Legendary hard rock bassist Rudy Sarzo (OZZY OSBOURNE, QUIET RIOT) spoke to Two Doods Reviews about what made iconic guitarist Randy Rhoads's approach to heavy metal riffing and guitar soloing so unique. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "[Randy] was the most rocking, and by rocking, I mean he had metal. He had metal before metal was actually what we know metal as today. He was one of the pioneers of many metal genres just because of the style of playing rhythm guitar and harmonic construction of his compositions. So, he was a wonderful combination of the really schooled musician — music theory; he knew how to read [music]. [That was] very rare. 'Cause remember, most musicians, we — including myself — I was originally inspired to become a musician because I did not come from a musical family, like Randy did, but this was a way to meet girls. So it wasn't until later on that I really gave myself a musical education, and I went to college and studied music and so on. But Randy was raised in a music education family — his mom started a school called Musonia that's still operating today. It's in North Hollywood, California — in the L.A. area. So that's what he knew. He wasn't doing it because of the girls; he was doing it because that's the way he was raised. It was in his genes, his DNA. His brother is a musician also, Kelle, and mom and dad, and all of that. So this was his world, and that made him very, very unique in a world where, let's say, outside of Eddie Van Halen and maybe a couple of other guitar players who were mostly known for being session musicians, we were just rockers. Not necessarily very well educated [in] music theory outside of what rock and roll is all about. We knew rock, and we had a passion for rock. Randy was more than that."
