“I’ll never forget it. The first time I ever walked out on stage with Ozzy Osbourne. Everyone had out their Bic lighters and the entire stadium lit up. It was like getting transported to another universe. I just remember looking over at Randy Rhoads, who was playing guitar for Ozzy and helped me get the gig. And we gave each other a thumbs up.”

Rudy Sarzo; an architect of hard rock and metal, a bassist who’s played with Quiet Riot, Ozzy Osbourne and Whitesnake. Ahead of Quiet Riot’s return to the 86th Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, he talked about the pre-show ritual. He’s on stage 15 minutes early. Not to check gear. To plug in.

“Into the crowd. It’s a continuation of what I first experienced over 48 years ago. I plug into the consciousness of what the band was back when it was still with Randy. Back when we were rejected by the industry. Everyone was very short sighted, and people only knew what was in their back yards. When new wave and punk were the flavors of the day, the record companies were telling us that what we were playing was ‘dinosaur music.'”

Wild, considering that same band helped define ’80s metal.

“All the Sunset Strip promoters were only booking the punk and new wave bands. We went from packed houses at Starwood to playing the suburbs of Los Angeles,” our main fan base couldn’t come to the shows anymore. Playing to 10, maybe 15 fans whose parents drove them out there. So it was like starting over.”

Then came March 19, 1982 when Randy Rhoads lost his life in a plane crash while the band was on tour.

“This was during a time when there wasn’t a lot understood about PTSD. The plane he lost his life on had crashed into the tour bus that I was on. That led to me leaving one of the biggest bands in the world at the time. Which meant leaving Ozzy and Sharon, who had been there from the very beginning.”

“ I got to thank them” On July 5, 2025,  When Sarzo played bass alongside Ozzy at Villa Park in Birmingham, England, for the solo portion of Ozzy’s final show.

After leaving Ozzy’s Band. He approached  Kevin DuBrow” I wanted to play with him, “but I wanted to be a part of a band.”

They rebuilt Quiet Riot. “Metal Health” came out March 11, 1983, with DuBrow on vocals, Frankie Banali on drums, Carlos Cavazo on guitar and Sarzo on bass. They dedicated it to Randy. .

“I had to really find my spiritual center. That’s what brought me back. That’s what made me fall in love with music again. That is what I have to make sure I focus on before every tour now.”

Touring’s hard mentally and physically. But these days Sarzo is what the industry refers to as a weekend warrior. Before flying back into the arms of the woman he’s loved for 42 years. His Wife Rebecca,. He’s also in love with a new bass.

“I’m rocking a bass that I really love these days. It’s a Brubaker, Made in Baltimore, Maryland. I found it at a NAMM show. From the second I gripped it, it was like an extension of me. It fit perfectly in my hand. I just love the sound of it. It’s unbelievable!”

The Hall of Heavy Metal History inductee is headed back to the “tradition” of Sturgis, “I didn’t know how to process the trauma before but getting back out there… honoring him, celebrating his life. That’s how I fell in love with the music again”- “that’s what my new brothers and bandmates and I do out there now. “

He’s played the top world stages, beside some of the most iconic artists of all time, and is counted among them.  Leaving us with songs forever printed on Chart topping records and our hearts. He also got to create some of the most incredible friendships, in a wild musical journey that Sarzo credits as having “taken off” from that first thumbs-up moment with his dear friend and brother in music, Randy Rhoads.The road behind him is a list most players only dream about: the 1983 US Festival alongside Ozzy, Van Halen, Judas Priest, the Scorpions and Mötley Crüe, the Scorpions’ Blackout tour, the 1984 Love at First Sting run, the Heavy Metal Hurricane show. All of it fed a fan base that pushed his projects past 30 million in album sales.

“Be good to each other, keep the faith, and when things get out of your hands, just leave it to God’s will. That’s it. Don’t fight your destiny.” -Rodolfo “Rudy” Sarzo

Quiet Riot plays the Iron Horse on August 10 at 9 p.m.