RUDY SARZO Wanted To Share RANDY RHOADS's Story With His Book 'Off The Rails'

Legendary bassist Rudy Sarzo (OZZY OSBOURNE, QUIET RIOT, BLUE ÖYSTER CULT, DIO, THE GUESS WHO) was recently interviewed on “The Right To Rock” pocast. You can now listen to the chat below.

Speaking about his 2006 book “Off The Rails: Aboard The Crazy Train In The Blizzard Of Ozz”, a first-hand account of Sarzo‘s friendship on and off the road with Randy Rhoads and Ozzy Osbourne, Rudy said: “The only reason why I spent a year and a half out of my life writing that book was for my friend Randy Rhoads. He’s responsible for my career and he’s the one who told Ozzy and Sharon [Osbourne] about me and trusted me to bring me in [to play with them]. There’s a chapter about the plane crash [in which Randy was killed], and I feel that he was responsible for keeping the plane from crashing completely, totally into the bus [carrying the other members of Ozzy‘s band]. ‘Cause it clipped the bus, but it didn’t crash into the bus, and it saved our lives. So the least I could do is write a book and explain how, why and everything — when it happened and the series of events that led to it.”

He continued: “The greatest gift I’ve gotten from writing the book is… not necessarily a closure, because you never forget what an incredible experience it was being with Randy. But it was a finality to it — something that I was able to get off my shoulders for 20 years that I had been carrying by the time I wrote the book. So there was a certain peace-of-mind element — now it’s on paper and I can share this with the world, Randy‘s story… It was incredibly emotional even to think about it. But I’m just glad that I was able to share it with everybody.”

A collector’s edition of “Off The Rails”, was made available in August 2008 via TooSmart! Publishing.

The book was originally due in 2005 but was delayed after Sharon allegedly applied pressure to have it pulled.

Sarzo — who began playing bass for Osbourne in 1981 (the same year he toured with MOTÖRHEAD) — joined THE GUESS WHO in 2016. His first album with the group, “The Future IS What It Used To Be”, was released in September via Cleopatra Records.

Interview (audio):