Black Sabbath - Born Again

Born Again was Black Sabbath’s third (or forth) attempt at rejuvenating the Black Sabbath moniker with a new lead vocalist, this time featuring former Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillian.

The pairing sounds great on paper, but Born Again is proof that lightning does not strike twice-even when the men in the clouds are responsible for two of the most important hard rock bands in history.

Born Again begins with “Trashed,” another one of Gillian’s “shit that happened while we were recording the album” lyrics (see the much, much better “Smoke On The Water”). Tony Iommi shows signs of Side One/Track One fatigue (typically, his shinning moment) by lifting an almost identical riff to “Neon Nights,” the first song of Dio's tenure.

“Trashed” details an incident where Gillian arrived to the Manor Studios drunk, took Bill Ward’s car and crashed it on a closed go cart track on the grounds. Before you start laughing that he wrecked the thing on a fucking go cart track, add to your visuals the sight of said car exploding into flames as Gillian walked from the wreckage.

The close encounter with death didn’t seem to impact Gillian, who uses the lessons he learned from the incident to "thank Mr. Miracle" (this is a Black Sabbath album, after all, no thanking the Lord) and getting back to some additional inebriation.

The prose was captured on a napkin, including this intriguing couplet:

"Went back to the bar and hit the bottle again but there was no tequila
And started on the whiskey just to steady our brains ‘cuz there was no tequila.”

Evidently, Gillian was too drunk to realize that he ended one line with the exact same one he just finished.

“Trashed,” by the way, is the best song on Born Again.

When you’re faced with a brush with death, the next thing you do is follow up the song with a song about Stonehenge.

Much has been said about the pointless instrumental track “Stonehenge” and how it inspired the infamous Stonehenge stage set in Spinal Tap, but nobody seems to point out how the other instrumental track “The Dark” features a guest appearance by Chewbacca.

“Disturbing The Priest” addresses an incident where Sabbath received a bunch of complaints by a neighborhood priest while practicing at their rehearsal space. It features Gillian endlessly cackling and wailing "disturbing the prieeeeestyeaaaahhhh" repeatedly while Iommi struggles to find a riff to work with. It’s as if everyone had a good laugh coming up with the song title, but nobody thought about finishing the tune.

That’s a good representation of Born Again, a record devoid of any memorable tunes, riffs, or lyrics. It is an embarrassment to everyone involved and it suggests that all parties involved must immediately forfeit their rights from ever using the name Black Sabbath or Deep Purple again. It is the work of grown men acting like monkeys with Born Again a metaphoric turd being thrown at anyone who bought a ticket to this ammonia scented zoo.

The album artwork has correctly been singled out as one of the worst covers in the history recorded music, but the reality is that it is nothing compared to the horrorshow found on the music inside.

Black Sabbath - Never Say Die!

Things had gotten so bad for Black Sabbath during Technical Ecstasy that the members of the band had decided to replace Ozzy with the singer of Savoy Brown.

Black Sabbath’s management (Sharon’s dad) suddenly realized “Who the fuck is Savoy Brown?” and, in an effort to save their famous client, pleaded to the band to call up Ozzy and reconcile.

While the band agreed, Osbourne proved to be just as unreliable as before, telling the band that he would resume his role in Black Sabbath while having nothing to do with any of the material they may have began with his replacement vocalist.

He also advised them that he had no material of his own to provide them.

The end result is the ironically titled Never Say Die! A hodgepodge collection of spliced together song bits, questionable new musical directions and a general malaise that seemed to take hold of every member that showed up to record the proceedings.

Generally dismissed by Sabbath fans, I revisited the album as the 2013 reunion tour’s imagery utilized much of the same visual concepts of this record, while completely avoiding any of Never Say Die’s material on stage.

Is it different than any other Sabbath record? Definitely. Was this difference a result of the band’s ambivalence towards their management’s demands to shit out another record? Absolutely.

But unlistenable? Hardly.

Never Say Die! Features a very compelling display of the band throwing ideas against the wall…any idea…just so they could get to the 40 minute mark and call it a day.

Further, the band found themselves booked in a Canadian studio in the dead of winter (cheaper rates) with a dead drum room and dead ambitions.

It eerily resembles the same decision that fictional group Spinal Tap undertook when lead guitarist Nigel Tuffnel left due to “creative differences.” Like the Tap’s foray into a new direction (“Jazz Trilogy”), Sabbath hired Don Airey to tinkle some ivories, let Iommi fart around with a few jazz chords and even did the unthinkable by tapping Wil Malone to help out with arranging a brass section for “Breakout.”

The new direction and panic makes for a record that is unlike anything else in the band’s catalog, to the point that drummer Bill Ward admits “All the songs are history now” on Never Say Die’s closing track, “Swinging The Chain.”

You read correctly, Bill Ward ends the proceedings with another track that Ozzy refused to sing.

It actually begins with a rollicking  title track that ranks as good as anything else in the band’s material, and there’s at least two other tracks that will satisfy most fans of Sabbath’s early material.

It’s the controversial mellow cuts like “Air Dance” and the other keyboard-laden titles like “Johnny Blade” that remain divisive among loyal headbangers-and these tracks do require an open mind.

For a record that sounds so tempestuous on paper and so schizophrenic on the playback head, Never Say Die! can be a fascinating glimpse into what Sabbath could have sounded like had they followed some of the new directions they tentatively touched upon.

This isn’t to suggest these would have been good directions, just different.

It has aged remarkably well and is, at least, on par with another dinosaur act that experienced a similar creative dry-sell: Led Zeppelin and their final offering In Through The Out Door.

