GUITARIST JAKE E. LEE DISCUSSES HOW HE WROTE “BARK AT THE MOON”
Guitarist Jake E. Lee (Red Dragon Cartel, Ozzy Osbourne, Badlands) participated in a half-show/half-question-and-answer-session at the Lava Cable stage in Owasso, Oklahoma on March 13th.
Lee, who wrote Bark At The Moon” the title song of Ozzy Osbourne’s 1983 album of the same name, revealed how he wrote the tune to be played originally and how it is consistently wronged by tabs all across the web today. Watch video footage from Lava Cable’s Strike A Chord below.
Jake E. Lee’s new band, Red Dragon Cartel, released their debut album on January 28th and are currently on tour. See dates below.
Red Dragon Cartel Tour Dates:
3 Philadelphia, PA The Legendary Dobbs
4 Amityville, NY Revolutions
6 West Seneca, NY Rock & Roll Heaven
May:
30 Vienna, AUS Szene
31 Munich, GER Backstage
June:
5 Norje Solvesborg, SWE Sweden Rock Festival
15 Donnington, ENG Download Festival
19 Seattle, WA El Corazon
21 Idaho Falls, ID Rock The Falls
 participated in a half-show/half-question-and-answer-session at the Lava Cable stage in Owasso, Oklahoma on March 13th. Lee, who ... )
At $500 a week with Ozzy I think he came out of the gig with a doggy bag of guitar picks and $5,623 in his account….and “leave the equipment we lent you with Sal in Burbank”. Real tabs…..that’s giving Ozzy money. Owasso Oklahoma, give him credit, he’s out there….I hope he doesn’t do the entire thing like the 5 foot 2 bald guy at B.B. King’s on a stool answering questions to 275 pound guys in ’91 Anthrax t-shirts…that’s Jack at the Holiday Inn room B or Tramp over in room D stuff.
Ozzy wrote that song. Jake is lookign for publicity.
Jake co-wrote the song with Bob Daisley if I’m not mistaken.
Correct according to Daisley.
Don’t fall for this dog and pony show. Daisley and Lee are trying to be Frehley and Criss. At the very least, these two got to expose their music to a huge audience and it is about the music after all? Right. If these two are so great, they should tour BARK AT THE MOON with an OZZY sound-alike. See how far that goes? GENE and PAUL. SHARON and OZZY. Make it stop.
At the time, Ozzy himself was a larger than life star. We know who Jake is ’cause he played for( rather than with) Ozzy. Brad Gillis backed out and had success with NIGHT RANGER. Zak formed his own band. Daisley is metal musics best ever session bassist. Do Beyonce fans give a shit who her musicians are? Do Madonna fans ponder who co-wrote her biggest hits? Same thing here. The early to mid 1980s were dominated gloriously by heavy metal and Ozzy was its best biggest star. These whiners owe Ozzy and not vice-versa. If Ozzy has a ton of money then good for him. He deserves it. Jake you were part of something big, so be proud. My iPod actually has songwriting credits but I never check that. Too busy jogging. Thank you for ROCK N ROLL REBEL, YOU RE NO DIFFERENT and whatever else. Your celebrity and relevance you owe to Ozzy. Be grateful. Corporate America or UK for that matter mistreats everyone except the top guy and here that guy is Ozzy.
Were you trying to make a point in there somewhere?
SPEAK OF THE DEVIL was the biggest piece of shit double live album in history, yet upon its release it sold very well. Why? Ozzy. Ozzy could have gotten Moore or Schenker but he got Jake. Ozzy didn’t need stars he made people stars. My point is why bitch about a guy that made you a star. Besides BARK AT THE MOON and THE ULTIMATE SIN who cares about Jake E. Lee? Uh nobody. Screw him and his songwritting credits from 1983. Ozzy’s staff paid others to write his songs. So what. The songs were good, still are and good for all involved. At this point, will OZZY play any of that stuff live ever again? Jake I’m sure made money, had some fame and sexed up some hotties and now he wants recognition 30 years later. Poor him. I don’t think so.
Sorry Richman, I will humbly agree to disagree with you. Badlands was a really good band and quite a few people did care about them.
Dana from EddieTrunk.com 🙂
Agree with Dana, Ozzy was smart enough to know that only the most talented metal guitarist in the land would be able to stand out on his own from the overshadowing legacy of Randy Rhoads, and he found him in Jake. Jake had that special “it” factor that you could see on stage and that he was a born rock star and knew he belonged. Yes, Ozzy could get whomever he wanted, but again knew that moving a few steps to the left or right and throwing pails of water wasn’t enough, he needed top notch musicians to compliment him. I think it was a mutually beneficial arrangement. “Besides BARK AT THE MOON and THE ULTIMATE SIN who cares about Jake E Lee?” SMH Dood……….really?
Richman, Ozzy maybe a larger than life star, but he has never contributed anything substantial with Black Sabbath other than vocals in the 1970s, nor was he capable of writing with his solo band in the 1980s. If it wasn’t for the talents of Randy Rhoads, Bob Daisley, Lee Kerslake, Jake E Lee, Zakk Wlyde, etc. the man would have been a has been remembered for his days in the original Black Sabbath. Sharon Osbourne was and still is a crooked business woman who later on had the original Blizzard of Ozz backing band removed from the first two Ozzy albums and replaced with other musician’s so that her and Ozzy wouldn’t have to pay any further royalty checks to Daisley or Kerslake. You may not care about songwriting credits, but there are too many talented musician’s/songwriters in the industry who are being ripped off by artists like Ozzy in any music genre. What good is a music artist if they can’t at least contribute to the songwriting process or properly acknowledge credit to others when it’s due? Aerosmith is an example of a rock band who can write they’re music and also co-write with songwriters without taking the road that Ozzy and Sharon have done in the past.
Alan, you hit the nail on the head. Ozzy has never written a damn thing (or nowhere near what he is given credit for). It’s a repeating pattern of actual songwriters who helped propel Ozzy to solo stardom. From Bob Daisley (who sued Ozzy in the 80’s and was brought back anyway because he wrote a good bulk of Ozzy’s stuff), to the session bass player who wrote ‘Shot in the Dark’ (who also sued) , and Jake E. Lee. According to ‘The Ozzman Cometh’ album, Ozzy is given sole song writing credit. Ozzy comes up with melodies and that’s about it. Sharon stockpiles him with the top songwriters in the industry and slaps Ozzy’s name on the song.
That’s the way it’s always been and forever shall be. It’s a shitty thing to do to the musicians who are working hard to craft a good rock song. But then again, Sharon is a smoldering piece of shit. So it fits.
Bob Daisley is a great songwriter but he is not John Keats or William Wordsworth so relax.
Those vocals were a bit more than substantial. They actually were great along with the drumming, bass playing and guitar playing.
ozzy can mumble the fuck out of that riff!