Ronnie James Dio is, if not God himself, then at least a minor diety.

[RandomKoolzip]

After avoiding the man's work for my entire life, I'm finally giving post-Ozzy Sabbath a chance, and to my surprise....IT'S GOOD STUFF!

Sure, his vibrato gets annoying, and he comes up with lines like "Lady Evil/She's a magical mystical woman..." but I'm starting to appreciate his sheer Metal Godness-to-the-point-of-parody shtick. After all, after listening for hours of Clear Channel hip hop and soft rock, It's almost refreshingly "bad-ass" in comparison. And the band is TIGHT!

I feel so weird admitting this....

[vi5]

1. I have for decades now maintained this....

And especially given Ozzy's full on descent into pathetic self-parody I now officially say without hesitation that Sabbath's work with Dio at the vocal helm stands among their finest work.

His first 3 solo albums are nothing to sneeze at either.

[RandomKoolzip]

4. He doesn't have the knack for melody that Ozzy had, but....

He's got his own "aura" that I'm starting to get into. In fact, with Dio on the mic, they almost sound like Iron Maiden without the galloping tempos.

I'm listening to "Heaven and Hell" right now, and NOT laughing my ass off. What is this new feeling coming over me.....?

[Beetwasher]

2. In High School

There was a stretch of a few months when "Holy Diver" never left my turntable (yeah that should date me)...

[GOPisEvil]

3. I wore out a cassette of Holy Diver...

...the one gathering dust in my apartment is its replacement. :o

[meegbear]

5. Heaven and Hell is AWESOME!

Didn't care for Mob Rules. But his solo work AND his work with Rainbow rocks.

[RandomKoolzip]

6. Yeah, I'm probably gonna go pick up some used Rainbow with Dio...

seriously! I've been getting a new appreciation for REAL Metal recently...I think I'm hungering for all things "ROCK" right now, beacuse you never hear it anymore. When it was all over MTV and the radio, it was annoying, but now that it's gone...well, let's just say that in comparison to the current msuic on the airwaves, it's fuckin' GOLDEN.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

9. Yeah, I've been getting back to the source lately

man those Franciscan monks rock, what with their plainsong, chanting and all.

[dolo amber]

13. Dude....f'real....

you're starting to scare me...:scared:




"Holy Diver...You've been down too long in the midnight sea, Oh what's becoming of me..."

:P

[Screaming Lord Byron]

17. Oh, it starts with Dio, but before you know it you're listening to.....

KING DIAMOND!!!!!!

[RandomKoolzip]

19. So, Dio is the "gateway drug?"

If so, bring on the Testament and Savatage, I can take it...and I can quit any time I want!

[Screaming Lord Byron]

20. Uh huh? Say, is that a copy of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons?

and what's this...a framed poster of Lita Ford? It's time for an intervention, buddy. It's for your own good!
(reaches for Kraftwerk box set)

[RandomKoolzip]

22. I do coke so I can work longer so I can get more money so I can do more

coke so I can work longer so I can get more money so I can do more coke so I can work longer......I learned it fom watching you! (reference is to a famous American anti-drug ad from the eighties...)


Okay, time for some Pere Ubu....Ahhhh, fresh air and clean livin': the best high there is!

[RandomKoolzip]

18. No, seriously...

I've always had a deep and abiding love for seventies Metal, and Sabbath in particular....But I could never STAND Dio. Today I just bought a copy of Heaven and Hell on cassette (for 50 cents!) and I'm digging it....It's not GbV, or even early Sab, but so what? I realize it's not hip, but something doesn't have to be hip to be good.

I like ALL kinds of music.

[jus_the_facts]

25. Catch The Rainbow is awesome..but Rainbow with Joe Lynn Turner.....

...I fell in love with :o

[RandomKoolzip]

31. When I was a kid that cover used to scare the hell out of me...

I remember seeing that and the cover of "Blackout" by the Scorpions at Caldor when I was six or seven...and being very frightened! I love the font they use for their name on that cover...

[jus_the_facts]

33. This one always messed with MY head.....

:evilfrown:

[jus_the_facts]

34. oooops....

...double post x(

[RandomKoolzip]

35. AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, I remember that one too, unfortunately...Nightmare fuel! That cover beats anything Cannibal Corpse could ever dream up, IMHO....

[jus_the_facts]

36. double post again....

...see it IS evil! :eyes:

[jus_the_facts]

37. this was on the wall of a friends room...freaked me OUT in there....

....too much :smoke: and black lights! :D

[jus_the_facts]

38. damn straight....still freaks me out.....

*heebie jeebies* :scared:

[RandomKoolzip]

39. Freaks you out so much you multiple post? ;^)

Just kidding!

I'd hate to have to look at that stoned. I'd make my friend get an incandescent light and turn the poster around and draw a cat or something on the blank side. That's just me though!

[jus_the_facts]

40. I swear I've never had this problem before....

...that thing is evil dammit :D

[jus_the_facts]

41. once again..

:wow:

[Whitacre D_WI]

27. Rainbow "On Stage" is one of my favorite live albums ever.

I shit you not. The version of "Kill the King" is magnificent.

[RandomKoolzip]

28. No kidding!

That's cool...I always get the live albums first, for some reason...I got Thin Lizzy's Live one first, before getting into all their other music, same thing with Deep Purple....I guess it's because they're the longest records those artists put out (ususally doubles, with big gatefolds and posters and stuff...)

I'm gonna check out "On Stage."