Bill Ward seemed to foreshadow how the record would be received during his vocal take, declaring “We’re sorry that it ended that way” during “Swinging The Chain.” They may have not liked the end result-and the record’s follow-up with new vocalist Ronnie James Dio is unquestionably the best Sabbath album since the locomotive roll of the band’s first four releases.

But despite its obvious flaws and drama-filled back story, Never Say Die! is an overlooked example of how good Black Sabbath could be, even when they were on life support.

Black Sabbath - 13

It’s better than Technical Ecstasy and just as good as Never Say Die!, which begs the point, “Why?”

Indeed, why run the risk of ruining a perfectly fine legacy, particularly when those with a critical ear already know Black Sabbath only managed a pair of required records and a pair of really good ones that probably deserve space in your collection because of their nuanced differences.

Let’s face it, Sabbath was not a very consistent band and the power of their catalog is due to some pretty massive songs, not albums. So to wait over three decades to finally release a collection of new material with Ozzy is a pretty silly idea to begin with, especially when everyone only wants to hear your old stuff anyway.

What’s even stranger is how the band is using the Never Say Die! artwork, almost subliminally suggesting that the reunion tour is somehow just a logical extension of that final tour from ’78.

It almost defeats the purpose by suggesting that 13 is nothing more than a tour souvenir, made even more apparent since Ozzy’s wife/manager couldn’t do the right thing by settling with Bill Ward on what could have been an ideal situation to bring the legacy of Black Sabbath full circle.

The record does not suffer from Bill’s absence, at least musically. Studio drummer Brad Wilk goes nowhere near any rhythms that would have challenged Ward’s role as thronesmith. He provides a fairly pedestrian form of timekeeping, leaving guitarist Tony Iommi and bassist Geezer Butler the role of packing everything down with cement.

Butler also handles 13’s songwriting duties, making Ozzy’s entire role here as nothing more than showing up. Butler takes a hint from Dio’s playbook and pens a collection that’s only half as scary as what he and Iommi conjure up with their instruments.

“End Of The Beginning” is pretty massive, with a Beatlesque bridge that’s to die for (get it?) while lead-off single contains just enough clichés to make it annoying enough to enjoy.

There’s also enough blatant thievery of older Sabbath tracks to make you think you’ve mistakenly put on one of those aforementioned classics, while one of 13’s apparent issues is with its length. With only 8 songs and a total time of 53 minutes, 13 is still two songs too many, a late entry in the running time girth that plagued the compact disc.

It’s also plagued with Rick Rubin’s notorious penchant for brickwalling. The music is so compressed that any of his original claim to bring Sabbath back to their blues rock roots is a sham, just like Rubin’s pointless notion to end 13 with thunder and rain.

Sound effects don’t make a classic Sabbath record, but then again, was anyone even thinking that 13 would qualify as a classic Sabbath record? Of course not. Given all the drama with Bill and Tony’s health scare, I would think that most people were expecting an embarrassing display of Born Again proportions.

13 is not an embarrassing record. It is a heavy metal offering from a pair of elder statesmen and a frontman who has spent more time tarnishing his legacy than adding to it. From that perspective, it’s a record that helps Ozzy more than anyone, as Geezer and Tony were working wonders with Ronnie James Dio during the last years of his life.

They carried a lot of the same intent over to their new/old vocalist and give it as good as a shot as they can at this point in their careers.

So in that regard, 13 is another flawed yet worthy addition to their Ozzy-era catalog, just like it was at the band’s last end of the beginning.

Black Sabbath - Live In Tinley Park Illinois

Black Sabbath

Live at the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre, Tinley Park, IL

August 16, 2013

It’s fitting that the images chosen for Black Sabbath’s 2013 reunion tour are the same ones used for the band’s last studio album with Ozzy Osbourne as the iconic frontman. The album was the disastrous Never Say Die!, and the musical content of that mistake from ’78 is wisely absent from the set list the band is working from now. (edited to reflect that I just re-listened to Never Say Die! and....kind of like it :)

The cover art is from the minds at the legendary art design group, Hipgnosis, and the title, of course, continues to apply to these elderly Englishmen, one of whom is conspicuously absent from the proceedings.

More on that later, but if the core creative trio from this Birmingham quartet are in place, then you have a reunion tour that doesn’t necessarily need to have an asterisk by the logo, particularly when it already has a © by it already, thanks to Ozzy’s wife.

If Sharon Osbourne’s tactics at presenting drummer Bill Ward with an offer that the 65 year-old percussionist could not live with are an indication of her strong negotiating skills, then consider who she has given the illustrious opening slot for this potentially final tour of these metal titans:

Andrew WK.

He doesn’t perform. He plays metal songs. Presumably from a turntable and providing no real historical relevance to the event or any remixes for the audience that had gathered. He does not he display any actual talents as a DJ. He just stands there, plays a song, and says “Get ready for the greatest heavy metal band in history” when his set time has expired.

Then, they remove his dj pedestal and play music for another 15 minutes until Sabbath finally comes on stage.

What. Is. The. Point.

The point is, Sharon Osbourne doesn’t have the passion of music inside of her, so she cannot squeeze the pocketbook open a little bit more to allow Bill Ward a spot behind the drum throne or to splurge for a legitimate opening band, preferably one with obvious ties to Sabbath’s influence.

I happen to think Soundgarden would be ideal for this gig.

Instead, she taps Andrew WK to go out, play a few records-like we wouldn’t have been doing already in the parking lot, if it weren’t for First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre’s security staff, who spend every moment before showtime herding up the stragglers trying to cop a buzz before getting reamed for $12 beers inside the venue.

If you’re keeping track, that price is up $3 from last summer.

