Randy Rhoads Death 25 years today R.I.P. Randy

[Slobrain]

Death

Randy Rhoads, On March 19, 1982, the band was headed to a festival in Orlando, Florida, when they stopped at the bus driver's house in Leesburg, Florida after driving much of the night. The driver, Andrew Aycock, whose pilot license had expired took Rhoads and hairdresser Rachel Youngblood on a plane he had taken without permission and took off early that morning. Apparently, during the flight, an attempt was made to "buzz" the tour bus where the other band members were sleeping. They succeeded three times but the fourth time it went horribly wrong. The right wing clipped the right side of the tour bus by accident and crashed into a nearby mansion completely destroying the front. Nobody in the mansion was hurt. Rhoads, age 25, was killed instantly, as were Aycock, 36, and Youngblood, 58. It was found later that Aycock had an expired flying license and had some amount of cocaine in his system; Rhoads's toxicology test revealed no illicit drugs.

Randy's funeral was held at the First Lutheran Church in Burbank, CA, where he attended as a child. He was interred at Mountain View Cemetery in San Bernardino, California (where his grandparents are also buried). At the time, Randy's mother was living in Burbank. The Rhoads family and many fans gather there on the anniversary of his death as well as his birthday to pay tribute and celebrate his life.

Sad that this great guitarist lost his life at age 25. He would be 50 this year.
R.I.P. Randy

I was lucky enough to See Randy play on Feb,17th,1982 at the Sam Houston Collusium for the Diary of a Madman tour. What can I say other than he rocked his heart out, excellent concert.


SLObrain

[Matt T.]

Randy was my favorite guitarist at the time...I had tickets to see him at the time...I think it was for the next show or the one after that...only days away when he died. Sad that he died so young and a bit infuriating that it was such a 'careless' death.

I also had tickets to see Lynyrd Skynyrd in the late seventies and never got to see them either.

[Slobrain]

Hey Matt,
Yes, its a damn shame that Randy was killed in a careless crash but just goes to show sometimes we never know that the end is near, just around the corner. It was sad hearing on the TV news about it on a Friday, I had a gig at a party the following week Saturday and was thinking that Randy would never to play again.

I also remember back in 77 riding in my mom's car with my older brother driving and some friends going down a beach road partying and hearing on the radio the plane crash of the lynyrd skynyrd band and hearing the Ronnie, Steve and Cassie getting killed and feeling real bad when we heard the news. Its also sad that happened to a band that was so talented and (On top the world) at that time being in a tragic plane crash.

If you ever get a chance to see Skynyrd on DVD in England in 1976 they just flat out kick ass on stage, their sound is awesome and these folks play their hearts out. They have and still are missed by the generation that grew up listening to them, Call it the soundtrack of our lives.

SLO

[DanJ]

Slo,

Thanks for the post. I wasn't aware of the anniversary.

I've heard all of his recordings with Ozzy thousands of times, but his solos still make me listen every time. Sometimes when I hear him play it makes me sad just wondering what would have been. As good a player as he was, he was always a student of the music, always looking to learn something new. You have to respect anyone with that kind of dedication to their instrument.

Thanks again,

DanJ