Ronnie James Dio
Who Are The Top 20 Metal Bands Of All Time?
Depends who you ask and how they define who is metal or just hard rock. For example, many agree that Metalica, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest are metal, but KISS, AC/DC and Guns N’ Roses are not metal.
That is how the authors of the new book ‘The Merciless Book of Metal Lists‘ see it in one of several indexes they compiled for this release set for April 9, 2013 by Abrams Image.
Howie Abrams and Sacha Jenkins’ book features numerous compilations of bests (songs, guitarists, album covers featuring goats) and worsts (embarrassing metal videos, metal fashion faux pas’).
80’s metal fans will also surely appreciate unconventional lists such as: ’10 Reasons Why EVERYONE Loves Slayer’s ‘Reign In Blood” and ’10 Accomplishments Iron Maiden Would Never Have Achieved had Paul Di’Anno Remained Their Singer’.
One of the lists sure to spark some debate is ’20 of the Greatest Metal Voices.’ They nailed the top three (my opinion) and Queensryche’s Geoff Tate certainly deserves a top five appearance:
1. Ronnie James Dio (Black Sabbath, Dio)
2. Rob Halford (Judas Priest)
3. Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden)
4. Eric Adams (Manowar)
5. Geoff Tate (Queensrÿche)
6. King Diamond (Mercyful Fate, King Diamond)
7. Tom Araya (Slayer)
8. John Bush (Armored Saint/Anthrax)
9. James Hetfield (Metallica)
10. Max Cavalera (Sepultura, Soulfly)
In an interview with the New York Times, Abrams said Dio was the unanimous choice for the top spot because he had a virtuosity that set him far apart from other top metal vocalists.
“If he needed to apply darkness, he could do it,” said Abrams. “If he needed to belt and go to a higher range, he could. He replaced Ozzy Osbourne in Black Sabbath, and I’m not sure there was a taller task for a vocalist. He did it with ease and grace, and he may have improved on what Oz did in the first place.”
‘The Merciless Book of Metal Lists’ is a fun read. I especially enjoyed viewing the artwork from ‘200 Embarrassingly Bad Album Covers’… Anthrax took the top two spots with ‘State of Euphoria’ and number one ‘Fistful of Metal.’
Blabbermouth.net: Former DIO and current DEF LEPPARD guitarist Vivian Campbell revealed in April 2012 that he is planning to join forces with three other original DIO members to play “some gigs” that will see the musicians performing material from the early DIO records that Campbell appeared on. Dubbed LAST IN LINE, Campbell, Vinny Appice (drums), Jimmy Bain (bass) and Claude Schnell (keyboards) will be accompanied by singer Andrew Freeman, who has previously fronted HURRICANE and LYNCH MOB.
LAST IN LINE resumed rehearsing in December and is scheduled to have another rehearsal session tonight. Vivian says: “It sounds amazing; the original band’s energy is incredible and Andy Freeman kills it on vocals. This is gonna be so good!”
According to Campbell, the following songs, among others, are being rehearsed for LAST IN LINE’s upcoming live show:
* “Holy Diver”
* “Stand Up And Shout”
* “Don’t Talk To Strangers”
* “Last In Line”
* “Caught In The Middle”
* “Straight Through The Heart”
* “We Rock”
* “Egypt”
* “Invisible”
* “Shame On The Night”
METAL SHOP Rocks was once again in attendance for the announcement of the 2012 Revolver Golden Gods Awards at The Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, California. This will be the fourth year of the award show and it will take place on April 11, 2012 at Club Nokia.
The Golden Gods will be broadcast live for the first time on X Box Live and will also be streaming live on Revolver Magazine’s Facebook page. Marilyn Manson, Slash, Black Veil Brides, Evanescence and Sixx AM featuring Motley Crue’s Nikki Sixx will be preforming live and Gene Simmons of Kiss will receive this year’s Golden God Award.
Today’s press conference also announced that the Grammy museum will have The History of Heavy Metal Exhibit and Wendy Dio, wife of the late, great Ronnie James Dio presented the museum with the original handwritten lyrics of Holy Diver. Let’s just hope they get it right. We all know what the Grammy Awards have done to metal music in the past (Jethro Tull).
Special guest list for today was:
- Alice Cooper
- Zakk Wylde (Ozzy and BLS)
- Vinny Paul ( Pantera)
- Vinny Appice (Dio and H&H)
- James Micheal (SIXX AM)
- Chris Jericho (Fozzy)
- Wendy Dio
- Mike Portnoy (Ex Dream Theater)
Looking forward to the actual award show in April… in the meantime Click Here for the nominees an cast your vote. Below are a few photos of the presser. Special thanks to Joe at Rogers and Cowan for making this happen! Enjoy. -Ralph.