This isn’t all about revenue. This is the potential to deliver to the most loyal fans in music a show that would resonate for generations. Instead, we get a fellow fan-essentially a lucky bastard with a fleeting recording career-with the enviable gig of getting to on stage and play records before a Black Sabbath show. There is no interaction between Andrew WK and the crowd. There is only music leading up to more pre-recorded music and a huge taste of disappointment to anyone who understands how epic this show could have been.

Leave it to the three Black Sabbath members who were present  to try and valiantly destroy the earthen mound off of First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre’s facilities. Perhaps the band wanted to give the large crowd a chance to remember nothing more than the destructive sludge of Sabbath’s might, which would suggest that the evening’s proceedings may have been the last opportunity Chicago would have to see this closet-thing-to-the-original-line-up-as-you’re going to see.

Ozzy has hinted that he’d like to do it all over again, this time with Bill coming, but that silly Prince of Darkness should know better than to speak without Sharon’s approval.

“Hello?” asked a familiar voice from the behind speakers and black curtain, hinting that the show was about to start. Ozzy blurted out a few more “Cuckoo! Cuckoo!” gags. Suddenly, red lights began flashing and air sirens announced the arrival of “War Pigs,” as massive as any anti-war song Bob Dylan penned, with half as many verses.

For the next two hours, Black Sabbath delivered a set that was as heavy as anything walking the planet at the moment, and as uplifting as any arena show should be. The band pulled three tracks from their latest 13, which is down from the 4 songs they began the tour with and still probably 1 song too many. If it were me, I would leave the opener “End Of The Beginning” on the merits of its title and subject matter, and “God Is Dead” since it seemed to keep the fan’s interest.

You always begin to consider what songs they would have left on the list if it wasn’t taken up by a new track, and I don’t quite understand why “Sweet Leaf” was excluded, particularly since the band included a “Sweet Leaf” t-shirt at the merch table ($45).

It’s obvious that Ozzy no longer has the ability to hit the notes necessary to make tracks like “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” a contender for consideration, but what they did include was an impressive mixture of deep album tracks for fans (“Into The Void,” “Under The Sun/Everything Comes And Goes,” “Behind The Wall Of Sleep”) and selections that confirm the band’s undeniable catalog of Metal 101 (“Black Sabbath,” “Iron Man,” “Fairies Wear Boots”).

It says, "Repeat chorus two times."

It’s also obvious that Ozzy has been reduced to a caricature of his former self, mindlessly yelling things like “Make some fucking noise, you fuckers!” and “I can’t fucking hear you!” over and over, at least with twice the frequency that he’s done in year’s past.

He also continues to do battle with his monitors, occasionally giving stern looks off stage when trouble arises while seeming to be oblivious to his own issues of being able to hit the correct notes during “Dirty Women.” Never mind the fact that he also requires the use of a teleprompter to recall the same lyrics he’s been singing for four decades now.

Touring drummer Tommy Clufetos is no Bill Ward, but then again, I’m confident that Ward could not match the power of Clufetos’ performance on Friday night. This isn’t to suggest that Clufetos is a better drummer than Ward (especially when Bill was in his prime), but he is definitely a drummer who recognizes that he only needs to give Iommi exclamation points and not layer his fills over an already perfect riff.

I did not see the band this man hit his kit with anything less than a shoulder-high down stroke for the entire set. With every crack of his drums he played like he was personally nailing shut Bill Ward’s doors and windows so he wouldn’t be able to come back to the band, even he wanted to. His solo stuck out like an obvious relief moment for the rest of the band, as they quickly exited the stage after a quick “Rat Salad” to freshen up, hydrate, and probably in the case of Osbourne, receive oxygen.

Raise your fist and yell!...Oops, wrong tour.

It was an impressive solo, if not about 8 minutes too long. The band may have needed that extra few minutes, but the drum solo rule of “No more than 10 minutes in length if you’re not named Neil Peart or performing for a drum clinic” needed to be followed, even if Clufetos performed at a level higher than most rock drummers could achieve.

Leave it to bassist Geezer Butler and the Grandfather of all metal riffs, Tony Iommi, to deliver enough girth to the proceedings to qualify the tour as a must-see event.  Iommi looks great, and more importantly, played with impeccable precision. Smiles came often from his side of the stage, and the band has clearly given him free reign to embellish on his solos, pushing the length of each song to an average of six or seven minutes in length. There are no complaints about this either as nearly everyone in attendance found themselves nodding their heads in unison with Iommi’s massive rhythms.

Smile! We've gone 36 months without suing each other!

Butler, the man responsible for much of the words scrolling across Osbourne’s monitors, also contributed to an endless array of finger-plucking that safely secured the band’s low end. Geezer has all but admitted that the real “geezer” is the fact that he may not be able to play like this for much longer, while his work on Friday evening suggests that he continues to deliver a relentless growl. He is an underappreciated bassist that only seems to be recognized as an other-worldly player because of his encroaching age. The reality is that Geezer has been a master for quite some time now, it’s just taken a few decades for that fact to sink in among the uninitiated.

With everything that could go with this tour and for as much unnecessary drama the backstory provides, Black Sabbath appears to be providing a legitimate glimpse into why this band is so vital to our musical landscape. Except for the temp-status skinsman Clufetos (kudos to him for attempting to channel the “caveman” era Bill Ward look), the median age for these veterans is sixty-five fucking years old. There is no way a band that old can still sound this heavy.

They were so good that Ozzy could have come out on stage and nodded off to a Xanax and Merlo-induced coma and this still would have been a wonder of awesomeness.

The fact that Ozzy delivered a show with merely a modicum of professionalism means that Black Sabbath’s performance at the F.D.I.C. insured venue on Friday night was a required rite-of-passage for anyone claiming loyalty to rock and roll music.

These Go To Eleven: Black Sabbath Reunites!

