The King of Rock and Roll
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Ronnie James Dio, also known as The King of Rock and Roll, is one of the finest voices of Rock music and one of the pioneering artists of Heavy Metal before it got too hard to discern what the hell the guy is singing about. Ronnie James Dio was born in 1942, but like a woman he lies about his age to pretend that he is younger than he really is. While being a heavy metal superstar, Dio lives in a pretty decent house and probably has a couple of million dollars. Ronnie James Dio's solo vehicle, Dio, uses repetitive lyrics using the words "wheel", "dragon", "diamonds", and "Rainbow" in almost all of his songs. With these beautiful words, he conveys uselessly medieval, good versus evil, and usually self-promoting lyrics. Most Dio albums usually include one or two incredible songs, and a bunch of unimaginable garbage behind them. One could only imagine what a Dio B-side is like.
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[edit] Before Dio
Before Dio really started rocking, he really rocked out for such rocking bands such as Ronnie Dio and the Red Caps, The Electric Elves, Elf, Rainbow, and Black Sabbath. While dio rocked unbelievably, the rockin' really did not start yet though Dio did earn the distinctive status as Black Sabbath's second best singer ever, behind Ozzy Osbourne and ahead of rapper Ice T.
[edit] Holy Diver
Since Dio and fellow paisan Vinny Appice decided they wanted to make more money, they made their own band. Ronnie James Dio called the band "Dio" after its most important member. Dio recruited guitar hero Vivian Campbell in order to created a heavy metal all-star team. Dio's first release, Holy Diver (1983) had kick-ass songs including the title song, Rainbow in the Dark, and Stand Up and Shout. Unexpectedly, Rainbow in the Dark became the band's most popular song at the time due to its gratuitous use of keyboards. Despite this, the band is still most remembered for their title song Holy Diver. (Which was shortly played in the South Park episode "Hooked on Monkey Phonics".)
[edit] We Rock
Since the 42 or whatever the hell old he was Ronnie James Dio made some green making Holy Diver, he released his second album The Last in Line (1984). The Last in Line had many kickass songs including the title song, We Rock, Mystery, and Egypt. In this album, Dio tried to start to push his band towards the Hair-Metal direction by keeping the brainless rock anthem in-tact (We Rock) and creating cross-over ballad Mystery which was intended for gratuitous airplay. Ronnie James Dio also asserted that videogames create your own personal hell in the music video for The Last In Line.
[edit] The King of Rock and Roll
After two decently successful albums, Ronnie James Dio pulled out all the stops by proclaiming himself to be The King of Rock and Roll. With yet another brainless anthem opening a Dio album, Dio's Sacred Heart (1985) became Dio's most successful album. It included kickass songs such as King of Rock and Roll, the title song, Hungry for Heaven, and Rock and Roll Children. King of Rock and Roll was a rocker about Elvis Presley being a rebel, and Dio and yourself naturally being his successor. Hungry for Heaven though was a largely unoriginal song, being an obvious composite of The Who's Teenage Wasteland and Dio's own song Mystery. The gem in this album would be Rock and Roll Children, a classic rock styled song with guitar theatrics and Ronnie James Dio's always powerful voice. The legacy of this song would live on as Ronnie James Dio's official website sells baby T-shirts with the text "Rock and Roll Children" on them.
By the end of 1985, Dio and most other well-known American Heavy Metal bands created the song We're Stars in order to promote themselves within the lyrics and to raise a million dollars for African children. At this time, Ronnie James Dio was heavy metal's top superstar edging out real Heavy Metal bands like Queensryche, Twisted Sister, Quiet Riot, and The Cult.
[edit] Running with the Wolfpack
Since Ronnie James Dio already used up all of the ideas he ever had, Dio's last commercially successul album Dream Evil (1987) was released. Despite this album being being less hard in order to attempt to blend in with Hair Metal, it had a trio of kickass songs like the title song, I Could Have Been a Dreamer, and All the Fools Sailed Away. The lyrics in this album are very self-promoting and even predict his own commerical demise. In I Could Have Been a Dreamer, Dio blames his commercial direction because he was merely "running with the wolf-pack" and how he could have been a super-duper star in Rock. In All the Fools Sailed Away, Ronnie James Dio created an immensely dark and evil sounding power ballad in order to prove he was not just a sell-out. However, this song was a power ballad, whose dark lyrics claimed Dio needed a miracle and would go away and stuff if you did not buy more Dream Evil albums. Dream Evil was Dio's second most successful album, but Dio was nearing fifty years old and was no longer commercially viable.
[edit] Dio guts Dio, gets bunch of bums to play for Dio
Three years later in 1990, Dio gutted his band and recruited AC/DC replacement drummer Simon Wright to push Dio in a more classic rock direction. As a result, Dio released Lock Up the Wolves. Dio would try to replicate an older Black Sabbath sound in their 1990 and 1994 releases. The only music video for this album would be the "Wild One", another brainless rocker. In this song, Dio claims that you are a rebel and stuff and that no one understands you but him. By buying Dio albums, you give the middle finger to authority.
[edit] Dio: Computer God
Since Dio needed more money because his wife Wendy Dio likes nice things, he re-united with Tony Iommi and fellow paisan Vinny Appice for a Black Sabbath reunion. As a result, instead of Dio's usually "Killing the Dragon and the spinning wheel sucks ass" lyrics he had a new set of contempt for humanity lyrics. Black Sabbath's Dehumanizer is described by internet fans as "Godly" and "really awesome Dio rocks". Dehumanizer contained four kickass songs including TV Crimes, Computer God, I, and Master of Insanity. Ten seconds of the song Time Machine were also used in the awful movie Wayne's World, causing American fans to have two versions of the same song on just one copy of Dehumanizer. TV Crimes started a trend of Dio vs. religious dudes songs and Computer God was obviously written after Ronnie James Dio watched both Terminator movies. After Ronnie James Dio refused to open for rival Ozzy Osbourne, the Mob Rules lineup disbanded.
[edit] Dio Gets Washed Up
After this Ronnie James Dio's life got really boring. Dio released the crappy Strange Highways and the god awful Industrial Metal Angry Machines in 1996. By 1996, Dio's brainless rocker was called Institutional Man. By 2000, Dio released the awful comeback album Magica. In 2002, Dio made his true comeback with Killing the Dragon. With two kickass songs, including the title song and Push, Dio was able to give his spare change to Tenacious D. After this, 2004's Master of the Moon which has the brainless rocker One More for the Road which is not too bad.
Right now Ronnie James Dio and fellow paisan Vinny Appice have reunited with Black Sabbath again to created a Heaven and Hell band. They still play Computer God today.
By now, Dio must be 80 years old or something.
[edit] Dio Singles
- Dio + youtube = you rockin' out
- Holy Diver (1983)
- Rainbow in the Dark (1983)
- We Rock (1984) (Only live versions available)
- The Last In Line (1984)
- Mystery (1984)
- Sacred Heart (1985) (Only live versions available)
- The King of Rock and Roll (1985)
- Hungry for Heaven (1985)
- Rock and Roll Children (1985)
- We're Stars (1985)
- I Could Have Been a Dreamer (1987)
- All the Fools Sailed Away (1987)
- Wild One (1990)
- Computer God (1992) (Fan Made Video)
- TV Crimes (1992)
- Push (2002)
[edit] See Also
- Murray: The Mascot of Dio
- Youtube: Look up Dio's kickass songs on youtube.
- Amazon.com: Buy a used Beast of Dio CD and your life will be improved.
