Legendary Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Randy Rhoads was posthumously inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame during the 2021 ceremony. Rhoads, who played in Ozzy's band four decades ago, received the Musical Excellence Award at this year's event, which was held yesterday (Saturday, October 30) at Cleveland, Ohio's Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. The Musical Excellence Award is given to artists, musicians, songwriters and producers whose originality and influence creating music have had a dramatic impact on music. Rhoads was inducted into the Rock Hall by RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE guitarist Tom Morello who stated in a video message. "Randy Rhoads is a peerless talent. He revived Ozzy Osbourne's career as his gunslinger sideman. And it was Randy Rhoads's poster that I had on my wall... You could study Randy's songs in a university-level musicology class and bang your heads to them in a 7-11 parking lot." Also offering a video tribute was METALLICA's Kirk Hammett, who stated about Randy's death: "All of a sudden, the curtain came down unexpectedly and the show was over before it really, really got going." Longtime Ozzy guitarist Zakk Wylde spoke highly about his predecessor, saying "Randy, hands down, sits at" the round table of greatness in the Hall Of Fame alongside Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Eddie Van Halen. Rhoads played on Osbourne's seminal records "Blizzard Of Ozz" (1980) and "Diary Of A Madman" but tragically died in a plane crash when he was just 25 years old, on March 19, 1982. He influenced many musicians and is considered one of the greatest guitartists of all time. His death was a huge shock to the world and Ozzy wrote in his autobiography "I Am Ozzy" that he almost quit music after Randy's passing. Shortly after Rhoads's induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame was announced, Ozzy told Rolling Stone: "I knew him for a very short amount of time. But what he gave me in that short amount of time was immeasurable in fucking greatness. To get somebody like Randy Rhoads to play on two albums, and for those two albums to sound as good as the day they were recorded, is something else. And I'm forever in gratitude for that. God only knows where that man would be today. The very fact that he’s not here to breathe the air is just a fucking crime. "Thank God that he's getting recognized by the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. He finally got there in the end. I'm sad that his mother was not alive to see it, because he was very close to his mom. I know his brother, Kelle, and his sister, Kathy, are going to be really chuffed about it. It shows that he's not been forgotten. He was a dedicated, true musician, and he was a lovely guy. I still think about him all the time." The induction ceremony will air November 20 on HBO and stream on HBO Max alongside a radio simulcast on SiriusXM.
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— Randy Rhoads I Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony Posted by Scott Weaver on Sunday, October 31, 2021
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