Friday Night Music--All Dio Edition

On this rainy Friday, I figured we'd venture back to the testosterone-filled days of my youth where it was cool (at least to me) to head bang and wear nothing but concert shirts every single day. Among the bands I was into back then was Triumph, Rush and The Man: Ronnie James Dio.

Dio had a voice that remains the most-powerful in music. He could reach notes that were absolutely bone shattering and it came from the diaphragm of a man who stood maybe 5' 3" on a bad hair day. A Dio concert was an interesting place where a teenage boy could see shit he had never even imagined while the crowd was giving the devils horns hand sign of which Dio is credited with popularizing while with another of metal's immortals: Black Sabbath.

Let's start with what was one of Dio's best: Rainbow in the Dark. A video that really has nothing to do with the song but hey, that was MTV back in it's early days before when they actually played videos instead of the garbage on there at present. Note the 1.7-million views:




Here's a live version that shows his voice was not enhanced.

During Dio's Rainbow days with Ritchie Blackmore, he recorded the epic Man on the Silver Mountain. Below is an awesome live version from an unknown date with a Blackmore guitar solo. Dio quit because Blackmore wanted to go mainstream and Dio didn't. Roger Glover seems to enjoy grooving to this Joe Lynn Turner-sung mainstream hit. Blackmore still kicked ass at this point and does until this day:




Here's another Blackmore-led group, Deep Purple, that re-formed in the 80's and put out the excellent Perfect Strangers LP (yes, LP), the link leads to the title tune with Ian Gillan in good form.

Finally, the song that was a huge success and propelled Dio into the metal hierarchy. It scared the shit out many parents (mine included I'm sure) and got a whole gaggle of American kids banging their collective heads. The Last in Line: