MORE THOUGHTS ON DIO

I'm kind of surprised by how sad I feel about the death of Ronnie James Dio. I can't act like I'm the biggest fan, and I hadn't listened to him at all for about two decades, up until he rejoined Black Sabbath (aka Heaven & Hell). 

I was moved by the tributes by his Sabbath/Heaven & Hell bandmates Tony Iommi, Vinny Appice and especially Geezer Butler. I say "especially" because Geezer, a lyricist, is a sensitive soul who expresses himself really well with the written word. Also, because I think he and Dio had problems at first: when Ozzy Osbourne was Sabbath's frontman, Geezer was the lyricist.  When Dio came, he wrote his own lyrics, and I think that may have led to tensions.

I was also moved by a tribute written by, of all people, Rolling Stone writer Rob Sheffield. Sheffield is a kitch-loving hipster (as far as I can tell) but also a very good writer.  Still, I was like, "Not now!" when I saw his name next to the headline "Farewell, Dio: You Got To Bleed For The Dancer."  It was actually a moving tribute that pointed out that Dio's song "Invisible" in which he empathized with gay teenagers, which was unusual, not to mention risky, for a straight heavy metal icon in the '80s. There's tons of great Dio tributes out there, but that one really stuck with me.

Even Ozzy Osbourne issued a brief statement.  Who knows, maybe this will hammer home the point that life is so finite, and inspire Ozzy and Tony to end their dumb lawsuit.  I'm not saying they need to reunite, they should just go back to being pals. But I'm glad that in Dio's final years, he got to play to huge crowds with Tony, Geezer and Vinny. We should all be able to go out doing what we love.

DIO - R.I.P.

I am really sorry to hear that heavy metal legend, Ronnie James Dio, passed away this weekend.

Dio in 1985 was my second big rock concert (Rush was the first a few weeks earlier). At the time, Dio only had released two albums, but of course Ronnie James Dio had his catalog of Rainbow and Black Sabbath songs to pull from as well. I remember hanging out with my friend Joe at the White Castle afterwards with a blown mind, talking about all the great songs we just saw him performed, including Rainbow's "Man On The Silver Mountain" and Black Sabbath's "Children Of The Sea." There were lasers, huge lights, it was loud, it was awesome.

Not everyone knows that before he was a metal icon, he was Ronnie Dio, doo-wop singer. You can buy "Gonna Make It Alone" and "Swingin' Street" by Ronnie Dio and The Prophets on iTunes. He was good at it, and I bet he looked back on his doo-wop era fondly.  Years later, he started his band Elf, which was kind of blues based "hey baby" Stones rock and roll. "Sit Down Honey" is also available on iTunes. It's cool, but like when he was singing doo-wop, he didn't really stand out, it doesn't quite "click." 

It turns out that that Stoney, bluesy kind of rock that Elf was playing was also not satisfying to guitar god  Ritchie Blackmore either -- so he quit Deep Purple, hired the members of Elf (minus the guitarist, of course) and formed Rainbow. That's where you first hear Dio becoming that frontman that influenced generations of metal singers. After three albums RJD left to replace Ozzy Osbourne in Black Sabbath. Singing with Blackmore meant he would be compared to Purple's singers (Ian Gillan and David Coverdale). That couldn't have been easy.  But replacing Ozzy in Sabbath! What a ballsy move, even though he is technically a better singer. Dio has never lacked confidence, and that has served him well. The two albums he did with Sabbath were righteous and rocking. But soon he took drummer Vinnie Appice and formed Dio.

Dio kind of encompasssed a lot of what people made fun of in "dungeons and dragons" type metal.  I admit, I made fun of it, and so did lots of other people, especially in the '90s.  But really, the guys from Soundgarden and Alice In Chains were fans.  The other night, Pearl Jam played a mix tape of Dio, Rainbow and Sabbath after the opening act before they hit the stage. And Mike McCready threw a bit of "Heaven and Hell" into "Alive." It doesn't matter what artists were influenced by him though.  Few metal artists were ever so singular in their vision, so confident in their identity.  Slayer and Motorhead come to mind, very few others.

When Dio reunited with Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Appice a few years ago as Heaven & Hell, I revisted his career, and realized that it is pretty awesome.  And although it took a few years for his musical identity to really coalesce, once it did, he never veered from who and what he was, and for that he deserves respect. Not many people held it down for metal the way he did.  He also had a great sense of humor about it, appearing in videos with Tenacious D (they wrote a tribute/parody called "Dio," but he had a sense of humor and enjoyed it).  He even cameoed in their film.

Dude, you don't have to hand your cape and scepter to anyone. Rock on, Ronnie James Dio.

RONNIE JAMES DIO - GET WELL SOON

I was sorry to hear that legendary heavy metal singer Ronnie James Dio has been diagnosed with cancer. His wife and manager Wendy Dio recently posted to his website that he "aced" his first chemo treatments.

No Expiration readers know that my favorite version of Black Sabbath was the original with Ozzy Osbourne. But the second version with Dio (which now goes by the name Heaven & Hell) was great in their own right. Ronnie also sang in Ritchie Blackmore's post-Deep Purple band, Rainbow, and did some great songs there, espcially "The Man On The Silver Mountain," but also "Long Live Rock and Roll" and "Black Sheep Of The Family."

And, I can't front, the second concert I ever saw was Dio (the first was Rush), and I loved it.  I saw them a total of three times. I also give Ronnie tons of respect for having the good sense of humor to appear in Tenacious D's movie. Anyway, I hope he "slays this dragon," gets well soon and starts rocking again with Dio and Heaven & Hell.