last period of the day.  In the old high school turned junior high building on Greenland Road, the study hall had a connecting door to the library.  With more than a hundred students spread out in the room, I made it a habit to wander around the perimeter and to check into the library several times a period.  I soon discovered the librarian had a subscription to Guitar Player magazine on the periodicals shelf so I began looking forward to reading each monthly issue. 

      I had started teaching myself guitar around 1970 on the guitar my sister had bought from Montgomery Wards (and abandoned learning how to play soon after).  It was strung a little bit on the high side but wasn’t as hard to play as some of the beaters many famous guitar players say they started on.  It also had a thin neck that I found made it a little easier for me to play even if the strings were a bit high.  During my first year teaching, I decided one of my first purchases with my newly increased income would be a new guitar.  I enjoyed reading the featured articles in Guitar Player enough that I ordered my own subscription which I continued for twenty years before I let it go.  About ten years ago, I decided to give Guitar World a try and I have enjoyed it as well.  In this age of changing media landscape, Guitar Player has gone the way of brick and mortar bookstores (they still post things online), but Guitar World is still with us.

     In his editorial piece in the November 2025 issue (Vol. 46, No 11), Danian Fanelli noted that the late Ozzy Osbourn (who graced November’s cover) had been one of the few non-guitar players to be so honored.  In fact, he had his mug on the GW cover in 1983, long before his bandmate, Black Sabbath’s riff-meister guitar player, Tony Iommi.  Fanelli didn’t have the stats on how many times non-guitar players had been on the magazine’s cover in the past 45 years, but it did not take too much digging to find out that in a span from 1983 to 2025, this issue marked Ozzy’s thirteenth GW cover.

     With John ‘Ozzy’ Osbourne’s passing only a couple of weeks after his final Back to the Beginning appearance in Birmingham, England in July of 2025, GW put together an issue with information and commentary about the Ozman’s career from a host of guitarists.  Considering the number of talented guitar players he unearthed during his solo career away from Sabbath, it seems more than appropriate to give Ozzy one last hoorah even though he didn’t play an instrument.  One must remember that Ozzy’s invitation to join the Polka Tuk Blues Band (which became Earth and finally Black Sabbath) didn’t come because he was a great guitarist.  Ozzy owned a PA that was a better piece of equipment than the band had at the time.  Only later would he be revealed as a singer with a unique voice (perfect for their new heavy sound) and a talented lyricist for their new doom laden original songs.

     The first feature article in GW Vol 46 No 11 had actually been completed before Ozzy died.  It wasn’t destined to be run so soon, but including it in this Ozzy tribute issue was timely and made infinite sense.  Guitarist Jake E. Lee had done the interview prior to Ozzy’s last hurrah was scheduled.  Lee was invited to join the festivities in Birmingham held on July 5, so they were able to weave some of his interactions with Ozzy into the previously recorded interview.  Born in San Diego in 1957, Jake went through a succession of bands and was a founding member of Micky Ratt when he moved to Los Angeles.  He pursued other opportunities as his former band morphed into plain old Ratt.  He auditioned to be a member of the first of Ronnie James Dio’s solo bands but it wasn’t a good fit.  Dio didn’t want too much guitar (he felt it overshadowed the vocals) and Lee didn’t want to dumb down his playing to ‘simple block chords’.

     In the aftermath of Randy Rhoads’ unfortunate death in a plane crash, Ozzy’s solo band used a couple of replacement guitarists to complete the tour they were in the middle of when Rhoads died.   Team Ozzy opted to continue as a tribute to Randy and upon later reflection, it was obvious this was not a good idea (but by then it was a moot point).  Brad Gillis filled the bill the longest but when the tour ended, he went back to work with his band Night Ranger who had recently signed a major label deal.  Bassist Dana Strum was working with Ozzy putting together his next  solo lineup and he recommended Lee.  Osbourne first offered the job to Dokken guitarist George Lynch, but later changed his mind.  He called Lee to tell him that he had the job, but made Lee call Lynch to tell him that he didn’t get the gig.

     Jake joined new bassist Bob Dausley and drummer Lee Kirslake in recording tracks for the album they had been working on, Bark at the Moon.  Lee contributed a significant amount of music to Bark and the next album, The Ultimate Sin.  He toured through 1987 with the band along with new bassist Phil Soussan, drummer Randy Castillo, and keyboardist John Sinclair.

Lee was later fired by phone by Ozzy’s wife/manager Sharon which caught him off guard.  Lee felt he had a strong relationship with Ozzy and Osbourne said later that he had no personal issues with the guitarist.  Lee now says it was a combination of friction with Castillo and Soussan (the later wanting to be the band’s primary songwriter) and Sharon’s animosity over Lee’s claim that he had not been paid his fair share of the songwriting royalties.

     Lee would go on to found the successful bands Badlands with singer Ray Gillen and Red Dragon Cartel.  His current project (Red Dragon Cartel) is just now getting back into the game after a six year hiatus.  Lee had been shot during a robbery while walking his dog and has spent the last couple of years recovering his guitar playing chops.  He was more than happy to be invited to the Back to the Beginning show where he was able to reconnect with Ozzy.  They did not get to interact very long with all of the activity backstage, but Ozzy called him a few days later to thank him for everything.

     Jake recounts he was backstage playing Peter Green’s iconic ‘Greenie’ guitar (now owned by Metallica’s Kirk Hammet) and almost missed his cue to be on stage.  He was gratified to be greeted by the Birmingham crowd chanting ‘Jake, Jake, Jake’ at the urging of the first performing ‘supergroup’ organizer, Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello.  Lee joined a stellar group to honor Ozzy that included Lizzy Hale (Halestorm), Mike Bordin (Faith No More) Nuno Bettencourt (Extreme), David Ellefson (ex-Megadeth), Adam Wakeman (Ozzy), David Draiman (Disturbed), Whitefield Crane (Ugly Kid Joe) and Yungblud.

     Although Brad Gillis was somewhat mystified why he was not invited to Ozzy’s swansong performance, he did look back fondly at his relatively short tenure with his band.  Two weeks after Rhoads tragic death, he got an early-morning phone call from Sharon and Ozzy asking him to fly to NYC to join the band.  What he didn’t know was touring bassist Rudy Sarzo (Quiet Riot) had pitched his brother Robert to fill in for the departed Rhoads.  The Osbournes loved the idea but found out Sharon’s father (English manager Don Arden, known to be somewhat of a ‘mafia-don’ when it came to his music business dealings) had already hired studio ace Bernie Torme for the gig.  Torme was not happy to be taken from his own lucrative studio gigs so he made it known he was going to do a couple of weeks and bail.

     Gillis told GW’s Andrew Daly, “They flew me to New York and I saw their Madison Square Garden show with Torme.  At the private aftershow party, Ozzy told me to get my guitar (I grabbed my 1962 red Strat) and ran back up to his suite.  We went upstairs to the master bedroom [for me] to play for him.  I played Flying High Again with no amp.  He jumped up after I finished the solo and gave me a big hug.  He cried out, ‘I love you, Bradley – pull me through.’

He opened the master bedroom door and yelled down to the crowd, ‘I’ve got a new (expletive deleted) guitar player!’  It was crazy and surreal.  Me, a 24-year-old newbie about to join the Ozzy Osbourne band!”  They gave him two cassette tapes recorded from the soundboard and he proceeded to learn the parts from Randy’s shows using a boombox and a small amp.

     For the first shows, Gillis used Rhoads amps and pedalboard.  A week in, he had his own Mesa Boogie amp sent out that he would play through Randy’s Marshal cabinets.  He learned Rhoads licks and solos but slowly began adding a few of his own touches like some slight whammy bar nuances to the solos.  Brad had the advantage of watching Torme’s last shows as he was learning the set from the tapes.  Gillis says he will never forget sitting at the soundboard and the soundman looking over and laughingly telling him, “You’re next buddy.”

     Does Gillis regret not sticking with Ozzy after helping him pull through the tragic loss of Rhoads?  “I have no regrets.  We did record live shows (at Irving Meadows that was released on MTV and at the Ritz in NYC (Speak of the Devil – a collection of redone Black Sabbath songs)).  At the end of the year, Rudy left Ozzy to rejoin Quiet Riot.  My band Night Ranger just secured its first record deal.  I felt the writing was on the wall – it was time to rejoin Night Ranger and build something special of our own.”

     Daly did a short take on ten other guitarists (besides George Lynch, Gillis, and Sarzo) who either auditioned for or tried to audition to replace Rhoads.  For various reasons none of them got the gig.  Lynch even auditioned twice (1979 and 1982) and says his biggest obstacles had nothing to do with his playing:  “Ozzy had a problem with my short hair.  I had short air at the time.  Then his wife [Sharon] had a problem with my green guitar.  She said it looked like a booger.  She didn’t care what it sounded like, didn’t care what I was playing.”  Jennifer Batten submitted a tape in 1987 but it wasn’t going to happen:  “Looking back, it’s a super-macho gig, and they probably wouldn’t even have considered a female for that.  Having said that, if it were the same thing today, I think it’d be a whole different story.”  Zakk Wylde got the gig at that time and Batten did okay for herself as the touring guitarist for another well known solo artist – Michael Jackson.

