George Lynch on Warren DeMartini & Ozzy Osbourne: "I'm not the kind of guy who takes orders"

Assuming the story about Warren helping George to learn Randy’s parts occurred in 1982, that would have made Warren 19. In hindsight, I’m glad George didn’t get the gig, because we wouldn’t have his playing in Dokken. Plus, maybe we’d never have heard Jake. Also, I’ve always questioned if George was the right kind of player for Ozzy, because Ozzy likes Randy’s solos played close to the originals, and I don’t blame him. And like George says, he’s never been in a cover band, and never really learned other people’s stuff. He’s never seemed like the type who plays the same thing twice, and he’s like that with his own solos. Plus, if he was having trouble learning the parts on his own, that’s not a good sign.

George is the type of guitar player that marches to the tune of his OWN DRUM /HEARTBEAT!!!! He's a unique guitar player!!!! I found it ironic that he said that he needed help learning the Ozzy songs!!!! But George has his own individual unique style!!!! Eddie Van Halen had his unique style!!! So did Randy Rhoads and Jake E. LEE and Warren Demartini!!!! It shows in their guitar solo phrasing!!!! Oh dear !!!! My guitar nerd 🤓 opinions are coming out!!!!! LOL 😂

Easy to see how him and Don couldn’t get along. They’d sink the ship they both were on to try and drown each other. Ego

I’ve always really liked George but I hate how he dances around questions as if afraid to answer them

George did have some horrible hairdos.

George was such an underrated guitar player !!! He deserved to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame !!!

Ozzy is a dumb fuck from that shithole Birmingham, can't even write his own lyrics!!! He's a backstabber and so is his asshole wife Cruella!!! F'em both!!! 🖕🖕

Does anyone know what legacy band lynch is talking about? Im pretty sure its Judas Priest from some other interviews ive heard and read from Lynch..guessing wen KK left and actually wen with hia son and law richie faulkner

Craig is better than George

George is fuckin killer and obviously very smart

🤘

George sounds like he’s very intelligent that’s not the case with some guitarist they just want the gig and will do anything for it

Three original and tasty guitar players.

I am so glad George didn't get the gig with Ozzy because we wouldn't have Dokken.

I remember seeing Dokken play at “Monsters of Rock” in the summer of 1988 & we were all excited to see them. The record they had out that year was pretty big and everyone thought George Lynch was awesome.

They were awful. Bad mix, no energy, and George was having rig-issues. They broke-up not long after that.

Love almost anything George Lynch has done especially the first Lynch/Pilson CD.

I was lucky to have just hit my teenage years in the early 1980’s. Growing up a kid listening to classic rock metal was a obvious progression for me. Judas Priest is the one band that will always be my fav. Motörhead,Scorpion’s,Ozzy,Sabbath were also favorites but the West Coast bands like Dokken,Ratt,early Crue,Great White really rocked. Jake and Warren and Mark Kendall(so underated) and George Lynch made a impact. George on the first 3 Dokken albums was incredible. He didn’t over think his playing he just melted the fretboard. Amazing times that will never happen again.

Don Costa should have pounded the shit out of Ozzy on the spot

Ozzy's music is much different from Dokken. I prefer Dokken/Lynch's music style much more. I never liked ozzy's whiny voice and after Jake E Lee, Ozzy's music sukked hard!

Dude, George you are a guitar god in my book. Dokken was perfect for you!

so,
for kids who imagine playing guitar is a sport and you enter in a band like a football star (with golden bridges), life's more complicated with people like the Osbournes...
lots of good music technicians have been destabilized by this business woman and this junkie, liar and threatening character,
i wish you could less talk about those crooks...

I was surprised to hear that George couldn't easily figure out Randy's playing, I mean he has claimed that some of Randy's licks were his (George's) to begin with. I love George's playing particularly on the Lynch Mob records, I think he should have left Dokken much earlier, he could have been bigger then. George does sound humble in interviews but I have also heard he can be difficult to work with.

Great interview.. Killer.. Love this channel man!

Lynch had Dokken and DeMartini got RATT after Jake left and Jake got Ozzy for 2 albums. I wish that Jake had gotten with a long running band that was super successful. His career seems to have been plagued by one tragedy after another that held his notoriety back. Jake certainly deserves to be considered one of the top guitarists ever. My youth was spent listening to all 3 of these icons. I'm 54 now.

Who's the band he wont mention? Anyone

Jake E Lee is a phenomenal rhythm guitar player….im not even going to get into his eclectic soloing, as it needs no bolstering….but his rhythm playing is multifaceted with lots of voicings and rhythmic styles….I think he is a phenomenal guitarist but his rhythm playing stands above the rest in my opinion.

