An epic voice has been silenced forever, but to our great fortune his music will always be with us.  The whole idea that Ronnie James Dio lost his fight to stomach cancer is crazy.  If there was ever a Warrior to be reckoned with it’s Ronnie “Fuckin’” Dio.  The man started scrapping it out with his band Elf in the late sixties, which was later absorbed into Richie Blackmore’s Rainbow.  With Rainbow, Dio came into his own helping to write songs like “Man On The Silver Mountain”, “Kill The King”, “Long Live Rock N Roll”.  From there he took on what seemed like the  impossible  task of following Ozzy Osbourne as lead singer for Black Sabbath.  This resulted in not only one of the greatest Heavy Metal albums of all time, but one of the greatest Albums of all time, “Heaven And Hell”.  In my opinion his finest song writing too.  One of the best lines ever comes from the title track:

“The world is full of Kings and Queens

Who blind your eyes and steal your dreams

It’s heaven and hell”

The concert film from that time, “Black And Blue” captures one of Ronnie’s best performances.  Though he feels Black Sabbath got the short end of the stick from the management they shared with Blue Oyster Cult, the show is amazing.  It’s during this show he explains the “Devil Horns” sign which he later attributed to his Italian grandmother.

His fascination with medieval imagery and myth was obvious, but these words transcend any genre.  His interest in all things Dungeons and Dragons led to many parodies and ironic t-shirts worn by shithead emo kids who mocked his famous “Devil-Horns” hand gesture and diminutive height.  Most of those bands are mosquitos caught in the armpit in the chain-male of Ronnie James Dio.

His epic voice was described as operatic but also contained a fiery rage.  Not a psychotic or murderous rage, but one of defiance. Dio’s whole vibe was, believe in yourself and tell everyone else to fuck off.  Songs like ”Last In Line”, “Stand Up And Shout”, and ”We Rock” let us know it was our duty to rail against our detractors and keep focus on what we thought was right.

His live shows were uplifting experiences.  Metal Motivational Rallies.  Fists in the air with thousands screaming along.  Ronnie would accent his lyrics with a beckoning gesture and a commanding point.  A menacing Gargoyle shooting a withering glance at all those who dare defy him.  Despite being 5’4″, he was towering on stage, using his entire body to get his message across.  I remember seeing Dio kick into “Push” at the Palladium in Worcester, and Ronnie spinning the mic stand at what looked like 500 rpms, laughing and just loving the moment.  More recently with Heaven And Hell his voice was still strong despite being in his 60′s.  His presence on stage still riveting.  That’s what makes his death so sad.  He was still doing it and doing it well.  In the interview below from 2006, he mentions quitting if his performance was lacking.  He said he wouldn’t want to embarrass himself or his band.  He never did.  The persona and music he created became such a standard in hard rock that it eventually became cliche when others attempted to copy it.  But he never became a cliche himself regarding the Rock N Roll Lifestyle.  When you went to see Dio, you knew you were getting your money’s worth and more.

In this interview he dispensed great wisdom on survival in the business of rock n roll and spoke proudly of his accomplishments.  In the three time I interviewed Dio he was always gracious and thorough.  You will probably hear those words as well as “Professional”, “Kind”, “inspirational”, and “amazing” as the tributes pour in.

Ronnie James Dio Interview:

http://hosted-media.podzinger.com/waaf/archive/Mike_Hsu/2010-05-17_Ronnie_James_Dio.mp3