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UNBELIEVABLE: 4 - The Untold Story

Ozzy Osbourne 1948 - 2025

A true musical icon, Ozzy Osbourne was one of the architects of our world, the self-styled Prince Of Darkness who brought joy to millions, and inspired generations of musicians across the globe. We will never see his like again. This is his remarkable story

Metal Hammer

Ozzy Osbourne, the people’s Prince of Darkness, took heavy metal into the light

Having escaped a life of drudgery in Birmingham, Ozzy became the rare rock frontman you could relate to – and then, against the odds, a national treasure

The Guardian - UK

“I remember Eddie Van Halen asking me, ‘What’s wrong with you? Where’s that fire, dude?’ But I didn’t want to explain it to him”: George Lynch, the guitar hero who connected with EVH but got burned by Ozzy Osbourne

He almost got the gig to replace Randy Rhoads

MusicRadar

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“The day Randy died was the greatest tragedy of my life": Ozzy Osbourne thought he was finished after he was fired by Black Sabbath. Then along came a guitarist named Randy Rhoads

Rhoads inspired the greatest music Ozzy ever made outside of Sabbath

MusicRadar

“I could tell that he was very proud… ‘This is my guy, my guitar player. I found him under a rock in Belfast!’”: Vivian Campbell on his complicated relationship with Ronnie James Dio– and what Dio told Ozzy Osbourne about his playing

Campbell says working with the late, great Ronnie James Dio wasn't always easy – and it didn't help that Campbell once likened him to Tom Jones

MusicRadar

“We were doing War Pigs… Ozzy looks at me and mouths, ‘What are the words?’ I said, ‘Idon’t know.’ So he started singing Old MacDonald Had a Farm”: Jake E. Lee on his wild Ozzy Osbourne days and why Tony Iommi is harder to emulate than Randy Rhoads

Arthritis and the small matter of being shot didn't stop Jake E. Lee from honoring his old bandmate/boss Ozzy Osbourne and hero Tony Iommi at Sabbath's final show. And Tom Morello needed him bad

Guitar World

“Hearing the crowd sing the War Pigs solo gave me chills”: Back to the Beginning was Ozzy Osbourne’s night – but it was also a tribute to Tony Iommi’s singular impact on guitar music

Iommi’s world-altering riffs led to some of the all-star farewell show’s biggest singalongs – no wonder the supporting cast of guitar heroes had so much fun playing them

Guitar World

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“The producer said, ‘If you guys can deliver a strong performance of Cum On Feel The Noize, you’ve got a deal'”: How a ’70s glam rock anthem was the key for Randy Rhoads’ old band going all the way to No.1

Oasis were not the first to cover it

MusicRadar

“Oz said, ‘Let’s just do Free Bird twice. That should take up an hour!’” Zakk Wylde on Tony Iommi’s genius, Black Sabbath’s immeasurable influence – and Ozzy’s unlikely Back to the Beginning demands

Ozzy Osbourne’s longest serving six-string lieutenant on what it means to be one of the family, and what to expect at Black Sabbath's emotional homecoming and farewell concert

Guitar World

"Is this Ozzy's last show? One thousand per cent": Sharon Osbourne on Black Sabbath's Back To The Beginning all-star blowout

Sharon Osbourne on Ozzy, Randy Rhoads, Bill Ward and Tom Morello, and why she won't be borrowing Dave Grohl's throne

Metal Hammer

“Nobody was going to freak out. We said, ‘This is going to get done. We just need to find the right person to join the family.’ And we got Steve Vai, thank God”: How the virtuoso Vai put the sizzle into the last big hair metal album of the ’80s

And he wasn't even supposed to be on the record in the first place

MusicRadar

“Gibson had lost the recipe, not only for guitar building but for pickup making based on their original designs. What I was after was making a rock ’n’ roll pickup”: How Larry DiMarzio changed the sound of rock guitar – and redesigned the Strat bridge

The master pickup maker tells us how his problem-solving mindset took him from repair shop to working with the biggest names in the biz and changing the face of rock guitar

Guitar World

“I get fingers pointed at me. I get told, ‘You’re the guy who tried to kill Randy Rhoads.’ I laugh it off. He needed to be with better people. How could our split ever be friendly?” Kelly Garni founded Quiet Riot – but it ended with shots fired

