10 CRAZY TRAIN OZZY OSBOURNE
GUITARIST: RANDY RHOADS (1980)
Fretboard fireworks galore on Ozzy’s comeback hit
The Double O has often cited Randy Rhoads as the man who saved his career – and when you hear solos like Crazy Train, it’s easy to understand why. He didn’t sound much like Tony Iommi, being more classical and modal than blues-based, but like Ozzy’s old bandmate he was a true inventor. There’s a section towards the end of this solo that actually sounds like a train squealing off the tracks thanks to the use of a chromatically ascending trill that then descends in key. Rhoads then chose to end the solo with a fast-picked F# minor pentatonic phrase before a rapid Aeolian legato run ending with a big bend on the 19th fret. Sadly, he only recorded two studio albums with Ozzy, tragically passing away in a plane crash at the age of 25.