George Lynch, Warren DeMartini,..... No mention of Jake E Lee? IMO, he was Ozzy's best guitarist (arguably Rhandy Rhodes).
Jake is truly talented.
But after he ditched Badlands, he went into recluse mode and never played. By his own admission, he had one guitar and kept it in the back of a closet. Never played. Mike Varney contacted him about a dozen years ago and essentially forced him into making a record with some name players. That album, Retraced, is lifeless and dull (own it, of course). His chops are hugely deteriorated.
His return with the Red Dragon Cartel was underwhelming, largely. Again, his chops had become seriously rusty and betrayed his many years not practicing/playing.
(His singer, Darren Smith, is the drummer for Canada’s Harem Scarem. An aquaintence. He actually told me about going to meet with Jake to try out. Darren’s a very good singer but tends to drink too much and becomes sloppy and dumb. I’ve witnessed this on more than one occasion. For some good singing from him, listen to Harem Scarem’s “Sentimental Blvd”.)
He’s continuing with RDC so we’ll see if he can reclaim his past abilities.
