Honoring Ronnie James Dio the only way I know how.

I guess you can say I grew up with Ronnie Hames Dio's music. Holy Diver was one of the first cassettes I ever bought at the age of 13. After finding out that it was him with Black Sabbath doing Mob Rules on the movie Heavy Metal I picked up the Mob Rules cassette as well.By the late 80's I had drifted off to other things and hadn't really followed him too closely until the first reunion for Dehumanizer. I was ready for some tracks in the vein of Falling off the Edge of the World or the Sign of the Southern Cross. There really wasn't anything quite as epic on that album but it was still pretty good. I then lost touch with his music for the remainder of the 90's.

It wasn't until recent years that I had started following what I missed in terms of Ronnie's solo career. Then the formation of Heaven and Hell happened and I knew seeing as those guys were as was old as my Dad that I needed to go to that show and capture something I had missed 2 decades prior before it was too late. Now more then ever I'm glad I did. His stage presence was something you will never, ever see again. Polite, well spoken. No cursing or calling the crowd names. Every song was introduced as if you were at a opera and not a metal show with a bow after each song to the crowd.

Recently, shortly after the news of Ronnie's cancer, I had decided to go and pick up the Rainbow albums. There were songs I remembered such as Stargazers that had what I loved best about his songs, the mix of heavy riffs and magic without the cheese of power metal bands. And of course there is Man on the Silver Mountain that still gets radio play.But for some reason I had never owned any of these album. Better late then never I guess.

In closing, I haven't felt this sad about the passing of someone in the music world in a long time. This year in particular has not been kind to members of the hard rock and heavy metal world. What is truly sad about this is it's just the beginning of the end for an era. Over the next 10 years its probably not going to be uncommon for news like this to hit with the advanced ages of quite a few living legends. Thank you Ronnie for the music you created and for being such a big part of my music listening life. You will truly be missed and I hope where ever you are from this mortal world that you have the horns up and the vocals soaring. That Devil Music sends out heartfelt condolences to Wendy and all of Ronnie's family in this time of loss.\m/

Rainbow "Stargazer"


Rainbow "Man on the Silver Mountain"


Black Sabbath "Neon Nights"


Dio "Holy Diver"


Dio "Rainbow in the Dark"


Tenacious D "Kickapoo"


Heaven &Hell/Sabbath "Sign of the Southern Cross


Heaven & Hell "Bible Black"