<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0After frequently using and citing references from <\/span>Guitar World<\/span><\/i> magazine, I was asked why a drummer would subscribe to a guitar magazine.\u00a0 It was a valid question and my tongue in cheek answer was, \u201cWell, with my guitar playing skills, it isn\u2019t for the articles about shredding solos or pentatonic scales.\u201d\u00a0 The truth is, it helps me keep up with both new and classic artists and their bands.\u00a0 When I first started teaching back in 1975, I had a very large study hall the last period of the day.\u00a0 In the old high school turned junior high building on Greenland Road, the study hall had a connecting door to the library.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 I soon discovered the librarian had a subscription to <\/span>Guitar Player <\/span><\/i>magazine on the periodicals shelf so I began looking forward to reading each monthly issue.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I 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).\u00a0 It was strung a little bit on the high side but wasn\u2019t as hard to play as some of the beaters many famous guitar players say they started on.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 During my first year teaching, I decided one of my first purchases with my newly increased income would be a new guitar.\u00a0 I enjoyed reading the featured articles in <\/span>Guitar Player<\/span><\/i> enough that I ordered my own subscription which I continued for twenty years before I let it go.\u00a0 About ten years ago, I decided to give <\/span>Guitar World<\/span><\/i> a try and I have enjoyed it as well.\u00a0 In this age of changing media landscape, <\/span>Guitar Player<\/span><\/i> has gone the way of brick and mortar bookstores (they still post things online), but <\/span>Guitar World<\/span><\/i> is still with us.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In his editorial piece in the November 2025 issue (Vol. 46, No 11), Danian Fanelli noted that the late Ozzy Osbourn (who graced November\u2019s cover) had been one of the few non-guitar players to be so honored.\u00a0 In fact, he had his mug on the <\/span>GW <\/span><\/i>cover in 1983, long before his bandmate, Black Sabbath\u2019s riff-meister guitar player, Tony Iommi.\u00a0 Fanelli didn\u2019t have the stats on how many times non-guitar players had been on the magazine\u2019s 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\u2019s thirteenth <\/span>GW <\/span><\/i>cover.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0With John \u2018Ozzy\u2019 Osbourne\u2019s passing only a couple of weeks after his final <\/span>Back to the Beginning <\/span><\/i>appearance in Birmingham, England in July of 2025, <\/span>GW <\/span><\/i>put together an issue with information and commentary about the Ozman\u2019s career from a host of guitarists.\u00a0 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\u2019t play an instrument.\u00a0 One must remember that Ozzy\u2019s invitation to join the Polka Tuk Blues Band (which became Earth and finally Black Sabbath) didn\u2019t come because he was a great guitarist.\u00a0 Ozzy owned a PA that was a better piece of equipment than the band had at the time.\u00a0 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.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The first feature article in <\/span>GW <\/span><\/i>Vol 46 No 11 had actually been completed before Ozzy died.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t destined to be run so soon, but including it in this Ozzy tribute issue was timely and made infinite sense.\u00a0 Guitarist Jake E. Lee had done the interview prior to Ozzy\u2019s last hurrah was scheduled.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 He pursued other opportunities as his former band morphed into plain old Ratt.\u00a0 He auditioned to be a member of the first of Ronnie James Dio\u2019s solo bands but it wasn\u2019t a good fit.\u00a0 Dio didn\u2019t want too much guitar (he felt it overshadowed the vocals) and Lee didn\u2019t want to dumb down his playing to \u2018simple block chords\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In the aftermath of Randy Rhoads\u2019 unfortunate death in a plane crash, Ozzy\u2019s solo band used a couple of replacement guitarists to complete the tour they were in the middle of when Rhoads died. \u00a0 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).\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Bassist Dana Strum was working with Ozzy putting together his next\u00a0 solo lineup and he recommended Lee.\u00a0 Osbourne first offered the job to Dokken guitarist George Lynch, but later changed his mind.\u00a0 He called Lee to tell him that he had the job, but made Lee call Lynch to tell him that he didn\u2019t get the gig.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Jake joined new bassist Bob Dausley and drummer Lee Kirslake in recording tracks for the album they had been working on, <\/span>Bark at the Moon.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 Lee contributed a significant amount of music to <\/span>Bark<\/span><\/i> and the next album, <\/span>The Ultimate Sin.\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>He toured through 1987 with the band along with new bassist Phil Soussan, drummer Randy Castillo, and keyboardist John Sinclair.<\/span><\/p>\n Lee was later fired by phone by Ozzy\u2019s wife\/manager Sharon which caught him off guard.