Late guitar hero RANDY RHOADS made his first appearance in Guitar World magazine with the May 1982 issue, which featured ADRIAN BELEW on the cover. The story, which ran with the headline, Randy Rhoads Stumbles Into The Spotlight: A Cinderalla Story, was written by John Stix. An excerpt follows:

As his playing progressed Randy's Les Paul could be heard teaching in his mom's music store in Burbank, and on the local stages with his group, QUIET RIOT. Randy's style emerged by combining these two parallel paths. As best evidenced by 'Mr. Crowley' from the Blizzard Of Ozz collection, Randy's gifts include an awesome technique coupled with a composer's disciplined approach to soloing.

He just may be the Allan Holdsworth of hard rock. Hammered notes pour from Randy's instrument, as he abandons the barrage of spitfire riffs embraced by most hard rockers. "Crowley" also displays his ability to construct a classically influenced solo from long lines while maintaining a lava-like heat.

Incongruous as it may sound to fans of Beethoven and Brahms, the classical approach is a heavy metal tradition. From their earliest recordings, JIMMY PAGE, JEFF BECK, LESLIE WEST and RITCHIE BLACKMORE have all given more than a casual tip of the hat to western classical music.

"There's an answer to that," explains Rhoads. "Most heavy metal is not very melodic in nature. It's often minor in tone so you can use a lot of minor thirds in your lead breaks. That automatically sounds classical. Leslie West was one of my favorites because he used classical ideas with feeling. He was melodic but mean. My solos are more like rolling scales than the call-and-response of blues riffs. Quiet Riot played songs with a lot of changes. I used to analyze the progression and look over my possibilities. If I didn't like what was available, I'd play as weird as possible."

His ability to focus, dissect and share information made Randy a popular and busy teacher. Through his students, he was finally exposed to the classic electric guitarists of the sixties and seventies.

"I learned more by teaching the guitar than by doing anything else. Students would come up with chord progressions and ask what kind of lead they could play over them. More often they wanted to learn note-for-note solos from their favorite players. That's when I started to learn other people's licks."

The complete interview, with a brief "axology", as well as a photo gallery of the 1982 Guitar World covers, can be found at this location.