RANDY RHOADS

Technically gifted, with a scholarly appreciation for classical guitar that he had only hinted at on record with the Blizzard Of Ozz instrumental Dee, it’s fascinating to think where Randy Rhoads might have taken the art form had he not died at the age of just 25. Some argue that his slim legacy – just two full albums apiece with Quiet Riot and Ozzy Osbourne’s band – has held Rhoads off the top of the podium. Others counter that his early death has distorted his true abilities (“He became an even better guitar player after he died,” Lemmy observed dryly). Perhaps. But the impact and influence of Rhoads’s best solos has nothing to do with the sympathy vote; the multi-tracked neo-classical starburst of Crazy Train, with its tapping, divebombs and surgical picking, still sounds utterly alive. “He did on two albums what most guys can’t do on twenty,” Zakk Wylde told MusicRadar. “That’s pretty remarkable.” HY

Listen to this: Crazy Train (Ozzy Osbourne, Blizzard Of Ozz, 1980)