Goodbye, Dio

Today the world lost the greatest voice to ever grace heavy metal: Ronnie James Dio. If this loss was not sad enough, he was claimed by stomach cancer. At 67 years of age, this rock icon remained active with his solo project, and also with Heaven and Hell (Black Sabbath renamed). In fact, Heaven and Hell were to do a summer tour this year. I won't go into his life's history or anything like that; that is why we have Wikipedia. However, I did want to pay some tribute to his contributions to rock and metal by presenting three videos.

The first is a song that really made him famous. He was the first front man for the band Rainbow. The songs that get the most airplay (even to this day) are "Since You Been Gone" and this song, "Man on the Silver Mountain". This video is from the mid 70s, so the sound isn't super great, but you get the idea. Oh, and fast forward to the 56 second mark. There is a terribly boring guitar solo leading up to the song (I know, it is weird to hear me say that):



Next is a song from his days with Black Sabbath (Now Heaven and Hell). This is the title track to the first (Dio) Sabbath album, and where they got their new name. This is called "Heaven and Hell". This video was shot in 1980:



Finally, this song is from his solo project, Dio, and I selected this one as opposed to "Rainbow in the Dark" or "Holy Diver" because I thought it would be more appropriate for this occasion. Almost every song he penned (including the last one you heard) was about the struggle of good versus evil. In the end, good always prevailed. In this video, you will also be treated to the handiwork guitar virtuoso Vivian Campbell (now with Def Leppard). This song is called, "Hungry for Heaven":



Rest in peace, RJD. You will be missed.