R.I.P. Ronnie James Dio (1942-2010), Jimmy Bain (1947-2016)
Ronnie James Dio sang with two major acts before striking out on his own, but the success of Holy Diver gave him license to fully unleash his id on The Last in Line. And while the second Dio album was mostly a logical continuation of its predecessor, there was enough randomness generated by the man going all-in on his preoccupations and tics that something like “Breathless”, which began with a simultaneously bluesy and gnarled Vivian Campbell riff before Ronnie barged in with “No No No No No!!!”, stood out in all sorts of ways, not all of them good. The track was a rocker driven by Vinny Appice’s blocky percussion and Jimmy Bain’s bass, with Campbell’s guitar more like window dressing (certainly a point of contention for the increasingly malcontent future Whitesnake and Def Leppard axeman), though of course there was no suppressing the power and passion of Ronnie’s growl, even if one was rarely sure about what he was really going on about. “Breathless” was awesome and ridiculous in equal measure, and nobody would expect anything less from prime Dio.
This is a fitting title for the courtship of music of this genre-bending and blending artist who has no comparisons. He infused rock, rhythm, blues, soul, and his own style to give us a catalog of hits that will stand the test of time.
Let’s be clear - he was the visuals. From chaps to his avant-garde style, no one could sit at the table with him regarding fashion. He was bespoke in his demeanor before he spoke the words of righteousness and activism in his words.
We mourn his departure but celebrate his legacy today. *Plays Adore in the Name of Prince*
Dropping 💜 and rain ☔️ in the comments to symbolize a life well lived.
Halloween. Finally. Anywho I’m a lyricist for my friend Agate-P if you’re into vocaloid or my writing you should listen to our new spooky song Something in my Neck which you can pre-save on Spotify now! If you want a creepy song already out listen to our song (a)pathetic or check out some others! I hope you enjoy we’ve worked really hard on this. Oh and our music is also available on YouTube :)
Helloween’s debut EP was an inadvertent rallying cry for a new movement that, while running in parallel with the rapid development of thrash in America and including many of the same influences, soon became its own thing and has arguably persisted longer than any other subgenre in metal history. But “Warrior” didn’t necessarily signal the birth of power metal: Kai Hansen’s frenzied yelping had little of the precision and soaring glory of Michael Kiske, and the music was just too fast and frantic for anyone to really process what was going on. But Helloween (after a couple years of woodshedding in earlier groups like Iron Fist and Powerfool) was clearly on to something, because “Warrior” was super-fast, ultra-heavy and incredibly catchy in equal measure, and even Metallica wasn’t operating at quite this level (though to be fair they were really on their own level). Most of all, the band’s joy at playing this kind of music was always palpable, as was their hunger, and that made even their most unhinged early material such fun.