They went to school together, started Quiet Riot together and then had a drunken fight involving a gun that ended Garni’s musical career. 25 years later, he came back to the bass

Guitar World

“Tom Morello said, ‘I can’t see this going on without Jake E. Lee in there somewhere’”: Ozzy Osbourne’s last show will feature an army of heavy metal greats – but it all hinged on Jake E. Lee’s involvement

The show will mark the first time Lee and Ozzy have performed together since the 1980s

Guitar World

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Guitar World

“This wasn’t a guy who got better every six months or every week; this was a guy who got better every 60 seconds”: Randy Rhoads became a legend with Ozzy Osbourne, but his incredible playing was evident long before then

Kelly Garni, Rhoads’ brother in arms in Quiet Riot, recalls the guitarist’s early days – and how he developed his iconic tone, in spite of his unorthodox gear

MusicRadar

“In my opinion, as someone who was there, Randy never reached his peak. He was just getting started. I’m laughing at the thought of Randy reaching his peak with just two albums!”: The genius of Randy Rhoads — by his former bandmate

Guitar World

“He goes, ‘You’ve got to put a battery in the back.’ I was like, ‘A battery? What are you talking about?’” Zakk Wylde on how a student introduced him to a pickup pairing that would end up defining his sound with Ozzy Osbourne and beyond

It was a revolutionary moment for the guitarist – and he’s never looked back since

MusicRadar

“We’re celebrating the fact that we survived this! What remains is the true essence of what this music is about”: Ozzy Osbourne's '80s bandmate says it was "a blessing" to work with the singer

And he owed it all to Randy Rhoads

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Guitar World

“To scare Randy, I pulled the gun and fired it into the ceiling, thinking that would make him leave. He charged right at me”: Kelly Garni on how a drunken fight with Randy Rhoads spelled the end of his Quiet Riot career

Rhoads became an integral part of Ozzy Osbourne's sound and legacy, but his earlier stint with Quiet Riot – the band he co-founded with Garni – was marked by tension

Guitar World

“I always used it with Whitesnake, which was perfect because it sounded like John Sykes' Les Paul”: Doug Aldrich on how Randy Rhoads’ inspiration helped him find a “killer” Les Paul – that was owned by the man who co-wrote Eric Clapton’s Tears in Heaven

Gear regrets? Aldrich has had a few – the ’73 Goldtop, the Tele – but he's also had some victories, like when he chanced upon a ’78 Les Paul Custom previously owned by Clapton collaborator Will Jennings

Metal Hammer

"I’d just want to tell Randy Rhoads how great he is and how much I love him." Zakk Wylde on shredders, movies and his favourite Ozzy Osbourne moment

Zakk Wylde on shredders, best movies and his favourite Ozzy Osbourne moment

Guitar World

Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong tackles one of Randy Rhoads’ most iconic solos – tapping and all – in live cover of Ozzy Osbourne’s Crazy Train

Playing with the Coverups in California, the Green Day frontman has exhibited his lesser-spotted shred chops

Guitar World

Ozzy Osbourne’s solo band has long been a proving ground for metal’s most outstanding players. From Randy Rhoads to Zakk Wylde, via Brad Gillis and Gus G, here are all the players – and nearly players – in the Osbourne saga

Among the ranks of Ozzy's six-string sidekicks are some of the most admired and imitated rock guitarists of all time. Some have lasted for years, others a single gig, and some on both ends are part of the elite group of musicians to have been fired over the phone by…

Guitar World

“People had warned me how Ritchie chewed up and spat out musicians. Rainbow had already auditioned 40 bass players!” From Ritchie Blackmore to Ozzy Osbourne, Bob Daisley has worked with rock’s heaviest heroes

For more than 30 years, bassist Bob Daisley laid the foundations on which some of the greatest rock and roll ever was built

Guitar World

“It's a dummy solo I laid down – I was supposed to put down a real one later. But I never got time”: Ozzy Osbourne's Diary of a Madman is a landmark guitar album, but some of its final parts made Randy Rhoads “cringe”

Ever humble, the late guitar legend told GW in a 1982 interview that he felt many of his contributions to the album “lack feeling”

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