The Untold Truth Of Randy Rhoads

Although his talent,  kindness, patience, and dedication are well-documented, fond remembrances by Ozzy Osbourne and others have transformed Randy Rhoads into a veritable heavy metal saint. Sadly, the man has become lost in the mythmaking. One aspect of the legendary guitarist that's been largely overlooked was his wicked sense of humor.

According to longtime friend and bandmate Kelly Garni, Rhoads loved a good prank, and, at times, his jokes could get out of hand. "[Randy] took me aside and informed me that he had gone into the bathroom [of a house owned by friends], locked the door, crawled out the window and then stuck the garden hose into the window and turned it on," Garni recalled in an excerpt from his autobiography, "Angels With Dirty Faces," quoted in a Guitar World feature. Garni, feeling that Rhoads had taken the joke too far, came to blows with his friend. During the brawl, Rhoads struck Garni in the head with a telephone. Garni retaliated by whipping Rhoads across the face with an extension cord.

Rhoads and Garni also had a penchant for crashing Hollywood parties and wreaking havoc on the homes of unsuspecting hosts. "We would put eggs under the pillows on their beds, hiding things that would smell, like meat, under the bed," Garni told Louder Sound. "We'd help ourselves to some trinket if we saw something that we liked ... We never took anything valuable. ... We had sort of a conscience, you see."