Former Ozzy Osbourne bassist Rudy Sarza discussed the ‘ominous’ sound of hearing Randy Rhoads’ plane crash in a new WDHA 105.5 interview. Ozzy Osbourne ‘Can’t Visit’ Randy Rhoads Grave?
“OK, I will do that, but when asked that question in the past – in the past I have always needed… the only way that I knew how to go there to that moment was by going back within me and looking at what happened from my own perception, my own eyes, and that’s always been a very painful experience for me.
“I’ve learned how to actually revisit the place and time, the event, as an observer now, which lets me, allows me to disconnect with the pain. Now I’m looking at myself experiencing this.
“And when you said the word ‘hopelessness,’ I have done interviews through the years and you’re the first person that actually brought ‘the’ word that encompasses the experience – hopelessness – when this happened. Because it’s multi-level.
“First, we were asleep – Ozzy, Sharon, Tommy [Aldridge, drums], myself, we were asleep in the bus, in the bunks, with the doors closed.
“So, we were not hearing anything; if you’ve ever been in a tour bus, it’s very acoustically sealed, you can actually sleep in that area without any outside noise.
“And we were awakened by the plane clipping the bus – it hit the bus. And we were isolated, I was in my bunk, Sharon and Ozzy were in the back lounge sleeping, we had no idea where we were at.
“So I thought we must have gotten in some kind of a road accident on the way to the hotel from where we were at.
“So when the doors opened from where we were sleeping, where the bunks are, you go into the front lounge, you open the door, and everything’s revealed, and you see glass shattered in the front lounge, the window on the passenger side is blown…
“I see our tour manager pulling his hair out, crying, ‘They’re gone!’ He’s looking in a certain direction behind the bus, and it’s like, ‘This is not computing… What’s going on?’
“The bus driver’s estranged wife, who has just joined him a couple of days before – they have been separated, and he has been trying to repair their relationship – she’s standing frozen on the doorway of the tour bus.
“Sharon just kind of shoves her to one side and bolts out, and we follow her, and I look to my right where [tour manager] Jake Duncan was facing, and there’s a house on fire, the garage is on fire, nothing’s making sense…
“As soon as information… it’s jagged because everybody is shell-shocked, and we don’t know what’s going on.
“Once we find out that Randy and Rachel, and the bus driver had… that’s the plane that crashed, that’s hopelessness.
“And hopelessness has a sound. It’s a very low frequency, and it’s very ominous.
“My vocal cords can’t go that low, it’s this ominous vibration, and I couldn’t hear anything. My senses were in shock, all I heard was this inside my head, this low frequency – that’s hopelessness.
“I have never felt any deeper hopelessness than that, and I hope that I never experience it ever again.” Ultimate-Guitar transcribed his remarks.