\u00a0 Lee felt he had a strong relationship with Ozzy and Osbourne said later that he had no personal issues with the guitarist.\u00a0 Lee now says it was a combination of friction with Castillo and Soussan (the later wanting to be the band\u2019s primary songwriter) and Sharon\u2019s animosity over Lee\u2019s claim that he had not been paid his fair share of the songwriting royalties.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Lee would go on to found the successful bands Badlands with singer Ray Gillen and Red Dragon Cartel.\u00a0 His current project (Red Dragon Cartel) is just now getting back into the game after a six year hiatus.\u00a0 Lee had been shot during a robbery while walking his dog and has spent the last couple of years recovering his guitar playing chops.\u00a0 He was more than happy to be invited to the <\/span>Back to the Beginning<\/span><\/i> show where he was able to reconnect with Ozzy.\u00a0 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.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Jake recounts he was backstage playing Peter Green\u2019s iconic \u2018Greenie\u2019 guitar (now owned by Metallica\u2019s Kirk Hammet) and almost missed his cue to be on stage.\u00a0 He was gratified to be greeted by the Birmingham crowd chanting \u2018Jake, Jake, Jake\u2019 at the urging of the first performing \u2018supergroup\u2019 organizer, Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello.\u00a0 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.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Although Brad Gillis was somewhat mystified why he was not invited to Ozzy\u2019s swansong performance, he did look back fondly at his relatively short tenure with his band.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 What he didn\u2019t know was touring bassist Rudy Sarzo (Quiet Riot) had pitched his brother Robert to fill in for the departed Rhoads.\u00a0 The Osbournes loved the idea but found out Sharon\u2019s father (English manager Don Arden, known to be somewhat of a \u2018mafia-don\u2019 when it came to his music business dealings) had already hired studio ace Bernie Torme for the gig.\u00a0 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.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Gillis told <\/span>GW\u2019s <\/span><\/i>Andrew Daly, \u201cThey flew me to New York and I saw their Madison Square Garden show with Torme.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 We went upstairs to the master bedroom [for me] to play for him.\u00a0 I played <\/span>Flying High Again <\/span><\/i>with no amp.\u00a0 He jumped up after I finished the solo and gave me a big hug.\u00a0 He cried out, \u2018I love you, Bradley – pull me through.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n He opened the master bedroom door and yelled down to the crowd, \u2018I\u2019ve got a new (expletive deleted) guitar player!\u2019\u00a0 It was crazy and surreal.\u00a0 Me, a 24-year-old newbie about to join the Ozzy Osbourne band!\u201d\u00a0 They gave him two cassette tapes recorded from the soundboard and he proceeded to learn the parts from Randy\u2019s shows using a boombox and a small amp.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0For the first shows, Gillis used Rhoads amps and pedalboard.\u00a0 A week in, he had his own Mesa Boogie amp sent out that he would play through Randy\u2019s Marshal cabinets.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Brad had the advantage of watching Torme\u2019s last shows as he was learning the set from the tapes.\u00a0 Gillis says he will never forget sitting at the soundboard and the soundman looking over and laughingly telling him, \u201cYou\u2019re next buddy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Does Gillis regret not sticking with Ozzy after helping him pull through the tragic loss of Rhoads?\u00a0 \u201cI have no regrets.\u00a0 We did record live shows (at Irving Meadows that was released on MTV and at the Ritz in NYC (<\/span>Speak of the Devil<\/span><\/i> – a collection of redone Black Sabbath songs)).\u00a0 At the end of the year, Rudy left Ozzy to rejoin Quiet Riot.\u00a0 My band Night Ranger just secured its first record deal.\u00a0 I felt the writing was on the wall – it was time to rejoin Night Ranger and build something special of our own.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Daly 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.\u00a0 For various reasons none of them got the gig.\u00a0 Lynch even auditioned twice (1979 and 1982) and says his biggest obstacles had nothing to do with his playing:\u00a0 \u201cOzzy had a problem with my short hair.\u00a0 I had short air at the time.\u00a0 Then his wife [Sharon] had a problem with my green guitar.\u00a0 She said it looked like a booger.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t care what it sounded like, didn\u2019t care what I was playing.\u201d\u00a0 Jennifer Batten submitted a tape in 1987 but it wasn\u2019t going to happen:\u00a0 \u201cLooking back, it\u2019s a super-macho gig, and they probably wouldn\u2019t even have considered a female for that.\u00a0 Having said that, if it were the same thing today, I think it\u2019d be a whole different story.\u201d\u00a0 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.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Vito Bratta (White Lion) was asked to try out in 1982 but figures he took himself out of the running.\u00a0 When he asked Sharon what songs he should work up, she asked if he knew anything from Ozzy\u2019s catalog.\u00a0 He told her, \u201cNo, I don\u2019t know anything.