Attention Deficit Delirium

The heavy metal and rock worlds lost a living legend yesterday when Ronnie James Dio — frontman for Black Sabbath, Heaven & Hell, Rainbow, Elf and his own band Dio — passed away after a brave battle with stomach cancer at age 67. The news has already sent shockwaves of grief throughout the metal world and touched the mainstream as well.

I was fortunate enough to have met Ronnie on a few occasions — either in interview mode or at a meet and greet (including a Sam Ash appearance in NYC last summer) — and he was always polite, thoughtful and without the attitude that people associate with famous entertainers. I have never heard anyone say a bad word about him.

Rather than write a standard obituary or pontificate on his contributions to music, I thought I’d let other writers’ words help paint the picture of a metal icon who transformed heavy rock, defied and transcended the stereotype of the spoiled rock star and who made personal connections with so many people whose paths he crossed. He was a gentleman, a rocker and a dreamer whose distinct voice and lyrical musings left an indelible impression on his followers throughout the world.


TIM HENDERSON, President/CEO of Brave Words and Bloody Knuckles/BWBK.com: “I’m holding back the tears. He was incredible human being on record and in person. I can’t believe he’s gone – he seemed immortal. His music and memory will live forever.”



DAVID GLESSNER, music journalist: “A true legend and perhaps the most gracious man I’ve ever met in a business that’s driven by ego. His music is a staple of my library and all of heavy metal. I’m saddened even more knowing he was a true gent and an absolute pleasure. Kim and I were lucky enough to enjoy his one-on-one hospitality backstage a couple years ago. He signed all my albums and couldn’t have possibly been any kinder. He spent 30 minutes alone with us wanting to know all about us and thanking me for the interview I did for San Antonio Express-News — still one of my all time faves in an endless portfolio. His legacy will live forever. One of the greatest metal singers of all time! A sad day. RIP RJD.”


DAN EPSTEIN, Managing Editor, ShockHound.com: “I only interviewed him once – when he severed his thumb in a bizarre gardening accident a few years back – but I was struck by how humble and self-effacing he was, and what a great sense of humor he had about himself. I was also struck by how much he sounded — over the phone, at least — like Jerry Stiller. He truly rocked on every level.



GAIL FLUG, music journalist: “I can’t remember the first time I met Ronnie; maybe 1985, when I was working as the Metal Editor at CMJ. Word got through to his office that I owned one of those early singles from his ‘crooning’ days, so when I asked him to sign it he took me into a private room, signed it ‘why me’ and said if I played it for anyone he would ‘hunt me down and kill me’. (In the days before the Internet, his past and his age were kept guarded, and to this day I keep it safe and tucked away in my collection.) Of course, a joke, but this was the first of countless chats, interviews and time spent with him through my jobs in journalism and radio. Everything you heard about him is true – a genuine guy whose heart was just as big as his voice. The fact that I’m shorter than him was always a means for a laugh. I mourn him not just for creating music which enriched my life, but for the man who played a major role in my life personally as well as professionally. I am still numb, but comforted that the last time I saw him, I hugged him goodbye, told him I loved him and he responded the same.”


BRIAN GROSS, president, BSG PR: “I interviewed Ronnie on the phone in 1994, from my dorm room at Northern Arizona University. The interview was 2 1/2 hours [over] three tapes and two missed classes. He told me everything I wanted to know, and more. Months later, I return to L.A. and go see him perform at The Ventura Theater, and upon approaching him after the show, he not only recalls the interview, but begins to ask me questions about myself, school and so on. He treated me like an old friend. I cherish his music so much. I am deeply saddened.”



