Ozzy Osbourne - The Godfather of Metal - Passes Away at 76

[drbunnig]

archbrix said:

drbunnig said:

I generally prefer the solo stuff too. Although you can't not mention Jake E Lee - he was an absolute beast on guitar. It's a shame that nothing from Bark at the Moon except the title track got played after the initial tour, because there's some gems on that album (Waiting for Darkness, You're No Different, Rock n Roll Rebel, Centre of Eternity, Spiders etc). It's also a shame Ozzy derided The Ultimate Sin for years, as that too is jam packed with great songs - at least we got Killer of Giants and the odd performance of the title track during the Gus G era to go along with Shot in the Dark.

Jake E Lee was great, obviously, but I feel he was still a distant third to the other two mentioned, as were the albums he played on.  Zakk is just a madman and Randy had such a wonderful style as one of the first guitarists (after Ritchie Blackmore) to incorporate classical scales into metal music.

I remember when I was a kid and saw the Bark at the Moon video, the guitar solo at the end just blew me away at the time - like it was up there with Eddie's playing.  And it is good, but about 12 years later when I was actually in a band, my guitarist showed me that solo (which I hadn't heard in a while) and how it was played and I was brought down to earth a bit compared to what I was used to by then with Zakk or other guitarists like Yngwie or Petrucci.  But of course, what is "better" is subjective.

For sure. I'd take a simpler, well composed solo over something more complex but is a little more aimless every day of the week. I see Kirk Hammett get shit on the internet for not being that technically proficient for example, but so many of his solos are memorable because of the way they're structured, the way they ebb and flow etc. I could probably sing you the general melody to most of them.

I mean, when I think of my favourite Zakk solos with Ozzy, I'd go for something like No More Tears or Old LA Tonight. Not the most complicated, but they're very well written and build effectively to a crescendo. Even so, I don't think anything Zakk did with Ozzy touches what Jake did on Bark at the Moon. I just find Jake to be a more interesting player and writer (when it comes to heavy stuff at least. I've long said Zakk's best stuff is when he's writing for acoustic or piano).

All that said, the solos to Mr. Crowley smoke almost anything else out there (Ozzy or otherwise).