In a recent interview with VRP Rocks, Rudy Sarzo of Quiet Riot shared how difficult it was to find joy in music after Randy Rhoads’ death.
“We basically hit a wall. Record companies just didn’t care about us,” the bassist explained about his departure from Quiet Riot. “They called us dinosaurs. So, it was just a career decision. It wasn’t because of any personal conflicts with anybody in the band at all, not at all.”
He added, “So then, Randy left and he joined Ozzy. And meanwhile, Kevin DuBrow put his own band together because at that time Quiet Riot, the name, it was not being used. There was no Quiet Riot. It was DuBrow.”
“As a matter of fact, it did not become Quiet Riot until I came back in the group and Kevin said, ‘Okay, now we got two guys from Quiet Riot. Let’s call it Quiet Riot.’ So, yeah and the reason why I did it was because once Randy passed away, I lost that Quiet Riot musical integrity,” Sarzo explained.
He also shared, “Randy was the architect of the catalyst for it. I lost that when he died and I just lost the joy of making music. I needed to find that again. I needed to find my home.”
In a previous conversation with Bass Player last year, Sarzo reflected on his time with Rhoads and credited him for his career. He said, “He trusted me. He put his reputation with Sharon and Ozzy on the line to bring me in. That’s how I got in, because I had no track record.”
“And then, in addition, I am a thousand percent convinced that Randy saved everybody in Ozzy’s tour bus, keeping the plane from crashing into us. It clipped the bus, but it did not crash directly into the bus, and if that had happened, we would all have perished along with Randy and the others in the plane,” he added.
Sarzo became famous as Ozzy Osbourne’s bassist from March 1981 to September 1982, joining the band on Rhoads’ recommendation. His bass playing appears on the ‘Speak of the Devil’ and ‘Tribute’ live albums.
