Ozzy Osbourne freaking out at Randy Rhoads for showing up in the studio after going to the bar was detailed by engineer Max Norman in a new The Metal Voice interview. Ozzy Osbourne ‘Drunken Meltdown’ Recording Leaked.
“He is just a very earnest, honest, straightforward guy. I gotta say, the whole band were very straightforward guys – Ozzy’s very straightforward, he’s a funny guy, the band is funny, they’re in there having fun, they’re all great players…
“It’s just a great situation and everybody’s on the same side, we’re all looking to try and make the best possible record, and it was just a lovely time really.
“And Randy was constantly pushing himself to get better, constantly practicing, playing. He’d sit there at dinner with a guitar and be just playing the guitar when waiting for the pudding to come out. The guy was playing the guitar morning, noon, and night.”
He added about Randy, “He was hanging out, having a great time, he was doing what he wanted to do. I guess it was Jodi, his girlfriend at the time, she came down.
“I think that was more towards the second record [1981’s ‘Diary of a Madman’] but I don’t think he was really that homesick. Maybe he was, he never mentioned it to me. But basically, he was working all the time and he was doing what he loved, so it wasn’t really like work to him.
“I remember he wanted to rehearse the solos so I would make him a half a quarter-inch two-track mix of 15 seconds before the solo all the way through the backing track, and then 15 seconds after the solo, and I would make about 15 or 20 of these copies onto one big long rail so that he would be able to play it.
“But we didn’t have a remote down in the studio so he would go up to the control room and hit play, and this thing would go for probably about 45 minutes, and there would be a maybe 10, or 12, or 14 runs of the solo.
“And then he’d go down and he’d play the solo, and then he’d wait for the next one to come, then he played again, and he would just practice and practice. And while he was doing this, this would usually be after we have dinner, about 5:30 or 6 o’clock, he would go back into the control room and put on his tape.
“And we would go up to the pub for a couple of hours and have a few beers, and then we would come back and say, ‘Are you ready?’ And he’d be like, ‘No.’
“So we would be waiting around for a little longer and then Ozzy would be like, ‘Randy, what the f**k?!’ When we started to put down the solos, we’d get one really good.” Ultimate-Guitar.com transcribed his remarks.
