Who's Killing All the World's Awesome?
OK, I don't want this blog to start looking like an obit column, but I've just got to comment on this. It's starting to look like someone's draining all the awesome out of the world. Just last Monday, I found out about Frank Frazetta, now I start this week by reading that Ronnie James Dio has died? C'mon, guys, whattaya doing to me?!
Dio blew my mind with "Rainbow in the Dark", and I think I played the sides off my copy of "Holy Diver"; it's still a fixture in my playlist after more than 20 years. Then I discovered Rainbow, and tracks like "Man on the Silver Mountain" and "Kill the King" became burned into my mind. Seriously, I can still (badly) sing along with all of those songs. Then I heard "Live Evil", then "Last in Line", then "Intermission"....and on, and on.....
You know, now that I think about it, Dio was really part of my pantheon of music for a long time, right up there with Rob Halford and Bruce Dickinson and a select few others. I've done drawings and paintings based on his work, and it was always required listening in my studio when working on a piece. I remember rocking out to one of his live videos with some good friends in those post-teenage years that I go back to in my memory when I'm feeling nostalgic.
Fortunately, I'm not alone in this. I think Dio carved a place in the collective memory of a couple of generations. So, time to queue up some "Holy Diver", throw a devil horn salute to the sky, and rock out for a while.
Ronnie James Dio: An Appreciation | EW.com
"If you suddenly see
What has happened to me
You should spread the word around
And tell everyone here
That it's perfectly clear
They can sail above it all on what they've found
It cries for you
It's the best that you can do
Like a sound that's everywhere
I can hear it screaming through the air
Long live rock and roll"
Dio blew my mind with "Rainbow in the Dark", and I think I played the sides off my copy of "Holy Diver"; it's still a fixture in my playlist after more than 20 years. Then I discovered Rainbow, and tracks like "Man on the Silver Mountain" and "Kill the King" became burned into my mind. Seriously, I can still (badly) sing along with all of those songs. Then I heard "Live Evil", then "Last in Line", then "Intermission"....and on, and on.....
You know, now that I think about it, Dio was really part of my pantheon of music for a long time, right up there with Rob Halford and Bruce Dickinson and a select few others. I've done drawings and paintings based on his work, and it was always required listening in my studio when working on a piece. I remember rocking out to one of his live videos with some good friends in those post-teenage years that I go back to in my memory when I'm feeling nostalgic.
Fortunately, I'm not alone in this. I think Dio carved a place in the collective memory of a couple of generations. So, time to queue up some "Holy Diver", throw a devil horn salute to the sky, and rock out for a while.
Ronnie James Dio: An Appreciation | EW.com
"If you suddenly see
What has happened to me
You should spread the word around
And tell everyone here
That it's perfectly clear
They can sail above it all on what they've found
It cries for you
It's the best that you can do
Like a sound that's everywhere
I can hear it screaming through the air
Long live rock and roll"
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1 comment:
I'm envisioning Frank Frazetta in heaven painting the cover for Dio's first afterlife album... no doubt with guest appearances by Randy Rhoads, Bon Scott, Phil Lynott, John Bonham, Kevin Dubrow... You Know They've Got A Hell Of A Band! (But please God, no Kurt Cobain!)
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