Guitarist Mick Mars recently had a conversation with “Rock Of Nations With Dave Kinchen And Shane McEachern”, where he discussed the early days of the Sunset Strip and the same circles he and other guitarists used to run in.
Here’s what Mars said:
“Randy (Rhoads) and I didn’t know each other, but I went to see him a few times at Starwood when he was with Quiet Riot right before Ozzy (Osbourne) stole Rudy (Sarzo) and Randy. And I saw him a couple of times, and I went, ‘That kid’s really, really a good player.’ So I went to see him a couple of times.
”And I wasn’t surprised that he got there with Ozzy, but it was cool to see that. But Eddie Van Halen was running around at that time too. And Ed and I go way, way back, when he was, like, 19 years old. Ed and I were, like, not close pals or anything, but we knew each other.
”We’d goof around and tell jokes, and that kind of stuff, and that was a blast. So, yeah, (they were) a few of the guys that I fully respect during that time.”
Elaborating more on late guitarist Eddie Van Halen, Mick Mars said:
“No one can ever duplicate Eddie. No one. I mean, look how many people are trying to imitate Jimi (Hendrix) after all these years. It doesn’t work.
You can hit the notes, but you know what? The hands, your feel, the way that you connect with your guitar, or whatever instrument that it is you’re playing, is different.”