Next I'm gonna investigate UFO.


PS: this is all coming from an avowed indie rocker, so this stuff is kind of a new world for me. When you've been brought up on Sonic Youth and Flipper and Bad Brains and Kleenex and Lydia Lunch, suddenly finding yourself grooving to Ritchie Blackmore is sorta disconcerting!

[reprehensor]

7. DIO is GOD

Literally the Italian translation.

I got to meet him during an autograph session a few years 'after the fame' and he was very humble, down-to-earth and cool.

Dehumanizer is a suprisingly good Sabbath album as well.

[-..__...]

32. Bzzzzzzzzzt... wrong answer!

Lemmy is God! (didn't you see "Airheads"?)

Chazz: Who'd win in a wrestling match, Lemmy or God?
Chris Moore: Lemmy. (Rex imitates a game show buzzer) ...God?
Rex: Wrong, dickhead, trick question. Lemmy IS God.

[Redneck Socialist]

8. His work with Sabbath was...

...what drew me into the band to begin with. It was only later that I came to appreciate the Oz man's stuff.

[Braden]

10. he's from my hometown which is kind of cool

I listened to metal back in high school so it was cool to learn that Dio was from Portsmouth originally.

But I havent listened to metal in years so I will defer to you on the deification!

[Drifter]

11. I believe he grew up ...

in Cortland NY (30 minutes south of Syracuse where I grew up). We always thought it was cool that someone SO BIG (ie Black Sabbath), could be from a such small town near by.

He has a great voice.

Cheers
Drifter

[mmm]

12. this is a band best forgotten

how about 'spider hopping' Vivian Campbell
(did he ever learn any chords? did he ever learn how
to use a plectrum?)
and how about that wife-beating satan-worshipping
Ronnie James Dio (what more can I say?)
this band is best forgotten

[bicentennial_baby]

14. Holy Diver

I publicly admit my secret love for Dio.

[underpants]

15. Your sauce will mix with ours, And we'll make a good goulash baby.

Dio Lyrics

Dio has rocked for a long, long time,
Now it's time for him to pass the torch.
He has songs of wildebeests and angels,
He has soared on the wings of a demon.

It's time to pass the torch,
You're too old to rock, no more rockin' for you.
We're takin' you to a home,
But we will sing a song about you.

And we will make sure that you're very well taken care of.
You'll tell us secrets that you've learned. Raow!
Your sauce will mix with ours,
And we'll make a good goulash baby.
Dio, time to go!
You must give your cape and scepter to me.
And a smaller one for KG.
Go! Go! Dio! Dio!

[Kat45]

16. I can't stand such bombastic singing.

"Sure, his vibrato gets annoying, "

To me, his voice doesn't *get* annoying; it annoys me from the first note. Sure, he can sing, but what good is it when it's so grating on my ears to listen to him.

Edited to add: BTW, I love your picture of Frank.

[RandomKoolzip]

21. I had a friend in high school whose favorite band was Iron Maiden...

And I used to listen to Maiden with him, and think, jeez, if they just didn't have that tight-pantsed opera cock on vocals I could really dig these guys....I still resent Bruce Dickinson for preventing me from appreciating the finer points of Maiden. Vibrato, when used too much, is just...oooh, It makes my skin draw away from the bone.

Thus, my long-standing aversion to Dio: the mile-wide vibrato.

But when the radio is clogged with singers who all sound like Eddie Vedder coming on to a ten-year-old, and all the indie singers sound like total mama's boys, I can start hearing that METAL!!! style of singing as a new, bizarre approach, almost avant-garde. It's like back a few years ago, when all the indie kids started embracing Prog rock, beacuse it truly IS such fucked-sounding music. And I can appreciate the band unironically, too.

[Kat45]

29. Ah, Maiden: another bombastic singer I couldn't stand...

Funny thing is, Bruce Dickinson did some stuff in the nineties (I think the band was Skunkworks) in which he didn't use that singing style, and I thought he sounded pretty good. I was a little bummed when I was assigned to interview him because I always hated his vocals, so I was pleasantly surprised to actually like what he had out at the time. Too bad he didn't sing like that more often.

I agree with you on the indie singers. I tend to prefer the hard rock singers: Steven Tyler, David Coverdale, Brian Johnson, Bon Scott.

[RandomKoolzip]

30. Yeah, no kidding. If the American Analog Set got Bon Scott on vox...

I'd be WAY more into it. That's always been my problem with 78% of all indie rock: the vocals are SO weak, usually whispered or whined...which is why Guided by Voices are my favorite band (a singer who PROJECTS and ROCKS!) Too bad the music underneath is so cool. All these indie singers seem to pattern their vocals on Steven Malkmus, Thurston Moore or Kim Gordon when they ought to be studying the singing styles of Peter Gabriel, Ronnie Van Zandt, and Glenn Danzig.

Same problem with Maiden: great music underneath, terrible voice on top.

[jus_the_facts]

23. Mob Rules....Heaven and Hell...Live Evil...I got 'em...Born Again too....

....with Ian Gillan. It's all good....but nobody is better than OZZY! :evilgrin:

[MrSlayer]

24. Halford is the Metal God but Dio rips as well.

I find him to be more than a little corny but his vocal power cannot be denied. Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, Holy Diver, and Last in Line are all pretty good albums.

[Nlighten1]

26. RJD is one of my heroes.

I have to admit that some of his music can be almost "formulaic" at times but his writing ability is other-worldly.