During a conversation with UG’s David Slavković, Dokken guitarist George Lynch talked about auditioning for Ozzy Osbourne’s band twice in the early days and being very close to landing the gig as the successor of late Randy Rhoads.
You can check out a part of the interview below.
You auditioned for Ozzy before Randy Rhoads joined the band back in the late ’70s. You also auditioned after Randy’s passing. Can you tell me a little bit about these auditions for Ozzy? Did you ever play any live shows with him or did you just go on the road with him?
“Everything you said was accurate. And as far as the shows – no, I never played a show. I played soundchecks. [Laughs]
“So I would travel with the band to kind of see how everything worked and they would get to know me and that kind of thing, but I never went on stage during the show.
“But I would be in the wings at soundcheck and Brad Gillis, who was a guitar player at the time, would come over and hand me his guitar and I would play a song or two.
“And then we went into rehearsals. I rehearsed with them, I brought in the bass player Don Costa, who was his bass player for a little while. We rehearsed in Texas for a while.
“The touring was in Scotland and England and Ireland. And then we moved everything over to Los Angeles and that’s where I was told that they wouldn’t be needing my services in the 11th hour after I’ve been working with them for a couple of months. But… Oh well. [Laughs]”
A few months ago, I got the chance to speak to Jake E. Lee. And according to his story, he came in to audition for Ozzy – he kind of wasn’t satisfied with that whole audition – you were there, you met him there, and apparently when Ozzy asked him if he wants to take the gig, he said yes, and according to what Jake said, you were fired on the spot. In front of Jake. Is that story true?
“Yes.”
Completely true?
“Yes. I was very devastated. My wife was with me, I had quit my job. We had two little kids, we lived in an apartment. We didn’t really have much money, so it was a great opportunity for me.
“I was a delivery driver for a liquor company and I would kind of deliver booze into the not-so-good areas. Nobody else wanted to drive into those areas so I took that job.
“It was a good union job so I made enough money to support us. And I had to quit that job to go do the Ozzy thing. And when they fired me like that… And they didn’t pay me, and they didn’t give me any compensation, they didn’t ask me if I was okay or anything.
“They just didn’t care, they just said… It was literally like… It took, like, a minute. Ozzy just said, ‘Hey, it’s not gonna be working out. Thanks a lot for your time. See ya later. Bye.’ [Laughs]
“Yeah, my jaw dropped. I couldn’t believe it. My heart just dropped and… Yeah, I think I cried on the way home. [Laughs] It was very devastating.”
Those were some dark times for Ozzy. What was it like during those couple of months there, spending time with Ozzy and Sharon? Was there anything weird that happened?
“Well, I remember he was bald at the time. He kept coming into my room and asking me why I cut my hair. Because I had short hair for my job. I told him that he was bald. [Laughs]
“So I thought, ‘Well, maybe I could just go bald like you and then we could be a couple of cue balls up there. Or I can wear a wig until my hair grows out.’ He had a problem with that.
“One of the reasons I think I didn’t get it was the image. Jake E. had a great image – hair down his a*s, showed up all leathered. It looked great. He admittedly didn’t play that great, but he looked fantastic.
“And I think Sharon was really calling the shots and Sharon wanted somebody that looked right. And she felt that Jake E. was the look they were going for. I don’t think she cared too much about the playing.
“Not that Jake E. wasn’t capable. Jake E. is great, obviously. He didn’t have a great audition, but he plays fantastic.”
He said it himself that he wasn’t satisfied with the audition but they ended up choosing him. While we’re at Jake E. Lee, there was an interview last year – Jake was around the press all the time – and one of the things he said is that a few years ago, you asked him to join you on stage and jam with you. And he refused. And he said that then you offered him money to join you on stage. He even mentioned $10,000. And, apparently, he refused even with that sum being offered. Is this story true?
“That’s an odd story… I don’t actually know what he’s referring to.”
He said it happened a few years ago and that you offered him to jam on stage with you.
“Well, there’s been a couple of different things. We played Vegas, and he used to live in Vegas. Sometimes he’d come out and see us and visit. We’d all have a great time. I asked and he didn’t want to get on stage. Didn’t offer him any money, so that was that.
“Jake E., Warren DeMartini, and I did a photo shoot for a Japanese magazine cover. So we were hanging around all day and we started thinking, ‘Why don’t we do something?’ Mostly I was thinking that and Warren to a lesser extent.
“And that was that – talking about maybe doing some shows, the LA ’80s sound guys, whatever that is, I don’t know. Or maybe do some kind of recording for fun. One song, put something out there.
“Nothing of that ever materialized into anything where anybody discussed anything financial that I remember. I don’t remember offering him $10,000. But I might have, I just don’t remember. [Laughs]”