JEFF KENT, music journalist: “In January of 2000 our first child was born. In March of 2000 I sat down to interview one of the legendary voices in metal, Ronnie James Dio. I told him right away not to be offended if I fell asleep on the table because I hadn’t been getting much sleep due to the baby. He smiled warmly and asked how everything was going at home. He seemed genuinely interested to hear about the birth and concerned about the few basic complications that followed. After getting down to the business at hand, discussing the Magica record, we talked a little bit about how he felt about doing press and interviews. He admitted that it wasn’t his favorite thing to do, but it was part of his job. One of the things that really impressed me was that he always referred to me by name. I can’t think of anyone else I interviewed who did that. As we were wrapping up we got into a little New York versus L.A. ‘argument’ which ended with Ronnie inviting me to come visit him at his house to show me the ‘real L.A.’ I never took him up on it sadly, but I get the feeling if I had showed up at his door he would have greeted me with open arms and by name. Just to further bolster his standing as one of the nicest guys in metal in music or in life, he ended by saying, “Jeff, go home and be with your new son.”


CHRISTA TITUS, music journalist: “While I never followed Dio’s music like I have with other metal acts, I always admired his talent and knew that his iconic stature in metal was well-deserved. The bands he left his mark on — including Black Sabbath, Rainbow, Dio, Heaven and Hell — and the thousands of musicians and fans who are paying him tribute attest to his gifts as an artist and his great spirit as a human being. He made music that touched several generations, and it will live on for many more. His presence in the world at large — and metal especially — will be greatly missed. He has left enormous shoes to fill.”



MARTIN POPOFF, author of biographies on Rainbow, Black Sabbath and Dio: “Heavy metal has just lost its king, Ronnie James Dio. Sure, there will be more famous figures in hard rock that will pass, and the mainstream media will write about it and get it slightly wrong. But metalheads pride themselves on sussing out who is authentic, hard-working, pure of heart, creative and just the best to hang out with in any headbanging situation. And that was Ronnie. Despite his unparalleled legacy, he was one of us, a headbanger.

One quick fond memory of many: I remember being backstage with Metal Tim Henderson quite a time ago, one of the first times I met Ronnie, and through he comes, there he is right in front of us. A quick few words later, he’s off, and Tim and I just look at each other stunned and say, ‘OK, did Ronnie James Dio just ask us if we had every thing we needed, and could he go get us a beer?!?’ It’s a little thing, but that was Ronnie. Time and time again after that, he made you feel like we were all in this together, the subconscious undercurrent being that we were all warriors defending a maligned music and given that we were all part of this embattled army, we had to treat each other with respect.

But as Henry Rollins would say, it’s the work. Once Ronnie had worked his way through 45s in the late ’50s and the Electric Elves and Elf, well, he bound onto the metal scene and never stopped impressing a demanding heavy metal audience; yes, with his down-to-earth, upstate New York kindness but also with his regal voice, authoritative songcraft and lyrics of comfort for the misfit and downtrodden. Indeed, in terms of material, rock-solid legacy, when all is said and done, I think most studiers of the form would agree that Ronnie was instrumental, alive and in command through no less than six of the most classic and timeless heavy metal albums of all time, namely Rising, Long Live Rock ‘n Roll, Heaven And Hell, Mob Rules, Holy Diver and The Last In Line. And happy, hard-working, taking-nothing-for-granted Italian that he was, in between all that, Ronnie built a fortress of a catalog that proved time and time again that he was heavy metal tried and true, earnest in forging quality metal with messages of sympathy and empathy being the life-rich bonus between the grooves. I have to chuckle about how being heavy was rarely something he felt he had to, ahem, trumpet. If you brought it up, he’d toss off with a laugh, something about not wanting to make wimpy music. But the thing with Ronnie, action spoke louder than his always gracious words — he just kept building a brick and mortar bunker of weighty, anchored metal, and kept doing it until he was stricken. Teenager through to 67, the work ethic and more spectacularly, that roaring golden voice, never wavered.

Like I say, there will be more famous hard rockers taken from us, but no more famous a metalhead. Ronnie’s loss, in our — in his — community, is as big and as crushing as it gets, and this huge void is felt both because of the man’s accomplishments and because of his unanimously beloved stature in the eyes of the entire metal community.”



In the late Robert Altman’s satirical film The Player, Hollywood executive Larry Levy proposes that his studio can save money on hiring writers by developing scripts themselves, tearing ideas right from front page newspaper headlines. To which the film’s anti-hero, fellow executive and competitor Griffin Mill, retorts: “I was just thinking what an interesting concept it is to eliminate the writer from the artistic process. If we could just get rid of these actors and directors, maybe we’ve got something here.”