Your dreams have been fulfilled:



I could care less about the new album, and even those who claim they're excited probably won't listen to it at all after 2012.

I'm not suggesting that it won't be any good-The Devil You Knowproved to me that the musical dynamic of Sabbath can be heavier than anything Iommi and Geezer Butler have done since the original Sab-but there's nothing that they can produce that will get people reaching for it more than Paranoid or Masters.

But there is a good chance.

1.) The Sharon Factor-If there's one thing...one person that could fuck this thing up more than anything, it's Sharon Osbourne. There could be issues with money. Just suppose she's concocted a lame deal for anyone other than Ozzy-which is highly probable-and one of the other members decide at the last moment that they don't particularly like the manner in which Ozzy is getting larger sums of cash. Like I said: I'm betting that this is already taking place, but whatever "crumbs" they are doling out to the rest of the band is head and shoulders more than what they've ever made before. The other concern with Sharon is how she's going to impact the song selection, the commercialization of the new album, the interaction between members...I mean, this could all go terribly wrong if she doesn't allow Ozzy to cohabitate with his old bandmates somewhat. If it's separate buses, separate dressing rooms, and separate riders, then this will feel less like a reunion and more like a money grab on the most superficial level. Fear Mrs. Osbourne because she could give two shits about how great Black Sabbath could be musically, she only cares about how great Black Sabbath could be to her purse.

2.) Ozzy-Even on the television show, he looked frighteningly fragile. There's a feeling that his rebellion is now limited to photo shoots and studio trickery. My wife likes to tell the story of how he would shuffle around the stage when she last saw him live...and that was 10 years ago. If there's anything left from a live performance standpoint, let me know-seriously-because the idea of Ozzy shuffling around like a grandfather who's Rascal scooter is in the shop while barking through "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" scares me more than the Speak Of The Devil version of "Iron Man." Is his vocal range gone? Because the last time I heard Ozzy was through the aid of some studio tricks, not to mention that I could barely understand him whenever he spoke.

3.) Bill Ward-I've spoken about this before, so I won't go into too much detail about Bill's health. But let's be honest, Bill was a madman during those early years, the ones where you saw this bearded wild man on the drum riser, beating the shit out of his instrument and thundering out a slow 4/4 rhythm for Tony to crunch craniums to. I hope he's working out. Not from a relationship perspective, but from a treadmill one.

4.) Rick Rubin-I do believe that there was a time when the name Rick Rubin on the album credits meant something. I also believe that he started to believe that himself. The reality is that Rick Rubin has not had the best track record post-2000, and some of his executive "producer" roles have been nothing more than that of an editor and sequencer. He may be able to pick the best songs, but I'm not entirely convinced that he's able to get the best performance. For the Sabbath reunion, he Tweeted "When I've sat with them and they've played it sounds remarkably like Black Sabbath. As long as it sounds like that." No shit, Sherlock. Who else would they sound like?

5.) The New Album-What if it does suck? What if Rubin gets vetoed by Sharon and we get an hour-long album that rivals the shittiness of Never Say Die!. What if their songwriting skills haven't improved after 33 years? One of the things that I enjoyed most about Dio reuniting with Sabbath was how Ronnie brought some really great songs to the table for the ocassion. What if Ozzy can't do that or what if he's too lazy to? Personally, I don't think they can get any worse from Never Say Die!, but there's not a chance it will be better than Sabbath Bloody Sabbath which wasn't that good to begin with.

The fact that there's at least five points of worry with this whole thing, I need to come clean an admit that none of it will be enough to get me NOT to consider getting tickets to a show. This band is the big bang of heavy fucking metal, and the decision to announce this reunion on 11.11.11 is a bit demeaning to the genre as a whole. I mean, I get it, it's cute and I'm all about watching Spinal Tap for the millionth time (I will, later on tonight, rest assured). But to use Nigel Tufnel's "one louder" reference as the backdrop for this announcement that I've been waiting in anticipation for years shows me that they're not taking the genre that they built the foundation for, all that serious.

Here's a clip from their first reunion over 10 years ago. Check out how awesome Geezer is! Check out that awesome solo Tony gives! Check out how Bill looks like he's having a heart-attack on his close up shot towards the end! And more importantly, check out how many chicks lift up their shirts!

Classical Vocal Instructor Analyzes Five Metal Singers

The list doesn't surprise me much and it explains why I am a fan of most of the singers that she has good things to say about.

The "she" is question is Claudia Friedlander, a New York City vocal teacher who specializes in opera. Her opinions were solicited from Invisible Oranges a few months ago, a summary of which appears below.

The two vocalists she seems most enthralled with are Ronnie James Dio and Bruce Dickenson.

Of Dickenson: "There is a visceral dramatic intensity driving this singing. Many rock and metal singers are tenors who sustain much higher, much longer than operatic tenors are ever required to." and for Dio, she compares him to Queen's Freddie Mercury, stating "This is another very fine singer. His voice is so naturally resonant...Like the first singer, he performs with perfect legato, clear diction, and a consistent, organic vibrancy."

She offered praise for Rob Halford, but admitted he was "the only one I really wish I could get my hands on. He demonstrates several mad skills, but they aren’t well-integrated. It doesn’t matter so much because he is so committed, expressive, and musical, but I could have helped him do it easier and better."

Ha! The metal god needs a vocal instructor!

Actually, the vocal part she listened to is from Sad Wings Of Destiny, probably Priest's best album, but one that was recorded very early in their career.

I'm sure Halford has been through a few vocal coaches since then when money was hard to come by for food, let alone vocal instructors.

But she offers a bit of hesitation for King Diamond, one of metal's premier screamers, suggesting that some of his technique benefits from studio trickery.

