Chances are you've heard of Ronnie James Dio and you don't like him. Or you've never heard of him. No, no, he's not a US past president. That would be Ronald Reagan. Dio was a metal rock firebrand; a champion and a leading light in a rock music genre that's been variously labelled as medieval, classical, doom, trash, suicidal, dragon, gothic, demonic, you name it.
One look at some of his song titles and album covers and you know why: the devil you know, live evil, the temple of the king, kill the king, voodoo, killing the dragon, dream evil, heaven and hell. With Dio, it's kill, kill, kill. He died yesterday (Sunday) morning, 16 May 2010, succumbing to stomach cancer, at 67. Tributes from fellow doomers are still pouring in.
It's inevitable that Dio and his dark offerings have had an unfair share of bashings and brickbats. Much of what has been levelled at Dio by the mindless music critics is nothing more than misguided diatribes. There's plenty of clarity, consistency and understated artistry in his musical direction. Unlike some of his metal brethren, he remained faithful to his roots till the end.
His brand of beautiful noise won't please your average neighbours, but there's a steadfast and unwavering niche and cult following that would mourn his passing. I'm not ashamed to admit that I listen to Dio. I mean his music, not his satanic verses.
My first Dio experience was way back in 1975, in the deep, dark days of college and classes. Ritchie Blackmore, Deep Purple's vagabond frontman, had split to form a new act called Rainbow, and he roped in Dio to provide the vocals. You should listen to him screaming, wailing and rousing above Blackmore's catchy licks, with speed and muscle far beyond his meagre body mass. 'The temple of the king' stormed the Malaysian music scene with its melodic and mellifluous strains that remained iconic until today. But my favourite was the more obscure and innocuous 'Self Portrait', with Dio powering forth ".....Hey, hey, hey, there's only the devil to pay". Pure and sheer Dio!
Over the years my music taste has wandered a bit, mellowing and ageing towards the mainstream crowd (Boz Scaggs, Ahmad Jais haha), probably the brunt of pandering to bosses of diverse leadership genres, from the easy-listening type to the head-banging variety. Dio and his vocals had since migrated to Black Sabbath and later to solo acts and lesser-known collaborations. But it's doom and devil all the way. No mellowing, no middling for Dio. Before his death, he'd been busy with live gigs, fronting a brand new metal lineup. He named it 'Heaven and Hell'. Well, we wouldn't have expected him to name it the Singing Nuns.
My plan was to end my tribute here, but a casual reading of a Dio trivia left me pondering life's little quirks. He had actually studied pharmacy in early 60's. Good thing that he didn't graduate. Imagine your hypertension medications dispensed by a devil-worshipper. Dio actually did his pharmacy stint at a university in Buffalo, New York. Nothing macabre about this except that I went to the same university twenty years later. We're both Buffalo alumni!
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