“We were doing War Pigs… Ozzy looks at me and mouths, ‘What are the words?’ I said, ‘Idon’t know.’ So he started singing Old MacDonald Had a Farm”: Jake E. Lee on his wild Ozzy Osbourne days and why Tony Iommi is harder to emulate than Randy Rhoads

Ozzy Osbourne embraces Jake E. Lee as the latter takes a solo during an '80s live performances.

Jake E. Lee was in a unique position when he joined Ozzy Osbourne’s band in 1983. He wasn’t just filling Randy Rhoads’ shoes; he also was covering some of Tony Iommi’s most iconic riffs and solos.

“It just sounds evil,” Lee says of Iommi’s playing. “He bends so [that] it’s not quite in pitch. It just made it sound so much better. There are things like that that I found challenging. Where did he come up with all those riffs? It’s not human. It’s unfathomable how he just kept coming up with riffs!”