On Thursday, March 18, 1982, Ozzy Osbourne played a concert at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum. The next day, the band was heading to a festival in Orlando, Florida. After driving much of the night, they stopped in Leesburg, Florida, to fix a malfunctioning air conditioning unit on the bus while Osbourne remained asleep. On the property there was an airstrip with small helicopters and planes. Without permission, tour bus driver and ex-commercial pilot Andrew Aycock took a small Beechcraft F35 plane registered to a Mike Partin. On the first flight, Aycock took keyboardist Don Airey and tour manager Jake Duncan. He then landed and a second flight took to the air with Randy Rhoads and makeup artist Rachel Youngblood aboard. During the second flight, attempts were made to apparently 'buzz' the tour bus, where the other band members were sleeping. Aycock succeeded in making two close passes, but botched the third attempt. At approximately 10 AM, after being in the air for approximately five minutes, one of the plane's wings clipped the top of the tour bus, breaking the wing into two parts and sending the plane spiraling out of control. The initial impact with the bus caused Rhoads's and Youngblood's heads to crash through the plane's windshield. The plane then severed the top of a pine tree and crashed into the garage of a nearby mansion, bursting into flames. Keyboardist Don Airey was the only member of the band to witness the crash, as the rest were asleep in the bus. Rhoads was killed instantly, as were Aycock and Youngblood. All three bodies were burned beyond recognition, and Rhoads was identified by dental records and personal jewelry. Randy Rhoads was a very talented guitarist. Before playing with Ozzy Osbourne, Randy played with Quiet Riott. His playing is said to influenced scores of guitarists over the years. Randy was only 25 years old. Rachel Youngblood was 58 years old and the pilot, Andrew Aycock was 36 years old. It was such a senseless waste of human life.
RIP Randy, Rachel and Andrew.
Surf-N-Burn is a 1997 surf-rock album by the Blue Stingrays. Its tracks express a variety of moods, from the secret agent intrigue of "Russian Roulette" and "Goldfinger" (a cover of the theme from the James Bond film of the same name), to the soft surfing themes "Surfer's Life" and "Green Sea", to the beach-shack rave-ups (complete with audience noise) "Monsoon" and "Super Hero", all in the styles of the early surf-rockers.
This disc's liner notes tell a fictitious story of origins of the Blue Stingrays—claiming they formed in 1959 and were among both the earliest and most influential surf-rockers; who, after tiring of the exploitation of surf culture, moved to a small South Pacific island. Completing the retro feel, this album was also released as an LP (by Epitone/Epitaph).[1] In reality, the Blue Stingrays was a side project for members of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. A blue guitar pick stamped with the Stingrays' logo was included with the CD.
Mike Campbell has been a bit underrated through the years, but the riffs on You Got Lucky and quite a few other TP & the HB'ers tunes have always been ear honey to my sound holes. Listening to the full album now, and it's a bit of a slow burner. Diggin it though. That 335 is getting some miles put on it.
