Ronnie James Dio has passed away

[Hanyou]

Ronnie James Dio, metal legend and possible inventor of metal's trademark "devil horns," died of stomach cancer today.



This is a huge loss for metal, and music, fans everywhere. I wish his family the best. He was one of my favorite vocalists of all time, and a one-of-a-kind musical genius. He'll be rocking the great beyond now...

Post your favorite Dio/ Black Sabbath songs here, too. His band's flagship song:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64coD-rx9sk[/youtube]

Also, another favorite, "Last in Line": []

And my number one favorite Dio song, "Lock up the Wolves," which I've posted at these forums before: []

I also found out about his death from Rocco of Mega64, in this slightly lighthearted video: []

I think I remember there being a few metal fans here...hope so, at least. I consider this to be on-par with Johnny Cash's death; this man wrote pure metal without relying on shock tactics. It's just good music, perhaps the definitive example of its genre.

[spoiler]This is purely personal opinion, but in the age of shallow pop acts like Lady Gaga and, on the other side of the spectrum, "metal" that consists of screaming about rape and murder, I find myself returning to Dio's work frequently to remind myself about what real music sounds like. It's nice to hear actual singing and a good, heavy melody that doesn't destroy your eardrums.[/spoiler]

[Vapour Trail]

"You watch their faces
You'll see the traces
Of the things they want to be
But only we can see

They come for killing
They leave and still it seems
The cloud that's left behind
Oh, can penetrate your mind

But sail on, sing a song, carry on
Cause We Rock, We Rock, We Rock, We Rock"

GENIUS! Oh, wait...

I'm not happy to hear that he passed away, but that dude was far from brilliant. He had a good range as a vocalist, but his music and lyrics were about as insipid as what you'd find in most modern music (according to you, at any rate. I think your view of music is skewed to the point of zealotry, but whatever.)

[Hanyou]