Trying to compare EVH and Randy Rhoads... Get real.

NorCal_Val said:
I liked Randy’s playing. But, I curse Max Norman for killing Randy’s guitar tone on those two Ozzy albums.
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That’s what they paid for. Ozzy had no money and they took the cheapest route to get albums out. I agree though. Randy’s tone isn’t my thing on those albums…but I wouldn’t have it any other way. It is what it is.
 
EVH had 2 legendary runs - hard to say that RR would have done that. It is more likely that he would have gone the way that Jake E Lee went. Being fired or quitting Ozzy after another record over unpaid royalties etc. Then what? Maybe start another band or reuniting with Ozzy over the years?

EVH turned the rock guitar world upside down and everyone chased him for decades. RR never got the chance I suppose. At this point it is all speculation for the fan boys.
 
legend71 said:
EVH had 2 legendary runs - hard to say that RR would have done that. It is more likely that he would have gone the way that Jake E Lee went. Being fired or quitting Ozzy after another record over unpaid royalties etc. Then what? Maybe start another band or reuniting with Ozzy over the years?

EVH turned the rock guitar world upside down and everyone chased him for decades. RR never got the chance I suppose. At this point it is all speculation for the fan boys.
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He likely would have ended up a classical music/guitar teacher.
 
legend71 said:
EVH had 2 legendary runs - hard to say that RR would have done that. It is more likely that he would have gone the way that Jake E Lee went. Being fired or quitting Ozzy after another record over unpaid royalties etc. Then what? Maybe start another band or reuniting with Ozzy over the years?

EVH turned the rock guitar world upside down and everyone chased him for decades. RR never got the chance I suppose. At this point it is all speculation for the fan boys.
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I've read that he was sick of touring and wantimg to go to school and get more classical training. I think hed of gone the steve vai direction.
 
I saw Ozzy live on both Blizzard and Diary tours with Randy; obviously we didn't know how special that would become at the time. I also saw VH open for Black Sabbath in 1978 Never Say Die tour, which I learned was VH first US tour.

Thinking back on that time now, we were all blown away by EVH. None of us, my friends or I had ever heard of VH, the first time we heard VH was live at the Sabbath show. You have to put yourself in that time period for guitar / rock music. I saw many bands live back then, and nothing was even close to EVH, I saw many guitarists in the '70s such as Pat Travers, Al DiMeola, John McLaughlin, Johnny Winter, Robin Trower,...nothing was like EVH; my guitar world changed forever at that Sabbath show.

Perhaps had I seen RR with Ozzy before seeing VH / EVH, it would be different...I had the Blizzard of Oz lp before the show, because I was a big Sabbath fan back then, and after the Sabbath show with VH, I went and got the VH1 LP, and I saw the VH2 tour which was their first headlining tour in the US IIRC.

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I think had Randy lived a few decades more we'd have a better comparison.

I vaguely recall reading he was thinking about leaving Ozzy and focusing on classical guitar training, and if true he would have gone in a very different direction vs EVH.

Too bad we'll never know what could have been; same if Jimi had lived longer.
 
chumbucket said:
I think the major difference between these two guitar wizards is that Eddie was a better songwriter. Technically, Randy was a better player, but Eddie put more asses in the seats and sold more records.
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I mean, Randy was no slouch at songwriting. The first 2 Ozzy albums are absolutely brilliant, all because of Randy.

I love them both. Eddie had that incredible swing to his playing both Rhythm and lead. Think I'm the One and really any early stuff.
Randy was fluid and so precise. Think over the mountain lead runs.

They were the two most influential guitarist in my early years. Randy's style comes natural to me, Ed's not so much.
 
I always wished EVH was in a better band with a better singer. I never listened to VH very much because of this. I mean, a choice between Over the Mountain or Hot for Teacher, which one do I want to hear?
 
Floyd Eye said:
Two totally different kinds of players. They were both fucking incredible.

That said, I think Randy would have a lot easier time doing the shit Eddie did than Eddie would have doing the shit Randy did.
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Totally agree. Two totally different players.

IMO the only comparison is they were on the same scene together at the same time. Further it's clear that EVH was more advanced in his writing and playing at the point of VH1 as QR really held Randy back. If you compare the two at the time it's easy to see why QR didn't get signed to a major label.

The jump in RR's playing from what he was doing with QR to Blizzard is astronomical. I love Diary of a Madmen, it's actually my favorite of the two but I do believe had RR been given more time to create it would have been even better. That said, everything he played on that album is perfect and perfect for the song.

I do believe the best was yet to come from Randy and to think what he could have accomplished as the tools themselves ala amps, gear in general is crazy as well. Thankfully we got to hear Ed progress on those early albums, good times.
 
Floyd Eye said:
I think you’re comparing about 8 VH albums to 2 RR albums.

Better songwriter is subjective. Don’t get me wrong, I love Van Halen but Eddie never wrote something as bad ass as Revelation Mother Earth or Diary. But then as I said, two totally different kinds of music/songs.
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Shit man, was just listening to those driving home from work the other day and thinking - nobody then or now was writing that stuff. It was epic in sound and composition. I remember when I was young listening to them and it was surreal to hear something of that magnitude back then.
 
Spawn of Tech said:
Truth is EVH def inspired how Randy played . He said so himself
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RR nicked certain things because you really had no choice, everyone else was taking things from Ed and I could certainly see Ed's success inspiring RR but stylistically you couldn't find two guitarists further apart.
 
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