1980 Metal Hit Named Among Greatest Guitar Riffs of All Time
The greatest classic rock and metal hits always seem to be accompanied by a slamming guitar solo that ranks among the greatest of all time.
That certainly holds true for the No. 2 song on Guitar World's list of the greatest guitar riffs of all time: Crazy Train.
The genesis of the iconic song came after Ozzy Orbourne was kicked out of Black Sabbath in 1979, before poaching American guitarist Randy Rhoads from Quiet Riot.
"On his debut solo album Blizzard Of Ozz, that unique voice was framed in a modern context, in which Rhoads' ferocious neo-classical guitar technique was pivotal," Guitar World wrote. "And Crazy Train was the key track – an anthem that would forever define Ozzy as a solo artist and Randy as one of the great guitarists of his generation."
Randy Rhoads Created Iconic Lick
"Unusually, the Crazy Train lick was not in the standard metal keys of A or E, marking the first time a guitarist had written to order for Ozzy's doomy holler," Guitar World wrote.
"In Sabbath," Osbourne noted, "they'd just write something and say, ‘Put a vocal on that.' Randy was the first guy to make it comfortable for me."
Quiet Riot bassist Greg Leon reportedly claimed, "I showed Randy the riff to Steve Miller's Swingtown. I said: ‘Look what happens when you speed this riff up.' We messed around, and the next thing I know he took it to a whole other level."
However, his comments were shot down by Bob Daisley, bassist on Blizzard Of Ozz.
"The signature riff in F# minor from Crazy Train was Randy's. Then I wrote the part for him to solo over, and Ozzy had the vocal melody," he said.
"The title came because Randy had an effect that was making a psychedelic chugging sound through his amp. Randy and I were train buffs, and I said: ‘That sounds like a crazy train.' Ozzy had this saying, ‘You're off the rails!', so I used that in the lyrics."
Despite its popularity today, the song never reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts. It initially reached No. 49 on the United Kingdom singles chart in 1980 before making its debut in the United States where the song reached No. 9 on the Billboard Top Tracks chart.
Related: 1970 Hit Named 'Greatest' Guitar Solo of All Time by Guitarists
This story was originally published by Men's Journal on May 26, 2026, where it first appeared in the Entertainment section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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This story was originally published May 25, 2026 at 9:15 PM.