Yngwie Malmsteen Is the 'A--hole' You Assumed He Is, Says Ex-Ozzy Guitarist

Yngwie Malmsteen Is the 'A--hole' You Assumed He Is, Says Ex-Ozzy Guitarist

Former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Jake E. Lee is no fan of fellow '80s guitar virtuoso Yngwie Malmsteen, as he made abundantly clear in a recent interview.

Lee told Talk Toomey with Joshua Toomey that his beef with Malmsteen is pretty simple.

"He's a dick — that's my main problem with him," Lee said. "He's an arrogant f---ing a--hole, and he always has been."

The Bark at the Moon guitarist paused to clarify that if the years have humbled Malmsteen or if the Swedish guitarist had undergone a paradigm shift since the '80s, he personally wouldn't know.

"I haven't seen him in forever," Lee continued. "But I can only assume that if when you're younger, you're that arrogant and that big of a dick, that you really never change. So I assume he still is. But no, he was just — he was a dick."

But one think as undeniable as Malmsteen's infamous ego is his ability on his instrument.

Lee conceded that Malmsteen is a "great guitar player," in one respect, but there's more to the instrument than technical acumen. 

"He was really good at one little thing he does — doing the sweeps and arpeggios and playing fast — and that's all he could do," offered Lee. "That's one of my problems with him — it's a very narrow band of guitar playing. He just focuses on this one part. He's a shitty rhythm player; he can't write a song wroth a f---. And I'm saying this, and this sounds bad — I feel a little bit bad — but knowing what an asshole he is, I don't feel that bad. You can't be that arrogant if you're only really good at one minute aspect of the art of playing guitar. And that's all he was ... and ... yeah, f--- him."

Lee's band Red Dragon Cartel will release its sophomore studio album, Patina, in November. 


Photo: Getty Images


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