Reflections On Dio

While heavy metal has proven itself to be alive and well as the 21st century enters it’s second decade, with both veterans like Tom G Warrior and his Triptykon project and Gary Holt’s rejuvenated Exodus releasing belting records along with newcomers like Mutiny Within and Aeternam, the world of rock and metal has lost three rather large names in the space of six months. Jimmy Sullivan, Pete Steele and now Ronnie James Dio have all left us since Christmas, and as ever, human tragedy provokes reflection. Two things have been running through my mind since I heard the terrible news of Dio’s death on Sunday night beyond the obvious sadness at the loss of a legend of the music I love.

I’m sure everyone has now read 150 different accounts of the life and brilliance of Ronnie James, and I have no intention of adding my own- mainly because there are a few too many people I feel will do Dio more justice than myself, and I don’t want to seem like I’m entering a “who can say the most nice things” competition. Dio was a complete fucking legend, and deserves better than third-rate hacks stumbling inarticulately across a keyboard as a tribute. We all want to make it clear how much we all loved and respected Dio for his music, but personally I feel more comfortable leaving his obituaries to those who know what they are doing.

What I do want to draw attention to, as the metal world comes to terms with losing one of its icons, is the human tragedy at the heart of it all. I may have felt like utter shit when I read the statement on Blabbermouth confirming the awful rumours that had been flying around the internet all day, but the first line of that most painful of reads was the most important. In case you haven’t read it, or have forgotten it, Wendy said “my heart is broken”. As bollocks as I felt last night, it’s absolutely nothing compared to what Wendy is going through.

Because we, metal and rock fans as a group, tend to throw ourselves into our music and immerse our whole lives in it, whenever one of the leading lights dies, we feel it personally. Whether it be the immense sadness we all feel and express in our own way over the recent deaths of Dio or Pete Steele or the almost hysterical outpouring of grief displayed in 1994 when Kurt Cobain died, the genuine sense of loss is undeniable. What we must not forget is the immeasurable horror the bereaved are going through. While I may not be a particular fan of Avenged Sevenfold, I was truly saddened to hear of Jimmy Sullivan’s death just before the turn of the year- not because of any personal attachment I felt to the man known as The Rev, but because of what his friends and family- and of course, the band themselves, some of whom had known him since childhood- must be going through.

We tend to feel that our heroes somehow belong to us, and in a way they do. I don’t want anyone to think for one second I am somehow criticising or cheapening the emotions many of us are feeling- I’d be a massive fucking hypocrite if I were doing so, as I was practically speechless when I heard the news last night. I tried listening to Holy Diver but found it rather hard, and switched to The Devil You Know, the last record to bear that wonderful voice, as it did not have the same kind of deep, long-standing bond. I was cut-up myself. I would just like everyone to spare a thought for those nearest and dearest to Dio, and to Pete Steele, Jimmy Sullivan, Mike Alexander and anyone else from our world that has died in recent months.

The one thing that has genuinely pissed me off about some of the reactions I have read is the sight of a few total fucktarded wank-stains wishing it had been Ozzy Osbourne rather than Dio. You utter cunts. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone, not even people I genuinely hate. I wish Dio was still alive, I wish he’d never even got cancer and that Heaven & Hell were still going to headline Bloodstock and blow the crowd away like we all know Messrs Dio, Iommi, Butler and Appice would have done had this tragedy not taken place. I would not wish anyone else to suffer this fate in Dio’s place. The suggestion that one of the men responsible for the birth of heavy metal would a better candidate for an untimely death to a vile disease is repugnant. If you’ve even thought that, would you kindly fuck off and not speak… ever. If you can’t say anything that isn’t utterly twattish, don’t say anything at all. I wanted Dio to outlive me, but I don’t want anyone else’s family to be going through what the family of the little fella with the big voice is currently suffering. If you do, be ashamed. If you wish that on the family of the man who sang ‘War Pigs’ and ‘Mr. Crowley’, doubly so.

It was on listening to some of Dio’s finest moments, played by one metal DJ who extended his normal radio show for as long as people wanted to hear Dio songs (Sabbath, Rainbow, Elf, Dio, Heaven & Hell or anything else people could think of), that I reflected on what a stunning voice Dio had, and what a fine musician he was. The variety of the material that DJ had to play- by the way, you know who you are, and you have my immense respect for what you did on Sunday night- and the sheer length of time for which Dio was completely fucking fantastic reminded me how important it is to recognise and appreciate the great talents of our world while we can.

Without doubt, Ronnie James Dio was one of the greatest and most influential vocalists we’ve ever had in metal. As an unashamed fan of power metal, men like Dio are hugely important to the genesis of some of my favourite bands. Without people like Dio, Rob Halford and Bruce Dickenson, we probably would not have Michael Kiske on Keeper Of The Seven Keys, Timo Kotipelto on Visions or Russell Allen on Paradise Lost. Dio had already knocked metal on it’s arse with Heaven And Hell and Holy Diver before any of those records came out, and did it once again after they were all released with The Devil You Know- he may have been hugely important, but wasn’t content with being a heritage musician and, at the age of 67, delivered one of his finest performances in a fifty-plus year career.

With that level of achievement, it is right we hold him in the highest regard. But we must never let our respect and love for what has come before stop us from appreciating what is being done right fucking now, or it might suddenly be gone and we will be left kicking ourselves. It might be easy to think that the younger bands currently at the forefront of their generations musical output have decades left in them. History has shown this is not something to take for granted. In 1986 Metallica has just released Master Of Puppets and seemed only capable of getting better. In 2003, Darrel Abbott was one of the kings of shred and we all thought we would have many more opportunities to see him prove it, both live and on record. When I was forced to miss the Saturday of last year’s Sonisphere, I consoled myself with the thought that there would be more opportunities to see Anthrax with John Bush and Heaven & Hell. Yet Cliff Burton, Dimebag and Ronnie James Dio were all dead within a year of those thoughts, and Joey Belladonna is now back in Anthrax while John Bush must now focus on Armored Saint.

We need to treasure the bands we have now who are doing great things. Who knows how much longer Slipknot will keep going, or when age will creep up on Slayer and force them into retirement from touring. Viatrophy seemed like a band capable of being one of the finest to come out of the UK in a long time, yet their permanent demise is imminent. If, in ten years time, Lamb Of God have jacked it all in and become, in hindsight, one of the highest rated bands of all time, those pillocks who write them off as a Pantera rip-off will be feeling monumentally tit-like at not having subscribed to the “carpe diem” philosophy.

The death of Dio should serve as a reminder to all of us that, while it is absolutely right that we recognise the greats that got us to this point, we have to appreciate what we have, while we have it.

None of us can predict the future- so make sure you take advantage of what the present has to offer.