     Vito Bratta (White Lion) was asked to try out in 1982 but figures he took himself out of the running.  When he asked Sharon what songs he should work up, she asked if he knew anything from Ozzy’s catalog.  He told her, “No, I don’t know anything.  I do love Randy’s stuff but I don’t have time to sit at home and learn it.  I never got around to it.”  Her voice got higher and higher, she finally asked how long it would take for him to learn a few songs.  He replied, “About a week,” and she told him, “Okay, maybe you are right.  It’s not a good idea,” before she unceremoniously banged the phone down.

     The list goes on:  Andrian Vandenberg (Whitesnake) – he had toured with Ozzy as an opening act but declined the offer to join.  Marty Friedman (Racer X) – he took a shot at replacing Jake E. Lee in 1987 but ‘failed miserably’ but he doesn’t say how or why.  Nuno Bettencourt (Extreme) – he was asked to join in 1995 but declined even though ‘Nobody says ‘no’ to Ozzy’.  He did, stating he didn’t want to be known as ‘Ozzy’s guitar player’.  When Zakk Wylde left after his first stint, Osbourne attempted to replace him with Steve Vai and for some reason it just didn’t gel.  Richie Kotzen (Poison, Mr. Big, Winery Dogs) got the call and he was offered the gig.  His downfall came when he confided to a friend that he was in.  His friend leaked the news to the press and when Kotzen found out, he was furious.  The Osbournes were none too happy about the leak and the deal ‘went dead’.

     If one searches the internet for ‘Buckethead’, one can see numerous clips of the similarly named guitarist shredding his heart out in his Michael Myers inspired white mask and KFC (now minus the logo) bucket hat.  More of a solo artist (although he has gone through a bunch of little known band names), he was part of Axl Rose’s ‘new’ Guns ‘n’ Roses for a while.  Brian ‘Buckethead’ Carrol has always marched to his own drummer, so some were mildly interested in how he would blend in with the equally eccentric Ozzy.  Ozzy told Revolver back in 2005, “I tried out that Buckhead guy.  I met with him and asked him to work with me, but only if he got rid of the (expletive deleted) bucket.  So I came back a bit later and he’s wearing a (expletive deleted) green Martian hat thing.  I haven’t even got out of the room and already I’m playing (expletive deleted) mind games with the guy.”  It was a very short audition.

     Of all the talented players Ozzy has cycled through, Zakk Wylde had the longest tenure and at this point is as much part of the Osbourne clan as any of their own kids.  Even when Ozzy decided to work with other players, Zakk held no grudges.  Wylde has always been busy juggling multiple projects as a guitarist, producer, touring band member, and the developer of some outstanding effects, guitars, and amps.  Every time Ozzy beckoned like Ahab tied to Moby Dick, Zakk was back (at last count, for three different long term stints).  For all that history, it almost didn’t happen the first go around.

     According to the Ozzman, he was tired of auditioning guitars – he called the process  ‘exhausting’.  Ozzy explained it to GW:  “This is a bizarre story, but it’s the God’s honest truth.  It was a bad period for me because I was sick of auditioning people – drummers, bass players, keyboard players.  I remember picking up a tape with a picture on it off a mound of tapes and said, “Look here, a Randy Rhoads clone,” and I tossed it back on the pile.  I couldn’t even bring myself to listen to it.  Six months later, [drummer] Randy Castillo walks in and says, ‘I found this great guitarist from New Jersey, and his name is Zakk.  I walked into the audition and I knew I had seen him before, but I couldn’t remember where.  He plugs in and plays my whole catalog note for note.  I realized he was the Randy Rhoads clone in the photo, the one tape I had picked out of thousands.  Only it turned out that he wasn’t a Randy clone at all.  Randy would have looked like an ant next to Zakk.”  Thanks to Guitar World, we all know a little more about how the non-guitar playing Ozzy Osbourne ended up on the cover of a guitar magazine.

     R.I.P. Ozzy Osbourne.  I am betting that come the tenth anniversary of your passing, Guitar World will find some way to get you on the cover for a fourteenth time.

Top Piece Video:  With Ozzy, it began with Tony Iommi but always circles back to Randy Rhoads…and Zakk…and Jake…