Ozzy v Whitesnake: The Guitarists

[Alex79]

Always Ozzy.
Steve Van has commented many times on how the whole Whitesnake thing really didn't work out with him. I don't consider him a part of Whitesnake at any length. To add, he also wrote songs with Ozzy (for the album Ozzmosis) and almost joined the band, but it somehow didn't work out due to legal reasons.

Rhandy, Jake, Zack (f. all you Zakk-haters!) and Gus were all just so amazing in their prime and had the songs to boot. And Joe Holmes is an incredible player as well.

 

[Alex79]

Randy and Vai are the heavy lifters on each side to me. Imagine what Ozzy's solo career would look like if he didn't have Randy's compositional/songwriting (not to mention guitar) chops on those first 2 albums. Steve Vai because Steve Vai. He's the most technically gifted on this list and the Deeper the Love solo is probably my fav Whitensake guitar part. The riff to Judgement Day is pretty cool too, though that's Vandenberg's i think. Plenty of other talent on both sides of course. Jake and Zakk are scoring a lot of points. Having Warren on Whitesnake's side feels kinda cheap tho, he's scoring mad buckets for them.

Tough to say which side would win an arms race but i think i'd probably lean Ozzy.

Zack was just groundbreaking when he joined Ozzy and recorded No More Tears. People forget that, because of the time that passed and because he's done a million other, less popular things since then.
Steve Vai really just did what he already had done on previous albums. No negative judgement there, I have most of his albums here and love them. It was just a replacement job for injured Vandenberg.

 

[ArtDecade]

Always Ozzy.
Steve Van has commented many times on how the whole Whitesnake thing really didn't work out with him. I don't consider him a part of Whitesnake at any length. To add, he also wrote songs with Ozzy (for the album Ozzmosis) and almost joined the band, but it somehow didn't work out due to legal reasons.

Rhandy, Jake, Zack (f. all you Zakk-haters!) and Gus were all just so amazing in their prime and had the songs to boot. And Joe Holmes is an incredible player as well.

I know Steve claims that he did the Whitesnake gig to make a ton of money and gain the ability to do other stuff. That said, Slip Of The Tongue is a fantastic album and it had equal parts to do with the songwriting. Vandenberg and Coverdale wrote that album and it freed up Vai to just focus on playing his ass off. Plus, Steve may look back on that period with a little sly eye towards the music, but if you watch the footage from those tours, he was loving every minute of it. The man loves the big stage and he never played to bigger crowds than he did with Whitesnake. If anyone were to look back on that period glumly, it would have to be Adrian Vandenberg because he had to watch his music get played by another guitarist in the studio. I am sure that must have been a tough pill to swallow - especially when the guy in the control room is Steve Vai. Luckily, when he played across the stage from Vai on the tour, the Flying Dutchman proved that he had the chops. He more than deserved to be up there and showed it every night. Vai and Vandenberg might be one of the greatest touring bands of that period. Full stop.

 

[Stuck_in_a_dream]

Other than Vai on WS side, no I didn't get Sykes, like at all, I will have to vote Ozzy here. Between Randy, Jake, and sometimes Zakk, there are tons of great song writing/chops/solos there.

 

[Marked Man]

I’d have to call this a draw - both groups have had amazing players.

When it comes to innovation and creation, Ozzy's Army hands down.

The Whitesnake players were hired guns for a commercial (and sometimes very good) Hair Metal band. Ozzy's first two guys (Iommi, Rhoads) created genres, and his next two (Lee, Wylde) defined the pinnacle of their genres during their time.

Vai was seriously shackled by the identity of Whitesnake and nowhere near as effective at Sykes, who was in God Mode at Whitesnake. The Slip....material and above all production were simply weak compared to the 1987 album. Vai was extremely effective with DLR, and much better match for his musical personality. But he brought a ton of prestige and some clever bits to Whitesnake at the time. If you wanted the hottest gunslinger around at the time, you hired Vai. He had an awesome rock star stage presence at that time. I wish he had kept more of it.....Vandenberg was somewhat unfairly overshadowed and had some bad luck with Whitesnake, but let's face it, he was no Vai. Still, he played the best solo in the entire Whitesnake catalog (Here I Go) and wrote some of the best songs, including Sailing Ships, which is brilliant.

 

[Marked Man]

Ozzy had the better guitarists with better solos. Also, the Ozzman had better songs with guitar players who either had more impact on the instrument or were just marketed better. And I think that Sharon is a big part of the background with this decision as she made sure he had good songs and the albums were set apart from other bands. She never got Ozzy to ditch the guitar solos and wear plaid shirts and get the guitarists to play differently. Whitesnake set the bar too high with steve vai and just couldn't get back to that level of rock n'roll... but Doug Aldrich is flat-out awesome.

I was very thankful for guys like Ozzy sticking to their own sound in the '90s after metal fell. It was an absolutely horrible time for '80s influenced metal, and many didn't survive. I liked a few of the true altsters, but not many of the grungsters, and I HATED the whole ethos of grunge. But rather than dwell on the situation, I mined the past and discovered King Crimson and Yes, and a new band called Dream Theater in '93. And I didn't abandon all the new metal I had only discovered in the very early '90s either, including Pantera. It was tough to be in a band then, as the Trend Police would glare at you if you dared to play a solo for several years there....