And then there's Ozzy Osbourne, a vocalist she's not familiar with and not a fan of. She exclaims how it made her throat tight when she listened to "War Pigs." "The entire range of his singing is contained within a single octave," she observed, "with the exception of the moment when he yells “Oh Lord!” a little higher, in my opinion the only quasi-free vocal sound on the entire track."

While technically misguided, "War Pigs" is pure, throaty brilliance.

I would have loved to hear her take on "Changes."

A nod to Cousin J for the lead and Invisible Oranges for the article quotes.

Sister Sunshine Confirms That Dio Is In Hell

This kind of nonsense doesn't even bother me anymore, because I have a pretty good idea that hell already has a nice, warm spot reserved for people like Sister Sunshine here. Regardless of your religious beliefs, do you really think God supports people who post garbage like this online after someone has gone through a very painful illness and subsequently passes from it? I mean, was she wearing a "God Hates Fags" shirt as she beat RJD's puppy while he was going through chemo treatments? Because that's the kind of insensitive fuck she appears to be, judging from this righteous little sermon.

Many years ago, and I wish now that I would have taped it, there was a show on a Christian cable station called "The Crows Nest," where they would just make shit up about rock records. They'd play records backwards and tell you what was being said. They'd make up stuff that happened at concerts. And they'd go over cover art in fine detail, identifying every bit of satanic imagery they could find.

And when the ratings and fervor ended (or when people just gave up), the show ended.
This video probably gave Sister Soldier here the most views she's ever done, which will probably lead to more posts just like this.

I love how she pretends not to know any of this shit, but she was obviously a big Dio fan back in the day. I mean, nobody would know about RJD's stint in Elf unless they've done a little research. It's not like they were hugely popular and that this chick was even around when they were in still active. I think she's secretly a little broken up about Dio's death, but had to post some mean and evil video to "look good" around her born again buddies.

Deep down she knows that hell's got all the good bands anyway.
Via Glorious Noise boards.

Ronnie James Dio R.I.P.

You don’t know how sad this is for me-Ronnie James Dio dying today at the age of 67-and for some of you the idea of Dio is nothing but a joke. In reality, we’ve all had are share of laughs at the expense of R.J.D., myself included, but Ronnie also had the ability to laugh at himself too. That would probably make him better than most of us. I know I would probably take offense at some joke lobbied against me, go off and pout or do something else to demonstrate what a lousy sense of humor I had.

Take a radio interview with Eddie Trunk a few years ago, right before Heaven and Hell (known as the Dio-era of Black Sabbath for the rest of us) where Ronnie fielded a question from a caller about his age. You see, there’s a controversy about Dio’s age, for years it was painted in grey colors and it was a matter of debate. Until someone went and checked the copyright documents of some of his songs-a place where you’re required to put proper documentation in order to get compensated-and it was discovered that Ronnie was born July 10th, in 1942.

The caller, attempting to pin Ronnie down on his age and to poke fun at his advacing years, asked Dio "So how old are you

Ronnie, who probably faced the question numerous times and had to endure (good naturedly, too, I might add) a comedic team's song advising him that "You're too old to rock! No more rockin' for you!" understood that the caller really wasn't concerned with the truth. He was just taking a piss at the expense of R.J.D.

Dio's response, while showing some tiredness at the manner in which he was asked, answered bluntly "What do you want to hear? I'm old! I'm really, really old! Does that make you feel better now?"

What got people on this paper trail was that Ronnie was making records as early as 1958, in a rockabilly band called Ronnie and the Redcaps. He floundered around the Buffalo, New York area for many years until the late 60’s when he founded a band called the Electric Elves.

After incorporating medieval imagery into his lyrics, the band shortened their name to Elf and they caught the attention of Deep Purple’s Ritchie Blackmore during a performance where Ronnie’s band opened up for the bigger purple. When Blackmore left Deep Purple in the mid-70’s for greener pastures, the vocalist he called to initiate his new project was Dio. Black Sabbath did the same thing in the late 70’s, before Ronnie understood that he’d logged enough miles fronting some of rock music’s most iconic bands that he should just start one with the obligatory title of his own name.

Yeah, some of those Dio albums were bad. Some of Dio’s lyrics were also pretty abysmal. But a whole bunch of them were awesome, and his voice was unmistakable, even when his age began to distract people from his real accomplishments.

To this day, I would pick Dio’s work with Sabbath on Heaven & Hell and Mob Rules over the last three or four Ozzy-led Sabbath albums. I would pick a few Dio-led Rainbow albums over some of the shit Deep Purple released. And yes, I will confess to enjoying Dio’s Last In Line more than I probably should acknowledge.

Because for every endless mythical reference, to each nod to medieval times, for every tired tale of the struggle between good and evil, there was Ronnie James Dio delivering it like he meant every word.

What’s strange is that his last album with Heaven & Hell, The Devil You Know, seemed to hint at a honest struggle with the topic of good and evil. At some points, he sang like he was truly confounded on his family’s long-standing tradition of religion, holding it up to the lack of humanity that he’d probably seen in all of his years of touring.

I wonder where he ended up on his final days.

I have to believe he ended up in a peaceful place, as Dio seemed to be the ultimate optimist the last few years. The stomach cancer scare showed up at the end of the Heaven & Hell tour last year, but there was nothing in the announcements and follow ups to suggest that, aside from a slight bump to make time for chemotherapy, there was anything to worry about. In fact, Heaven & Hell had booked a bunch of shows for this summer and by March of this year, Ronnie’s wife announced that the tumor had shrunk and that his chemo sessions had been reduced.

But as early as this month, there were hints of trouble when Heaven & Hell cancelled those tour dates because of Ronnie’s health and even Blabbermouth got in touch with Wendy (Dio’s wife) to dispel some rumors of Ronnie’s passing.

