Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx discussed turning down playing in a band with late Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Randy Rhoads in a new Marci Wiser interview.
“Randy was wonderful, he was a great guy. It was the late ’70s – Van Halen had come and gone, Quiet Riot was the big game in town, I used to go and just stand there, just stand in front of Randy and just be mesmerized.
“The Starwood Club – a lot of my book is centered around this club called Starwood, that was a really important club, especially in the ’70s. And there was this area where we musicians would hang out, Randy would hang out, we’d play.
“We were just kids, he was like this super, open, friendly, nice guy – shredder on guitar, always looked like a rockstar. And I’ve gone over and hung out at his house a few times.
“I remember I brought my bass rig over there, and he and his mom helped me pull it out – I had a 1959 Volkswagen that was barely running. We’d go inside and sit in there, and they had these two records that were released on the Japanese label…
“[Quiet Riot singer] Kevin DuBrow – great voice, if you love that Steve Marriott raspy voice, he was amazing, and they had great songs. And they were going to get rid of their bass player, I can’t remember why, and Randy had asked me if I was interested.
“Then I’d gone to Kevin’s house, and we’d listen to Slade, we’d listen to Mott the Hoople, and they said they were looking for a new bass player. And I just – it wasn’t like a big deal, they just said they were looking for a new bass player.
“And I said, ‘I think I’m gonna stick with what I got.’ I got this idea – and I’m the kind of person, my wife says, ‘Oh my god, once you have an idea in your head, you will not stop until you make it happen!’
“And that was that. It wasn’t like there were auditions and stuff, they were just looking to change bass players, and then they got Rudy [Sarzo], he’s wonderful, I’ve known Rudy since 1978, we call each other Bass Brothers ’78, and I’ve always loved Rudy. And Rudy took the gig.
“When Randy got the gig with Ozzy, Rudy was right there behind him, and then Motley Crue was happening, and then they became Quiet Riot, and it actually worked out great because they ended up having the first No. 1e heavy metal record.
“We always wonder what Randy could’ve done, what some of these guys could’ve done, and why God took them so early…
“In the late ’70s, we had disco, a new wave of punk, music coming in from the U.K., it was a great time to be on, I can’t even imagine trying to carve out a niche in the laptop world right now.
“Everyone is just making records on laptops. I mean, we would rehearse like 10 hours a day, and we lived for it. We woke up and just went straight to rehearsal – that’s all we all did, we rehearsed. Human interaction, imagine that…” Ultimate-Guitar transcribed his comments.
