In a recent interview on the Tone-Talk Podcast, former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Jake E. Lee shared the song he is most proud of from a guitar perspective during his time with Osbourne.
“I would say ‘Killer of Giants’ is probably one of the songs that I’m most proud of, period, that I wrote,” Lee revealed. “For one reason, because it’s almost orchestral in the way it’s presented. I do the guitar intro, which I’ll repeat something, but then I never come back to it. I go to another place, go to another place, go another place.”
Lee also likes the song because it includes a guitar style that isn’t usually linked to him but is more often connected to Randy Rhoads. “And then there’s the classical part with Ozzy, which is a new place, and then it goes to the first verse of ‘Killer of Giants.’ Then it goes to the chorus. So it isn’t until after the second chorus that it ever repeats itself from those first four, maybe, minutes. It’s just constantly shifting and moving to another place. And I really had a lot of fun doing that. And it’s a great song.”
The rocker also discussed how he had to win over Randy Rhoads’ fans early in his time with Ozzy Osbourne, both on stage and off stage.
“There was always people in the front rows with ‘Randy rules, you suck,’” Lee explained. “Every gig, there’d be somebody with a sign like that. I think maybe the ‘Ultimate Sin’ tour. I didn’t really see that as much. But the ‘Bark at the Moon’ tour, there was still a lot of that.”
“And in the beginning, I didn’t know that you’re supposed to check into a hotel under an assumed name. So, I just checked in with my real name,” the guitarist admitted his mistake. “I used to get phone calls at the hotel: ‘I’m better than you. You suck. Listen to me over the phone.’ So that’s when I said, ‘Oh, that’s why you use it,’” he added.
Ozzy chose Lee to replace Randy Rhoads in the band. Producer Max Norman said ‘Bark at the Moon’ had a unique feel thanks to Lee’s style, though Lee still faced criticism.
Lee was Ozzy’s guitarist from 1983 to 1987, playing on two albums: 1983’s ‘Bark at the Moon’ and 1986’s ‘The Ultimate Sin.’ He also joined the tours for both albums and appeared in the live concert video ‘The Ultimate Ozzy.’