She’s denied it, but also admitted that he wasn’t doing too good.

That was just a few days ago.

And now it appears that this last beast he was asked to battle was too much for his slight frame to handle. Yes, Ronnie was not a particularly large man at all-some would say the band name Elf was, in fact, a comparison to his small stature.

Which is what made his voice so incredible; the power and color that came from inside of him easily lay waste to other metal singers and it remains an unmistakable sound in the genre and an immeasurable influence.

His passing may mean that Ronnie James Dio is now the stuff of legends, but at least we still have plenty of worthy documents that show how his voice could slay anything that stood in his way when he was with us.

The Birth Of Heavy Metal

It may not mean anything to you, but today is a very important day to any fan of heavy metal. On this day, forty years ago Black Sabbath released their debut album and with it, invented the genre itself.
Black Sabbath may not be metal’s finest hour and it’s arguably not even the band’s best moment. But when you’re considering groundbreaking achievements and you realize that everything before it were mere building blocks, then you certainly must admire the house that these four young men from Birmingham, England managed to create with Black Sabbath.
When you reside in a dead-end town, the reminders of your limitation become a daily occurrence. Thanks to The Beatles, Black Sabbath discovered that their one chance to escape might come with music. Unfortunately for them, they weren’t very talented and even less good looking. But the Beatles planted a seed of possibility, and that’s all they really needed to get things started.
So after tasting what their future would probably look like while working at local factories (except Ozzy, who would prove to be unemployable), the four young men got together to work out their frustrations of the day through music.
Unfortunately, their music was merely a weak attempt at the blues chords they picked up here and their. It was so pedestrian that people barely took notice.
Until bassist Geezer Butler noticed how the lines at the theatre got a little bit longer whenever they showed horror movies. What if they incorporated some of those very same spooky elements into their music? It was worth a shot and, luckily for the rest of the band, Geezer himself had an affection for black magic, movie monsters, and the dark forests of English mythology.
Also helping the band was a tragic accident involving guitarist Tony Iommi while he was working at the factory. He cut off the tips of two of his fingers, which caused him to approach the guitar a little bit differently. For the first two Sabbath albums, he used a lighter gauge strings to assist with his injury and then eventually began loosening the strings to a lower tuning, giving the guitar a menacing bite.
He remembered a chord progression that he’d heard in church one, applied it to his Gibson SG and created “the devil’s interval,” a musical tritone that they applied to their signature tune, “Black Sabbath.”
All of this talk of things that went bump in the night appealed to Ozzy, who suddenly began to find a muse in Geezer’s dark book collection. Meanwhile, drummer Bill Ward found all of this newfound inspiration as a great excuse to beat the shit out of his drum kit, hitting the skins like they were the skulls of every boss who belittled him, every teacher who said he’d amount to nothing, and every asshole in Birmingham who commented on his haphazard appearance.
I’m sure they didn’t even realize what they’d done after the album was released. Not only were the members of Black Sabbath not the smartest lads on the block, they were immediately met with critical disdain and a bit of dismissal from their own peers.
Lester Bangs strongly panned the effort, incorrectly associating the debut as a mediocre version of Cream. He’d later see the light-or darkness, as it were-but his review began a tradition of making fun of Black Sabbath’s perceived dimness and the fans that flocked in droves to bear witness. The fact is, Black Sabbath were probably awful students, but history has proven their instincts to be a much more worthy counterbalance to anyone with a higher education.
Black Sabbath is the first chapter in metal’s collegiate textbook. It was released on Friday the 13th in 1970 as a simpleton joke created by some “clever” record executive, but its vitality was clearly beyond the grasp of those who saw a quick buck when it was released. Forty years later, it still sounds heavy. More importantly, it still inspires. Not with just those who align themselves with metal’s dark aggression, but to anyone who dreams of escaping a dead end job, a limited town, or the elite oppressors who feel lineage prevents others from obtaining similar opportunities.

Heaven & Hell - The Devil You Know

One of my biggest fears in writing this review is the perception that I am the site’s lone Ronnie James Dio and that role puts me in a category of irrelevance. Kind of like the irrelevance that Dio himself faced about ten years ago when he was playing the shtick in clubs and secondary markets. Only the faithful showed up then and I would probably count myself as one of those vocal naysayers, laughing at every one of those few hundred patrons coming to get a glimpse at this tiny old man.
Tenacious D may have resurrected Dio to a pop culture joke, but it was a re-examination of his work with Black Sabbath in the early 80’s that resurrected him to a credible and influential voice in metal.
The reunion shows were supposed to be a swan song, a final glimpse at a band that was on its own deathbed at the time of conception. But there were reports during the tour that the band-now named Heaven & Hell thanks to the endless meddling of Sharon Osbourne-was preparing to record a new album together, the second reunion of this line-up.
Initially, I found myself as a naysayer, rolling my eyes at the notion of a disc of new material, envisioning a slow death of decreasing popularity and smaller venues. The fellas seemed intention on exiting the metal arena in embarrassing fashion, too old to know when it’s time to put away the gargoyles and call it a day.
The Devil You Know should be the sad remnants of that union, the document that tells us that the moment ended decades ago and, while reminiscing among the old farts is fine, the idea that they can translate it into credible new material is silly.
Well Holy Diver, the joke is squarely on me as Heaven & Hell deliver their heaviest recordings closer to the age of seventy than they did at twenty-one. It’s an effort that provides them with a reason to exist-albeit under a new name-and it should provide an inspiring reference point to anyone considering what the shelf life of a metal band should be.
Dio, who’s voice is still impressive at his advanced age, has moved from an egotistical bellower to one that has transitioned his talents into an ominous howl. The end of days is written all over this record, and Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler work each riff like it will be their last with Vinny Appice plodding along at a snails pace. Seriously: the album is more than half over before the band kicks it into second gear with “Eating The Cannibals.” All of this dirge and slow motion head banging begins to sound the same by the end of the album, and repeated listening had me reaching for the remote so that I could program only the best songs on the album.
One of those is “Bible Black.” It begins as a forlorn acoustic number until the ninety-second mark. At which time the band unleashes into a menacing refute of Christianity. “Let me go!/I’ve seen religion, but the light has left me blind!” Dio roars while Iommi delivers another worthy riff underneath the sacrilege.
While not as noteworthy as Heaven & Hell or The Mob Rules, the fourth installment of this Sabbath line-up is most surprising for its consistency. Not even I imagined that these four old-timers would have been album to create an album that matches the releases that are already available, particularly since it’s been over fifteen years since the last installment. It also annihilates practically everything that Sabbath’s more notorious frontman has released during that time. Which begs the question: shouldn’t Sharon be doing more to make sure her husband is contributing to his own legacy than worrying about what his former bandmates are doing? Because, judging from The Devil You Know, Heaven & Hell are doing more to retain Sabbath’s lofty stature than he is.