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IRON MAIDEN and OZZY OSBOURNE lead the pack with multiple nominations at this year’s Revolver Golden Gods Awards, set to take place April 20, 2011 at Club Nokia in Los Angeles.
Ozzy and Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson are up for Best Vocalist and both band’s guitarists and drummer, respectively, are nominated.
Iron Maiden and MEGADETH are up for Best Live Band and ACCEPT for Comeback of the Year.
The 2011 “Golden God Award” will be presented to ALICE COOPER, while THE RONNIE JAMES DIO LIFETIME ACHEIVEMENT AWARD will go to MOTLEY CRUE. The original Alice Cooper Band line-up will perform for the first time in 40 years.
Here are the nominees for all categories:
Epiphone Best Guitarist(s)
• John 5 (ROB ZOMBIE)
• Dan Donegan (DISTURBED)
• Gus G. (OZZY OSBOURNE, FIREWIND)
• Synyster Gates and Zacky Vengeance (AVENGED SEVENFOLD)
• Janick Gers, Dave Murray, and Adrian Smith (IRON MAIDEN)
• Alexi Laiho (CHILDREN OF BODOM)
Drum Workshop Best Drummer
• Tommy Clufetos (OZZY OSBOURNE)
• Abe Cunningham (DEFTONES)
• Joey Jordison (ROB ZOMBIE)
• Roy Mayorga (STONE SOUR)
• Nicko McBrain (IRON MAIDEN)
• Mike Portnoy (Ex-DREAM THEATER, AVENGED SEVENFOLD)
Best Vocalist
• Glenn Danzig (DANZIG)
• Bruce Dickinson (IRON MAIDEN)
• Chino Moreno (DEFTONES)
• Ozzy Osbourne (OZZY OSBOURNE)
• M. Shadows (AVENGED SEVENFOLD)
• Corey Taylor (STONE SOUR)
Affliction Album of the Year
• AVENGED SEVENFOLD, “Nightmare”
• BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, “Order of the Black”
• DEFTONES, “Diamond Eyes”
• OZZY OSBOURNE, “Scream”
• STONE SOUR, “Audio Secrecy”
• VOLBEAT, “Beyond Hell/Above Heaven”
Samson Zoom Best Live Band
• AVENGED SEVENFOLD
• GWAR
• IRON MAIDEN
• MEGADETH
• RAMMSTEIN
• SEVENDUST
Most Metal Athlete
• Chris Cole (pro skateboarding)
• Dan Hardy (MMA fighting)
• Toni Lydman (NHL)
• The Miz (WWE wrestling)
• Jeremy Shockey (NFL football)
• Mike Vallely (pro skateboarding)
Best New Band
• ASKING ALEXANDRIA
• BLACK VEIL BRIDES
• THE DAMNED THINGS
• THE PRETTY RECKLESS
• TIMES OF GRACE
• WE ARE THE FALLEN
Eagle Rock Comeback of the Year
• ACCEPT
• FAITH NO MORE
• MURDERDOLLS
• A PERFECT CIRCLE
• SOUNDGARDEN
• SYSTEM OF A DOWN
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The double-disc set “Dio At Donington UK: Live 1983 & 1987” will be released in November.
The first disc was recorded at the first-ever U.K. performance by Dio’s solo group, while on tour supporting their classic debut, “Holy Diver”. And the setlist does a superb job reflecting DIO’s debut (featuring such classics as “Rainbow in the Dark”, “Stand Up And Shout”, etc.), as well as classics from both RAINBOW and BLACK SABBATH (“Man on the Silver Mountain”, “Heaven and Hell”, etc.) — resulting in a thoroughretrospective of Dio’s career, from RAINBOW to BLACK SABBATH to solo hits.
The second disc of “Dio At Donington UK: Live 1983 & 1987” features guitarist Craig Goldy’s debut — recorded in 1987, in support of the “Dream Evil” album, and contains highlights from Dio’s career.
The first disc represents “a new, young band coming out of the box,” Wendy Dio tells RollingStone.com, “and then the [second disc] is a more seasoned band.”
In 1982, disagreements over the mixing of Black Sabbath’s ‘Live Evil’ resulted in the departure of Ronnie James Dio and Vinny Appice from the band. Wanting to continue together, the two formed DIO later that year. R.J.D. said in an interview available on the special edition re-release of Holy Diver, that he never intended to begin a solo career. His intention was to form a new band with Appice. Naming the band Dio made sense from a commercial standpoint, as the name was already well-known at that time.
Did you know that ‘Dio’ in Italian means “God?”
It’s a sad day for heavy metal. May 16th, 2010, Ronnie James Dio passed away.
Needless to say I am totally bummed right now. I heard the news Saturday night, then heard it wasn’t true… held out hope, but feared the worst since he was diagnosed with stomach cancer last summer.
Ronnie James Dio, Dead at 67. You will be missed. Rest In Peace.
