R.I.P. Dio

[millz58]

Well goodbye to an early rock-metal icon, Ronnie James Dio (1942-2010), died of stomach cancer yesterday. Claimer of the devil's horn hand gesture (which I had forgotten was a Southern Italian way of giving or warding off the 'evil eye'), the diminutive frontman had a larger-than-life voice, took the driver's seat in Black Sabbath after the departure of Ozzy, and had a more-or-less successful solo career. I fully admit I didn't like him much, but he was influential and was usually surrounded by solid talent. Some of my knuckle-head students still play Holy Diver on the computer, and South Park's rendition of the same Dio song is hilarious.... I had no idea the guy was that old, and that he was more of a rockabilly dude back in the 50's and 60's before forming rock bands Elf and later Rainbow (with Ritchie Blackmore). He certainly had his day with some decent guitarists. Overall he was able to keep metal going through the early MTV years before all of the stupid hair-band-cock-rockers made it suck. I liked the first two Dio albums (Holy Diver, Last in Line) but everything after that kinda sucked IMO.

 

Anyhoo, R.I.P. R.J.D.

 

[millz58]

[millz58]

...the famous clip, which isn't really better than the pic as far as Dio is concerned, is just the Holy Diver song played under a fight scene.

http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/104019/?tag=Principal

[thundercleetz]

HOLY DIVER!!!!!

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For being a tiny man he was a huge voice. He was great.

[Spen]

I know him from the Tenacious D movie, thats all.

[millz58]

I saw Dio back in 2005 (I think?) at Merriweather PP with Iron Maiden and Motorhead. It's really amazing how guys even at those ages can still rock out almost as they did 25 or more years ago. Dio was great that show, even though I was really more interested in the other two bands (who were also great, or at least up to their old standards.) I also saw Slayer a year or so ago (also at MPP) with Marilyn Manson, and shit they were awesome, and I used to hate slayer, but now much later I appreciate them (there were plenty of older guys who even brought their kids), I know a whole mess of teenagers that listen to old slayer and other 80's and 90's metal as well as the more recent genres to come out since the arrivals of Slipknot, System of a Down, etc. I know I'm getting old when these newer bands are covering the same songs I used to really bang to; scary but kinda cool.

 

One of my students again today had "Holy Diver" playing on the school computer, and I asked him if he was playing it as a tribute to the fallen star, and he was like "huh? I dunno, it was just on [the computer]" and I said, "he just died two days ago, stomach cancer" and he just kind of stared and said, "oh, damn... nah, I didn't know". I think he was high as shit.

[millz58]

One of the reasons I've had a problem with Dio is that I'm a huge fan of Ozzy-era Black Sabbath, and I could never stomach the Dio-era Sabbath work (heaven and hell, mob rules, live evil, etc.) even though those albums were extremely successful and loved by all sorts of metal fans. But, just like lots of people can be "classified" by what versions of bands or their works they prefer, say, AC/DC with Scott v. Johnson, Van Halen v. Van Hagar (no contest there IMO), or the "Zeppelin test" (if you dig Led Zeppelin, try comparing and debating your favorite Zep albums and/or songs with another Zeppelin lover, and you'll learn a deeper side of each of you), I've always been Oz-matic and therefore a bit put off by Dio. also, Dio tended to come across as kind of arrogant and artsy, where as Ozzy just seemed like a lost dirtball (more appealing to me), so I found Dio somewhat polarizing and perplexing. The cryptic nature of much of his songs' lyrics also didn't help.

[thundercleetz]

One of my students again today had "Holy Diver" playing on the school computer, and I asked him if he was playing it as a tribute to the fallen star, and he was like "huh? I dunno, it was just on [the computer]" and I said, "he just died two days ago, stomach cancer" and he just kind of stared and said, "oh, damn... nah, I didn't know". I think he was high as shit.

 

Are you sure it wasn't the Killswitch Engage cover?

[Guest BallTMore]

I know him from the Tenacious D movie.

 

Same. But R.I.P.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxxOPvLg7o0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qa7HaqFgWg

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgT0Pmjl8n4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPkiwdHXXFA

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mIFniqqk0c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-KyQ0EMJ3M

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f80Gs-Gw-WY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64coD-rx9sk

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqYrO03RyUs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwMAMDzmQcI

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFyxCf8ZgBw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY97kIh30XI

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgpDDDIo_XE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vABtNXuNZt8

 

Dio was a great singer. His voice was so crisp. He anounciated his lyrics so you knew exactly what he was saying. Rock on.

 

\m/

[millz58]

Are you sure it wasn't the Killswitch Engage cover?

Yeah, it was Dio. I've heard Killswitch's cover, and I admit it's great and really close to the original, the singer nails the vox, but it's not too hard to tell the two versions apart if you'd grown up listening to the original. BTW on a general note, alot of current bands have done great jobs covering some classic metal lately. It's nice to hear, just makes me feel so old...

[thundercleetz]

Yeah, it was Dio. I've heard Killswitch's cover, and I admit it's great and really close to the original, the singer nails the vox, but it's not too hard to tell the two versions apart if you'd grown up listening to the original. BTW on a general note, alot of current bands have done great jobs covering some classic metal lately. It's nice to hear, just makes me feel so old...

 

The first time I heard Holy Diver it was the Killswitch Engage cover. I had no idea it was a cover of an original song until someone told me so. After going back to listen to the original version, I actually like Dio's version better. Both are great though.

[millz58]

I had no idea it was a cover of an original song until someone told me so.

Holy crap now I feel EVEN OLDER... sike, what I found astounding is that, of the famous Metallica cover songs (like Am I Evil, Blitzkrieg, Breadfan, Last Caress/Green Hell, etc.) most of the songs by the original bands sound at least as good if not better (modulo the differences in time and technology) than metallica's versions. It's just a weird thing about cover tunes, if you know or at least have heard both versions, you have a better perspective. For instance, what about megadeth's version of Cooper's "No More Mr. Nice Guy" on that horrible movie Shocker? Bad movie, but not a bad rendition of the tune. On the other hand, Mustaine's lyrics on "These Boots" ... ugh...