This review originally appeared in Glorious Noise.

Heaven & Hell Record Signing

Probably the best in-store appearance footage ever. A fat, middle aged dude nearly looses it at a recent record signing in San Bernadino, California featuring Heaven & Hell. While waiting in line, the guy begins screaming, clearly excited at the prospects of meeting his heroes. ("These guys are Gods! I'm gonna friggin' FAINT!")
This immediately draws attention. As a matter of fact, the guy with him was almost as annoying at first, but managed to collect his shit as they got closer for fear of being escorted out of the store His friend, however, can't contain himself and doesn't care who notices or hears him ("I'm gonna fuckin' pass out. Pardon my French!"). You will notice one of the security guys looking a bit anxious as he collects the dude's cd and hands it to Iommi.
The crazy dude gets his disc signed and even manages to get a handshake in at the end. It's obvious that both Geezer and Iommi are used to this kind of zaniness; they barely eye contact and only allow a brief handshake ("Gently! Gently!)
He's clearly coherent enough to know that he's making people nervous, offering a final "I'm leaving now!" as he gets his disc and makes his way to the exit, still yelling every step of the way.

Awesome!
In other news, the New York Post is reporting that Ozzy Osbourne-under mind control from the greedy succubus known as Sharon-is suing Tony Iommi for using the name Black Sabbath after he quit/got fired. He's asking for 50% interest of the name and a percentage of Iommi's profits for Sabbath material after 1980, probably because his piece of shit variety show got cancelled after-what-one fucking episode.

OCD Chronicles: Black Sabbath "Children Of The Sea"

I’ve pretty much exhausted this topic, but I’m still in full R.J.D. mode and “Children Of The Sea” continues to channel itself in my head. Even one of the supervisors of work mentioned “You’re still buzzing with that Judas Priest show, aren’t you?” until I corrected him with “Actually, it’s the Sabbath set that’s still going around.”
So, at the most inappropriate moments, I blurt out “Look out! The sky is falling!” or sing to my daughter “Pooh Bear says that it’s over.”
I swear to God that the lyrics, as hilariously overreaching as they might be, serves as a metaphor for full on rock shows the way the used to be and should be. Look, I have no issues with the current state of metal and even those acts that I find unappealing. But there has got to be a market for big, dumb, over-the-top bands that are sincere in their deliverance of said topics.
Where are the modern-day Sabbaths, Scorpions, Maidens?
Shit, where are the farm-leagues of these bands?
I don’t believe for a moment that Avenged Sevenfold, The Darkness, et all give two shits about the themes they ape. I think that it’s a matter of irony for them, and even the dumbest of metalheads can figure out when you’re making fun of them.
But I’m totally sincere when I say that “Children Of The Sea” is an awesome song that takes on new meaning when one contemplates the future of arena metal.

The Metal Masters

I did over 2,000 words on the Metal Masters tour that I can’t seem to edit down any farther. My head is still spinning with the majesty of rock, and I’ve grown some respect for Ronnie James Dio after seeing this old fart take command of a crowd. One of the first things I did after arriving home was to berate my wife with endless impersonations of “Children of the Sea” and “Holy Diver.”
I did the same thing at work.
When it wasn’t Dio, it was Halford and “The Green Manalishi.”
As if arena-metal didn’t have enough problems in sustaining an audience (we’re all getting older and there doesn’t seem to any new bands that can replace the legacy of the old guard), the fine folks at Live Nation don’t feel the need to assist with keeping it alive. Within minutes of arriving in the parking lot, we were barely into our first beer before some dude in his early twenties was advising us to move on. For whatever fucking retarded reason, it was perfectly ok to stand around by the front of the gate and drink beer, but it wasn’t ok to hang near the vehicle and maintain a short distance to the cooler. There was no aggression, just pure mellowness, listening to the sponsoring rock station, having a cold one and socializing with the fellow attendees. In perfect 10 minute intervals, a group of three Live Nation douchebags would stroll around with pretend authority and tell us to move along.
What the fuck.
It’s shit like this that is helping to close down these outdoor ampitheatres when they really should be doing all that they can to build the business and fans. They seem to think that by forcing us inside, we’d me more inclined to spend money on Live Nation’s selection of $8 beers (up $0.25 from last summer, btw). The reality is that I was still sober enough after two beers to know that there was no way that I was spending that kind of cash for booze. Maybe after a few more bottles, I would have been buzzed enough to dig in my pocket a little deeper for some extra booze money.
The other problem with the Metal Masters…and it’s something that obviously bit the promoters in the ass…was the idea of a VIP purchase. For an ungodly amount of money, you could get good seats in front of the stage, receive tour package items (a laminent and t-shirt) and meet the band to pose for a picture. Reports hinted that the items and seat didn’t live up to the high ticket price and that the meet-and-greet was nothing more than a cattle call, providing no opportunity to actually converse with the band; you were ushered in, place in a pose, and then sent away to receive your photo.
No wonder those seats remained open and Live Nation staff members were walking around the concourse with signs that read “Ticket Upgrades for $10.”
While there were huge holes in the seats, there was no one to be found in the lawn seating, the blue collar section for what is obviously a blue collar crowd. The guy next to me grumbled about it a little bit, and it seems that Live Nation was more content with pushing the crowd towards the front than allowing the audience to name their own price. I wonder if they lost tickets as a result of this or merely comped the crowd with a better seat.
This price gouging, mark my words, with one day haunt those fuckers at Live Nation and judging by the upcoming shows I failed to see a performer that would draw enough people to surpass what we saw at The Metal Masters show.
Which, if you didn’t guess, was awesome. With decent seats priced at $100, it was the type of value that more aging rockers need to consider.