That same wisecrack can now be applied to lead singers — after all, who needs someone with a famous face to deliver the words? With the near departure of vocalist Steven Tyler from Aerosmith on the eve of their 40th anniversary, his bandmates immediately began contemplating who might take his place. That seemed like a rather hasty move, but then again this is a group that is in middle age and would not have years to wait for their frontman to decide to return. And these days famed rock gods, particularly vocalists, are becoming more replaceable than ever, something rarely heard of twenty or more years ago.

Replacing famous singers is not without precedent. When Bon Scott died, AC/DC brought in an equally distinct but different screecher in Brian Johnson, and they became huge. That’s a rare exception, but there are others. After Peter Gabriel departed Genesis, the British art-rockers soldiered on with drummer Phil Collins as frontman (so to speak), but he did make them more commercially viable and generated bigger hits. (For true progressive music fans, though, that was heresy.) Sammy Hagar’s turn in Van Halen allowed them to go more pop as well (not that everyone liked that). Hagar was also a star in his right when he joined VH, but lightning did not strike twice for them after he left their ranks. Remember the Gary Cherone era? Further, Ronnie James Dio kept Black Sabbath successful for two albums (and subsequent reunions) after they fired Ozzy Osbourne in 1979, and their music remained as hard and heavy as ever, even today under their new moniker Heaven & Hell. Dio also gained fame previously fronting Rainbow.

My friend Eric Vitoulis went to see Journey three years ago at Jones Beach Theater on Long Island. Prior to the show it was announced that former Yngwie Malmsteen vocalist Jeff Scott Soto would be filling in for Steve Augieri, who was having vocal problems that soon lead to his departure after eight years with the group. A woman in front of Eric turned to her friend and said, “Steve Perry’s not here?” (Not since 1996, my dear.) That ironic statement is proof that many fairweather fans — i.e. the casual listeners who turn musicians  into platinum hit machines — do not really pay all that much attention to the lives of the artists they listen to. It’s what I call the “Rock Of Ages syndrome”. The opening night crowd for that Broadway hit were true ’80s fanatics, right down to their attire, while a subsequent audience months later was mainly comprised of suburbanites, many of whom clearly do not often listen to the songs that were performed nor always remember who performed what. But they love the nostalgia and kitsch factors that Rock Of Ages represents.

There are many Journey fans who would vehemently argue that no one could fill Steve Perry’s legendary shoes. Yet three vocalists have since, and the latest one, Filipino native Arnel Pineda, has helped boost their careers once again, both in terms of album and concert ticket sales. Journey are admittedly an anomaly, a beloved institution who do not seem to get sidelined for long due to limited warranties on replacment singers, two of whom have purposely sounded very close to Perry. Conversely, when revered metal bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Motley Crue, Ratt and Black Sabbath replaced famous frontmen who left — in Sabbath’s case there were two — fans did not respond as well. They were still there but in diminished numbers. More commercial bands like Foreigner, Styx and others seem to be able to pull this off a little better. Queen certainly made it be known that they were not attempting to diminish or tarnish the legacy of the late Freddie Mercury by bringing in former Bad Company and Free singer Paul Rodgers, and fans responded favorably. They also performed songs by Rodgers’ previous groups to hammer home their point that they were Queen + Paul Rodgers, rather than with. Similarly, ’90s rockers Alice In Chains have soldiered on with William DuVall as original frontman Layne Staley died of a drug overdose in 2002. Like Journey did last year with their platinum Revelation, AIC’s latest album Black Gives Way To Blue hit #5 on the Billboard charts.