For what it is worth, I am happy, selfishly, that we got Dokken with Mr Scary. Under Lock & Key is the record that opened my ears to the type of playing I enjoyed the most. I’ve never been an Ozzy fan and just can’t take him seriously….What Mr Scary did in Dokken, in my opinion, eclipses anything anyone did in Ozzy with the exception of Randy, even then, George’s tone and style are my preference over Randy.

Says the guy who took orders from a 3rd rate talent like Don Dokken, lol. Save it, George. The truth came out LONG ago.

Is this Nikki Sixx interviewing?

Speculation as to what band George was referring to that needed a legacy player? Who could it be?

The public perception of a guitar player who is a brief substitute in a big name band (such as Ozzy's band) is not favorable - George said he thought he might have gained greater notoriety if he'd played with Ozzy but Ozzy's ego is (incorrectly) that it's okay to have a 'revolving door' of musicians.

In the public's perception, a 'revolving door' of musicians in the band does not reflect well on the musicians who come and go.

Because - if the musician was good enough - the major star (like Ozzy) would NOT HAVE LET THEM MOVE ON.

It is obvious that putting on your resume 'played with Ozzy' might make a guitarist THINK it "boosts his opportunities"

but when Jake E. Lee came and went, we (the public) never heard from him again. I personally thought "they dumped him"

George with Dokken was a much more solid choice - they had several albums.

When Van Halen's ego led him to think "I'm going to create a revolving door of singers" it was a mistake. Fired the original bass player for nepotism, fired the lead singer, THOSE GUYS were fixtures in the perception of the band's customers.

Too many successful bands think "throw-away temporary players is a good thing for the public's perception of our product" (the music)

No, it's NOT a good thing.
.

Ozzy's drunk ass made the dumb mistake of hiring the vastly overrated Jake E Lee instead of Mr. Scary. Can someone put out an APB for Jake who completely vanished from the metal scene after Ozzy and was never on Lynch's level to begin with.

George is so bad ass,,,,

The most awesome guitar player I ever heard was first jake e lee and then warren.
I heard jake and I was like dude this guy can play and my reaction to warren was fuck now that vibrato is something either you have it or you don’t.
Also his phrasing is ridiculous, its so well put together might as well be a programmer writing a code.
Sorry I am an IT guy.
Do check out some of my warren covers on my channel.
He is an inspiration.❤

That's not true George you did Audition Once before in 1979 , so you Auditioned Twice ! Before Dana Strum found Randy for Ozzy......

I’m sorry of these questions, not well thought out.
I’ve been a GL fan ever I heard my first Dokken song. I have always enjoyed his music. Big influence on my playing

Wow never knew Warren did that with lynch cool but I read Randy article or a audio of him saying watch for George lynch his good

So who are the legacy bamd he refers to at the end of the interview, anybody know?

one comment that shocked me was that lynch had to have warren d martini show him how to play ozzy songs and lynch couldn't do that himself. That's crazy given how much guitar players in that time had to rely on nothing but records to learn songs from. Lynch can't read music, he doesn't have an ear, and he never even learned how to learn songs. How was this guy one of the best players in LA at the time? Randy Rhoads taught music, Eddie Van Halen had a repertoire of any rock song you could think of.

Jake, George, and Warren should make their own G3...

George didn't have Randy talent he tried to replace Randy as a teacher at the music school and even Randys family said everyone quit on George and not only that but George is a dick so no one likes him and that is why hes at the bottom on the totem pole and he lies a lot about the past and the hair thing because he could have gotten a hair weave if he was that great

Just an observation here. It's so nice to listen to a hero for the first time and find out that he isn't using the filler words "you know?" between every third or forth word.

Ok
Sorry not sorry …
I mean no offense to any of the guitar players mentioned here, but the only reason this video exists, or that Ozzy’s career still exists is because Randy Rhoads was way more than a guitar player. He was a prodigy and a composer way beyond his years and none of the guitar players mentioned here Could hold a candle to the complex musical ideas he brought to the table….period . If they could, they would have done that with their own perspective bands.

George and Jake and Zach are all fine players… But what everyone’s overlooking is Randy was a musical anomaly… As a matter fact, his playing wasn’t EVEN fully evolved when he did these records. And let’s not forget he was humble about it… With a drunken leader, like Ozzy, who I feel owes much to his SOLO career to a 22-year-old passionate composer from Burbank California.
But… thank you Ozzy, for recognizing Randy… And giving him the space to create music you had the freedom to sing on top of.

For the record …
I LOVE OZZY
I LOVE SABBATH
And I admire all the guitarist mentioned here.

Lynch Mob was great, Wicked Sensation was a wicked sensation.

Great interview

Randys' & Warrens' compositions were far more memorable than anything George ever played and then there's the fact George is an utter douche bag.

Lynch E. Demartini is the greatest band in a parallel universe

Lynch, Demartini, Sweet on vocals. Heck even if Sweet/Lynch brought Warren in for just a song or two on their next collaboration. That would be killer

You'd think Ozzy would get it, he shaved his head at a point not too long before