Rudy Sarzo recently spoke with Jeremy White to clear up any confusion about the relationship between Eddie Van Halen and Randy Rhoads.
“Never heard him talk really. We never had a conversation about Eddie Van Halen,” Sarzo clarified.
When asked if Rhoads ever said, ‘Eddie is playing my riffs,’ Sarzo responded: “I mean I know that he stayed away from his lane. He didn’t go into areas where Eddie was known for. He didn’t have to he had all this classical music knowledge.”
Sarzo emphasized that Eddie and Alex Van Halen had a solid musical foundation: “I know that Eddie and Alex are school musicians. They knew what they were playing it wasn’t like again somebody trying just to make things up. They had instruction in theory and harmony but they made a choice in which direction to go musically whereas Randy decided to go more classical.”
In the past, Ozzy Osbourne mentioned that Randy didn’t have a high opinion of Eddie’s playing. There was a rumor that Eddie had taught Randy, which Eddie himself mentioned in a 1982 Guitar Player interview. He claimed that Randy acknowledged learning his techniques.
In 2022, Osbourne denied the rumor, saying, “To be honest, Randy didn’t have a nice thing to say about Eddie. Maybe they had a falling out or whatever, but they were rivals.”
Rhoads, however, had said before that he didn’t see it as a rivalry.”I have my own personality on the guitar, but as of yet, I don’t think I have my own style,” he said in a 1982 Guitar World interview. “For instance, I do a solo guitar thing in concert, and I do a lot of the same licks as Eddie Van Halen. Eddie is a great player, but it kills me that I do that.”
“For me, it’s just flash that impresses the kids. I’m trying to make a name for myself as fast as I can. I wish I could take time and come up with something that nobody else has done. But that’s gonna take a few years yet.”
Although it’s becoming more evident that they weren’t true rivals, fans of both guitarists still debate who was the better player.
