ke2
Active member
Monkey Man":8fxp22h7 said:Maybe because he didn't look as badass as Zakk. I mean, c'mon, Zakk was friggin' Thor.
And in '82 he was 15.
And in '82 he was 15.
R
Racerxrated
Well-known member
He has a unique vibrato, but beyond that I agree. And, remember when Zakk first appeared? He was very disappointing to a lot of Ozzy fans simply because he was nowhere near the player Randy or Jake were...he played very simple pentatonics, nothing special or difficult. Since that debut he has made himself a much better player to his credit. But initially I’d heard local guys that could easily out-shred him, at that time.exo-metal":6udmfrrw said:
Kapo_Polenton
Well-known member
I don't know guys, I thought Zakk was rippin' from the start. Not virtuoso like Jake but the vibrato, squealies and sense of melody were all there. He used to also be really smooth with his pentatonics and I think he has gotten worse over time relying on the phaser and vibe. He's a mess now. He used to pick his spots for speed and had incredible tone. A good song writer and riff writer too. Great chicken pickin' thrown in as well in his early instructional vids. Great look to boot and a stage presence. Ozzy lucked out with those three guys. They all looked awesome on stage. RR for such a tiny guy had a huge presence.
Rock Bodom
Active member
I agree...and Jake's always been my favorite but Zakk felt like the right guy for the times. I love all the shred but by the late 80's it was getting old and very derivative. Zakk and Slash in their own ways kind of brought us back to the roots of hard rock...great tone, great riffs, songs with hooks, and yeah, some pentatonic laden soloing heavy on attitude versus extreme technical chops. It was refreshing.Kapo_Polenton":1veavrxl said:
I also agree he's gotten worse over time, he was really at the top of his game early on. Likewise that Ozzy lucked out on the 3, incredible decade they covered between them.
Kapo_Polenton
Well-known member
Rock Bodom":3vctuewt said:
Great points all around. The shred/Glam scene was dying anyways and you had all these wicked players writing shitty songs. Bringing it back to the hard rock roots is what allowed it to be successful. I think that tipping point in 89-92 you saw that happen. Some good stuff still but much fewer and far between. Jake had Badlands, Lynch had Lynch Mob... those guys saw how things were trending and still put together a great product. Other bands didn't get the message.
L
LAVALLE
Active member
I’m not sure if it’s been discussed here before but Jimi Bell (House of Lords) was apparently the runner-up to Zakk.
https://sleazeroxx.com/jimi-bell-recall ... akk-wylde/
https://sleazeroxx.com/new-autograph-le ... e-in-1987/
Ozzy always chose awesome guitarists and he really couldn’t have gone wrong with either one.
https://sleazeroxx.com/jimi-bell-recall ... akk-wylde/
https://sleazeroxx.com/new-autograph-le ... e-in-1987/
Ozzy always chose awesome guitarists and he really couldn’t have gone wrong with either one.
L
legend71
Well-known member
Zakk gets criticized often on here but frankly I think it is because of his longevity. RR and Jake never put out a ton of records for various reasons. Zakk has had plenty of filler in his career but at least he has been productive and tried to give fans some rock n roll. If RR had lived and put out as much material as Zakk did I am confident that he would have repeated himself over the years to a degree. It is hard to be 100% original at any time let alone over 30 years. Even the mighty EVH fell back on familiar ideas over his time. I feel like Jake was probably the most inventive of the 3 in terms of interesting ideas and different riffs etc. Again, he only did 2 Ozzy records and then Badlands. I know he has Red Dragon now but he is not the player that he was in those days. I am a fan of all of them. I always felt Zakk treated their material with reverence and respect. To my mind, he tried to play the solos as close as he could etc. The Live at Budokan DVD is still one of the greatest live rock n roll guitar dvds ever to me.
shred-o-holic
Active member
I went to a Steve Lynch seminar at my local music store back then and Steve actually discussed the Zakk hire by Ozzy. He said that Ozzy told him that he wanted a strong riffer/rythmn player and had enough of the sweeping arpeggio guys. He said something like "They can come sweep my f$$king floor!" Lol it was humorous the way Steve told it.
Mailman1971
Moderator
Saw Night Ranger open for Joan Jett last year. Killer KILLER SHOW!!
Watson and Gillis just rocked!
Watson and Gillis just rocked!
PDC
Well-known member
Racerxrated":1fpl1rz9 said:
I’ll chime in here - I’ve seen a couple of VHS cam-corder videos of Zakk with his local band in Jersey PRE-Ozzy and his playing is way, way more ‘chopsy’ than anything on the No Rest album. I remember reading several interviews in the guitar mags and music mags after No Rest was released and I got the impression that Zakk’s playing was heavily ‘directed’ During the recording of that album. I moved to LA in the spring of ‘89 and saw Zakk at a guitar clinic at the Hollywood Guitar Center in April of that year. Absolutely stunning chops. Way wilder and crazier than the solos on No Rest. So I think he brought all that with him when he got the gig - but Ozzy and Keith Olson kept Zakk on a relatively short leash for No Rest and let him run off-leash on No More Tears.
FWIW - My buddies and I hung around after the clinic at GC and we were chatting with this really, really cute gal who ended up being Barbara-Ann. She introduced us to Zakk who asked us to hang out With him that weekend at the TNT show at what was then the Hollywood Palace. And he wasn’t shitting. (We already had tickets). When Zakk saw us, he waived us all up to the bar and bought everyone beers while we hung out with Zakk, Barbara and Lee Jackson. Ronni Le Tekro did not disappoint. I guarantee you Zakk has long since forgotten this evening. I will never forget it.
Monkey Man
Super Moderator
Awesome, man. 
RedPlated
Well-known member
Jeff Watson used to use a factory Mesa IIC++ live and on records. He gets extra points for that.
LP Freak
Well-known member
I remember him using a MarshallRedPlated":3rl5uvtj said:
RedPlated
Well-known member
LP Freak":1a0g360c said:
I’m sure he has at some point in his career. However, he was definitely a Boogie user.
http://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=53614
You can see a few Mesas in this instructional video.
Tone Ranger
Active member
I am a "friend" of Jeff's on FB. Jeff used Hiwatts and Marshalls in the early Night Ranger days. Probably around Midnight Madness they switched to Boogies. His Lone Ranger tone was probably Boogie. Currently hes using Cornfords at home and he just recently got a Kemper for the studio. From what i understand, he did all of the fast harmonies in the studio in the early NR albums. Said he really didnt like playing cover tunes and would rather play his own.