Many talented guitarists have played in Ozzy Osbourne’s band, continuing the legacy of Randy Rhoads. However, George Lynch has a unique story because of his negative experience. In a recent interview with Ultimate Guitar about his new project, Casandra’s Crossing, Lynch talked about his time with Ozzy before he became famous with Dokken and his solo work, but it appears Ozzy Osbourne did insult a Van Halen member.
At that time, Lynch was trying to join Ozzy’s band while Brad Gillis was still playing guitar for him. Unfortunately, Lynch was let go and replaced by Jake E. Lee. When asked about Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, Lynch wished he had been treated better.
He explained that he was struggling financially at the time. He had to quit his job as a truck driver to pursue the opportunity with Ozzy. After being let go without any pay, he and his family faced tough times and had to move in with his in-laws.
Lynch felt frustrated watching the Osbournes live a lavish lifestyle while he was struggling to pay rent. He found it insensitive that they spent money freely while he couldn’t even afford basic needs.
Despite these challenges, Lynch continued his music career. He went back to rehearsals where he saw friends from the music scene, including members of Ratt and Dokken. After briefly playing with Ratt, he and Warren DeMartini decided it was better to return to their original bands, which they both found funny.
“I couldn’t really make a call on that. I just say, from my own personal experience, I felt it would have been nice to let me down a little easier.”
“From where my life was at the time, we didn’t have any money. My wife and I — we had two kids and we’re living in an apartment. And I had to quit my job to go do this. And I had a union job as a truck driver for a liquor distributor. And I liked that job, and it paid the bills and kept our family, secure and everything like that. And I had to quit that job, which is really troubling for me, that when they told me they weren’t going to use me, they didn’t ask me about my situation, they didn’t pay me anything. I didn’t get a nickel for a month at that time. I didn’t make any money.”
“So, I came back, and my wife and I drove home in our ’73 Pinto Station Wagon that was falling apart, with the muffler scraping on the ground and a busted windshield and rag for a gas cap. And we get to our apartment, we picked up the kids at her mom’s house and went into our apartment, and we had an eviction notification. We couldn’t pay our rent, so we had to move in with her parents.”
“It created some hard times for us. And I thought, ‘They were throwing money around like it was nothing.’ Sharon traveled with bags of money. It was crazy. We’d go to dinners that were $10,000… and we couldn’t even afford to eat or pay our rent, you know? So I thought that was pretty insensitive. But whatever. They live in a different world, and I get that. I took a chance and it didn’t pay off.”
“The funny thing was, when I went back to rehearsals because Ratt and Dokken practiced right next door to each other at Priscilla’s Rehearsal place in Burbank, and we were all friends. We all kind of grew up together. And Juan Croucier was [Dokken’s] first bass player. Then he became the bass player in Ratt. And Bobby used to play with Don Dokken. And then Mick Brown played with me, and then me and Mick joined Don.”
“We all knew each other, and Warren [De Martini] and I were friends. And then I got back, I went to the rehearsal place after all this happened, and Warren was playing with Dokken. I was like, ‘What the hell?’ So, I joined Ratt for a second. For a short period of time, I was a guitar player in Ratt and he was a guitar player in Dokken.”
“But eventually… we would talk every single day, we’d hang out in the hallway, and watch each other and talk gear and stuff. And I go, ‘Hey, why don’t we just go back to our regular bands? This is stupid.’ So that’s what we did. [Laughs]”
