Former Ozzy Osbourne bassist Rudy Sarzo went into detail about his memory of Randy Rhoads’ death after the word “hopelessness” was used to describe the tragedy, and said the emotion had its own sound.
Rhoads was killed in 1982, along with makeup artist Rachel Youngblood and bus driver Andrew Aycock, when the plane they were in, being flown by Aycock, attempted to buzz the parked bus Sarzo was in but instead struck the vehicle and crashed. Osbourne has often said he never got over it.
In a recent interview with WDHA 105.5, Sarzo agreed to recount his own recollection, explaining: “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… it’s multi-level.”
He explained that he, Ozzy, Sharon Osbourne and drummer Tommy Aldridge were all asleep on the bus in soundproofed accommodation. “And we were awakened by the plane clipping the bus,” he continued. “I thought we must have gotten in some kind of a road accident on the way to the hotel from where we were at.” It was only after opening the sleeping area doors that he saw “glass shattered in the front lounge, the window on the passenger side is blown… I see our tour manager [Jake Duncan] pulling his hair out, crying, ‘They’re gone!’”
Sarzo was still bewildered as Sharon pushed past Aycock’s estranged wife, who’d joined the tour in a bid to repair their marriage. “[W]e follow her, and I look to my right where Jake Duncan was facing, and there’s a house on fire, the garage is on fire, nothing’s making sense.”
It took a little longer to understand what had happened, he said. “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.”
Watch Rudy Sarzo on WDHA 105.5