Classic Rock
Jake E. Lee recalls fan backlash after replacing Randy Rhoads
After being fired from Black Sabbath, Sharon Osbourne helped Ozzy to start his solo career and recruiting the former Quiet Riot guitarist Randy Rhoads to be part of his band was crucial for his success. The legendary guitarist was a fundamental part of the first albums “Blizzard of Ozz” (1980) and “Diary of a Madman” (1981) but tragically passed away at the age of 25 in an airplane crash in 1982.
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He was first replaced by Bernie Tormé and Brad Gillis as touring guitarists. But the first album Ozzy recorded with a new guitar player was “Bark At The Moon” when he chose Jake E. Lee to be part of the band. The comparison with Rhoads was inevitable and Lee recalled in an interview with Tone Talk (Transcribed by Ultimate Guitar) that he suffered with angry fans for a while when he became a member of the band.
Jake E. Lee recalls fan backlash after replacing Randy Rhoads
“There was always people in the front rows with ‘Randy rules, you suck. “Every gig, there’d be somebody with a sign like that. I think maybe the ‘Ultimate Sin’ tour. I didn’t really see that as much. But the ‘Bark at the Moon’ tour, there was still a lot of that.”
“And in the beginning, I didn’t know that you’re supposed to check into a hotel under an assumed name. So, I just checked in with my real name. I used to get phone calls at the hotel: ‘I’m better than you. You suck. Listen to me over the phone.’ So that’s when I said, ‘Oh, that’s why you use it.'”
“One guy was playing ‘Sails of Charon’ by Uli [Jon Roth], right? He was playing that. I’m like, ‘Yeah, that’s Uli! Uli, if you want the gig, you can have it, because you are awesome!’ But it’s some guy playing another guitar player’s shit, trying to tell me how much better he was than me. So, I didn’t feel like I was [that accepted yet],” Jake E. Lee said.