Could anyone truly replace Steven Tyler in Aerosmith? Of course not. When guitarist Joe Perry was gone from the band between 1979 and 1984, the group experienced a dip in popularity. Imagine what would happen with a Tyler-less line-up? Plus he has always been the singer. Groups that have experienced downtime between singers often were going through a quiet phase (the ’90s comes to mind for many) and were a little younger when it happened and thus have been able to cope with such a transition better. A decade after the departure of original frontman and songwriter Dennis DeYoung, Styx has persevered with vocalist Lawrence Gowan. Guitarist Mick Jones has been the lone original member of Foreigner since singer Lou Gramm departed in 2003, and they had been the two lone original members for years prior. And Perry hasn’t been in Journey since 1996, nor performed live with them since 1987. (And who knows when he’ll reemerge publicly.)

We should not begrudge a group that wishes to continue once a famous member, usually the frontman, departs. This is their livelihood. They deserve to make a living. And there are people who still want to hear the music, regardless of who sings it, as long as they’re good. The irony that the aforementioned Journey follower did not even know who she would be listening to onstage may be ironic — some casual KISS fans probably do not know that Ace Frehley and Peter Criss are long gone — but the upside of this situation shows how some fans really just want to hear the music. Purists will certainly argue that point and are certainly free not to attend the shows or buy the new albums. In terms of replacing iconic singers, the cliché business concept “what the market will bear” comes to mind — even if some people think the results are unbearable.

It’s amazing to think that the members of Heaven & Hell — singer Ronnie James Dio, guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Vinny Appice — have each been in the music business for at least 35 years. And it’s also impressive to think that for a group who have actually only spent seven of the last 30 years together that they have created a stronger impact than far longer running bands and kept fans coming back for more. Sure, they were the second incarnation of Black Sabbath, but there are never guarantees that any famous group that changes its lead singer will prosper. This roster blossomed and thrived together, even if for short periods, and became a big part of heavy metal history.

On Wednesday,  the day after Heaven & Hell’s blistering set at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, hundreds of reverent fans waited outside of Sam Ash Music on West 48th Street in New York to meet the quartet and get albums and photos signed. One of them, Phillip Baker — known as the “Rock N Roll Painter” to many — conjured up an impressive black and white portrait of the group (pictured at left) while waiting in line. He later got it autographed by all of the band members.

I grew up during the Eighties, so I expected to see fans ranging in age from mid-thirties to mid-fifties waiting in the long line winding down the street. But what surprised me was the number of young fans — many teenagers, and one of them literally five years of age — anxious to meet these metal icons. Inside the store Dio lifted up the tiny tot and gave him a big hug. Hopefully that kid will remember that when he’s all grown up and an adult headbanger. It was also refreshing to hear one teenage fan respectfully call Geezer by his proper first name, Terence.

Events like this make me further appreciate the position I am in as a journalist. I often get thirty minutes to an hour to chat with my subjects. Most fans get to meet them for a minute. This time I was in the position of being a fan. I was able to quickly say hello to the four H&H members just prior to fans entering the store, and it was a chance to get something special signed and snap a photo for posterity. I actually have connected with the members of Heaven and Hell on numerous occasions over the last decade. I have interviewed Iommi twice in person (for Ink 19 and Metal Edge) and twice on the phone, and I conducted an interview with Dio over dinner ten years ago. I also chatted extensively with all of them last year for my liner notes to the reissued Mob Rules (included in the Rules of Hell box set) and for a Goldmine magazine cover story. I finally got Mob Rules signed yesterday.

Public meet and greets with classic metal bands are rare these days, and Dio, Iommi, Butler and Appice tried to sign as much as they could within the 100-minute span that they had. Butler’s nephew Pedro Howse, who plays guitar for his uncle in GZR, stood nearby during the proceedings. (Pedro tells me a new GZR album may be in the works.) Beyond the current tour, Iommi will be keeping busy in a new way. Many fans know that four Black Sabbath movies are being planned by reality TV producer Mike Fleiss, and that the guitarist will score them. Don’t fret, fear fans — I hear they’ll be serious horror films. They will not, however, be based on any Sabbath songs.

Overall, the event went well, the band was in good spirits and fans, many not even born when Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules were released, got to connect with metal royalty. Here’s hoping that Heaven & Hell return to the New York area soon.

(All photos ©2009 by Bryan Reesman.)