 

[tedtan]

When it comes to innovation and creation, Ozzy's Army hands down.

The Whitesnake players were hired guns for a commercial (and sometimes very good) Hair Metal band. Ozzy's first two guys (Iommi, Rhoads) created genres, and his next two (Lee, Wylde) defined the pinnacle of their genres during their time.

Vai was seriously shackled by the identity of Whitesnake and nowhere near as effective at Sykes, who was in God Mode at Whitesnake. The Slip....material and above all production were simply weak compared to the 1987 album. Vai was extremely effective with DLR, and much better match for his musical personality. But he brought a ton of prestige and some clever bits to Whitesnake at the time. If you wanted the hottest gunslinger around at the time, you hired Vai. He had an awesome rock star stage presence at that time. I wish he had kept more of it.....Vandenberg was somewhat unfairly overshadowed and had some bad luck with Whitesnake, but let's face it, he was no Vai. Still, he played the best solo in the entire Whitesnake catalog (Here I Go) and wrote some of the best songs, including Sailing Ships, which is brilliant.

If we are talking about their contributions to their respective bands, then yes, Ozzy wins.

If we are talking about riff writing, then Ozzy wins from Sabbath alone (Tony is THE riffmeister), let alone all the killler riffs in his solo output.

If we are talking about my favorite player, then Ozzy wins, as Randy is my main lead influence.

But if we are talking about the guitarists overall, I still say its a wash. Anything that Randy did is equaled by Vai, so that’s a wash. Anything Jake did is equaled by Sykes, so that’s a wash. Zakk and Gus? Both solid players, but both are overshadowed by Reb Beach, or Doug Aldrich, or Adrian Vandenberg, or Vivian Cambell; even as hired guns, they‘re better players.

 

[Marked Man]

If we are talking about their contributions to their respective bands, then yes, Ozzy wins.

If we are talking about riff writing, then Ozzy wins from Sabbath alone (Tony is THE riffmeister), let alone all the killler riffs in his solo output.

If we are talking about my favorite player, then Ozzy wins, as Randy is my main lead influence.

But if we are talking about the guitarists overall, I still say its a wash. Anything that Randy did is equaled by Vai, so that’s a wash. Anything Jake did is equaled by Sykes, so that’s a wash. Zakk and Gus? Both solid players, but both are overshadowed by Reb Beach, or Doug Aldrich, or Adrian Vandenberg, or Vivian Cambell; even as hired guns, they‘re better players.

I disagree completely.

Vai has never been part of band songs for two brilliant albums that compare to Randy's with Ozzy. His best has always been his quirky and brilliant solo albums (and they have been uneven after Passion....). The band projects he's been in were fun, but in no way compared to Randy/Ozzy----those are legendary albums.

As for the later WS guys being "better" than Zakk, he was a 160 Proof force of nature in his peak years with Ozzy, and none of those studio guys (professional as they may be) could have made those years as special as they were. Reb Beach in particular is someone who has plenty of studied chops, but has rarely moved me with his tone or presence during a song or concert. And Jake was very innovative and state of the metal art when he joined Ozzy; who could have done better? Again, those WS cats could have NEVER made Jake's two albums with Ozzy.....

I think the best output of Ozzy's career was his first four solo albums in the '80s and of course Tribute.

 

[Leviathus]

Vai has never been part of band songs for two brilliant albums that compare to Randy's with Ozzy. His best has always been his quirky and brilliant solo albums (and they have been uneven after Passion....). The band projects he's been in were fun, but in no way compared to Randy/Ozzy----those are legendary albums.

Eat em and Smile tho? Slip of the Tongue and Skyscraper are pretty decent too, maybe if you combined both.

Not disagreeing, just food for thought. Randy is clearly the top songwriter/riffwriter in this pool.

 

[tedtan]

I disagree completely.

Vai has never been part of band songs for two brilliant albums that compare to Randy's with Ozzy. His best has always been his quirky and brilliant solo albums (and they have been uneven after Passion....). The band projects he's been in were fun, but in no way compared to Randy/Ozzy----those are legendary albums.

As for the later WS guys being "better" than Zakk, he was a 160 Proof force of nature in his peak years with Ozzy, and none of those studio guys (professional as they may be) could have made those years as special as they were. Reb Beach in particular is someone who has plenty of studied chops, but has rarely moved me with his tone or presence during a song or concert. And Jake was very innovative and state of the metal art when he joined Ozzy; who could have done better? Again, those WS cats could have NEVER made Jake's two albums with Ozzy.....

I think the best output of Ozzy's career was his first four solo albums in the '80s and of course Tribute.

I don’t mean to suggest that Vai contributed as much to Whitesnake or DLR (or Zappa or Alcatrazz) as Randy did to those first two solo albums with Ozzy. I’m just saying that when we add in his work on Flexable, Passion and Warfare, and Alien Love Secrets, along with select other solo tracks, he’s contributed as much innovation and creativity as Randy did, so I consider them a wash overall.

As a band member and songwriter, Randy takes the win.