\u00a0 I do love Randy\u2019s stuff but I don\u2019t have time to sit at home and learn it.\u00a0 I never got around to it.\u201d\u00a0 Her voice got higher and higher, she finally asked how long it would take for him to learn a few songs.\u00a0 He replied, \u201cAbout a week,\u201d and she told him, \u201cOkay, maybe you are right.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a good idea,\u201d before she unceremoniously banged the phone down.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The list goes on:\u00a0 Andrian Vandenberg (Whitesnake) – he had toured with Ozzy as an opening act but declined the offer to join.\u00a0 Marty Friedman (Racer X) – he took a shot at replacing Jake E. Lee in 1987 but \u2018failed miserably\u2019 but he doesn\u2019t say how or why.\u00a0 Nuno Bettencourt (Extreme) – he was asked to join in 1995 but declined even though \u2018Nobody says \u2018no\u2019 to Ozzy\u2019.\u00a0 He did, stating he didn\u2019t want to be known as \u2018Ozzy\u2019s guitar player\u2019.\u00a0 When Zakk Wylde left after his first stint, Osbourne attempted to replace him with Steve Vai and for some reason it just didn\u2019t gel.\u00a0 Richie Kotzen (Poison, Mr. Big, Winery Dogs) got the call and he was offered the gig.\u00a0 His downfall came when he confided to a friend that he was in.\u00a0 His friend leaked the news to the press and when Kotzen found out, he was furious.\u00a0 The Osbournes were none too happy about the leak and the deal \u2018went dead\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If one searches the internet for \u2018Buckethead\u2019, 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.\u00a0 More of a solo artist (although he has gone through a bunch of little known band names), he was part of Axl Rose\u2019s \u2018new\u2019 Guns \u2018n\u2019 Roses for a while.\u00a0 Brian \u2018Buckethead\u2019 Carrol has always marched to his own drummer, so some were mildly interested in how he would blend in with the equally eccentric Ozzy.\u00a0 Ozzy told <\/span>Revolver<\/span><\/i> back in 2005, \u201cI tried out that Buckhead guy.\u00a0 I met with him and asked him to work with me, but only if he got rid of the (expletive deleted) bucket.\u00a0 So I came back a bit later and he\u2019s wearing a (expletive deleted) green Martian hat thing.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t even got out of the room and already I\u2019m playing (expletive deleted) mind games with the guy.\u201d\u00a0 It was a very short audition.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Of 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.\u00a0 Even when Ozzy decided to work with other players, Zakk held no grudges.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Every time Ozzy beckoned like Ahab tied to Moby Dick, Zakk was back (at last count, for three different long term stints).\u00a0 For all that history, it almost didn\u2019t happen the first go around.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0According to the Ozzman, he was tired of auditioning guitars – he called the process\u00a0 \u2018exhausting\u2019.\u00a0 Ozzy explained it to <\/span>GW:<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 \u201cThis is a bizarre story, but it\u2019s the God\u2019s honest truth.\u00a0 It was a bad period for me because I was sick of auditioning people – drummers, bass players, keyboard players.\u00a0 I remember picking up a tape with a picture on it off a mound of tapes and said, \u201cLook here, a Randy Rhoads clone,\u201d and I tossed it back on the pile.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t even bring myself to listen to it.\u00a0 Six months later, [drummer] Randy Castillo walks in and says, \u2018I found this great guitarist from New Jersey, and his name is Zakk.\u00a0 I walked into the audition and I knew I had seen him before, but I couldn\u2019t remember where.\u00a0 He plugs in and plays my whole catalog note for note.\u00a0 I realized he was the Randy Rhoads clone in the photo, the one tape I had picked out of thousands.\u00a0 Only it turned out that he wasn\u2019t a Randy clone at all.\u00a0 Randy would have looked like an ant next to Zakk.\u201d\u00a0 Thanks to <\/span>Guitar World<\/span><\/i>, we all know a little more about how the non-guitar playing Ozzy Osbourne ended up on the cover of a guitar magazine.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0R.I.P. Ozzy Osbourne.\u00a0 I am betting that come the tenth anniversary of your passing, <\/span>Guitar World<\/span><\/i> will find some way to get you on the cover for a fourteenth time.<\/span><\/p>\n Top Piece Video:\u00a0 With Ozzy, it began with Tony Iommi but always circles back to Randy Rhoads…and Zakk…and Jake…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0After frequently using and citing references from Guitar World magazine, I was asked why a drummer would subscribe to a guitar magazine.\u00a0 It was a valid question and my tongue in cheek answer was, \u201cWell, with my guitar playing skills, it isn\u2019t for the articles about shredding solos or pentatonic scales.\u201d\u00a0 The truth is, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,11,8,6,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bands-musicians","category-education","category-from-the-vaults","category-new-music","category-woas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3683"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3686,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3683\/revisions\/3686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}