Setlists:

Testament
Over The Wall-The Legacy
More Than Meets The Eye-The Formation of Damnation
Henchman Ride-The Formation of Damnation
D.N.R.-The Gathering
Three Days In Darkness-The Gathering
Disciples Of The Watch-The New Order

Motorhead
Dr. Rock-Orgasmatron
Stay Clean-Overkill
Be My Baby-Kiss Of Death
The Killers-Inferno
Metropolis-Overkill
Over The Top-b side of “Motorhead” (live version)
In The Name Of Tragedy-Inferno
Just 'Cos You Got The Power-b side of “Eat The Rich”
Going To Brazil-1916
Killed By Death-No Remorse
Ace Of Spades-Ace Of Spades
Overkill-Overkill

Black Sabbath

E5150-Mob Rules
The Mob Rules-Mob Rules
Children of the Sea-Heaven and Hell
I-Dehumanizer
Sign of the Southern Cross-Mob Rules
Vinny Appice Solo
Time Machine-Dehumanizer
Falling off the Edge of the World-Mob Rules
Tony Iommi Solo
Die Young-Heaven and Hell
Heaven and Hell-Heaven and Hell
Encore:
Neon Knights-Heaven and Hell

Judas Priest
Dawn Of Creation-Nostradamus
Prophecy-Nostradamus
Metal Gods-British Steel
Eat Me Alive-Defenders Of The Faith
Between The Hammer And The Anvil-Painkiller
Devil's Child-Screaming For Vengeance
Breaking The Law-British Steel
Hell Patrol-Painkiller
Dissident Aggressor-Sin After Sin
Angel-Angel Of Retribution
The Hellion>Electric Eye-Screaming For Vengeance
Rock Hard, Ride Free-Defenders Of The Faith
Painkiller-Painkiller
Hell Bent For Leather-Hell Bent For Leather
The Green Manalishi-Hell Bent For Leather
Encore:
You've Got Another Thing Coming-Screaming For Vengeance

Most obscure t-shirts
GBH (actually a denim jacket that featured this band as a patch. The dude wearing it was a kid that looked like a punk relic out of the 80’s)
Helloween
Robin Trower

Dream Line-Ups for future Metal Masters shows:

Accept
Armored Saint
Budgie
Deep Purple
Dio
Fastway
Iron Maiden
Judas Priest
King Diamond
Metal Church
Prong
Saxon
Scorpions
UFO

Black Sabbath - The Dio Years

There’s nothing quite like a good old fashioned age dispute in the world of entertainment, and for years, Ronnie James Dio has claimed to be born on this day in 1949. But with a few investigative maneuvers, one can easily determine that this year is probably not accurate.
In fact, the general consensus is that Dio was born on this day in 1942, placing him at the ripe old age of 65 today. Wikipedia devotes an entire section on Dio’s entry to this topic, and it even includes a link to Ronnie’s old high school. The school, which has a wall of fame of notable alumni, lists Dio’s graduation at 1960, which would contradict Ronnie’s claim that he was born in 1949.
Here’s a review of Black Sabbath The Dio Years originally published on Glorious Noise.

Black Sabbath
The Dio Years
(Rhino)


There is no debating the enormous impact that Black Sabbath had during their 70’s heyday, and, for those old enough to remember, the stakes were very high for the band when they made the decision to continue on without vocalist Ozzy Osbourne.
Enter Ronnie James Dio, who spent half of the 70’s teamed with Ritchie Blackmore in Rainbow, to breathe some live into Sabbath.
Surprisingly, Dio not only shook the band from their drug-addled slumber, he helped create a pair of stellar metal albums with them (Heaven & Hell and Mob Rules) that devastated the band’s last two albums with Osbourne (Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die!).
I’m one of those old enough to remember. At the tender age of thirteen, Black Sabbath was the musical equivalent of Satan incarnate, which is to say they were a veritable rite of passage for thousands of boys who traded in their Mad magazines for Fangoria.
A record back then (for me) cost more than a week’s allowance and, without the aid of free downloads, you had to manage your purchases wisely. Thankfully, a barely tunable album-oriented rock station broadcasted a weekly show that featured a new release and played the album in its entirety, commercial free. One of the albums they featured was Heaven & Hell, providing me with an opportunity to preview the release and to test my home recording skills as I loaded a blank cassette, ready to capture my own static-riddled copy of the newest incarnation of Black Sabbath.
Within seconds after the start of some familiar Tony Iommi riffing, Dio makes his presence known with the growl “Oh no! Here it comes again!” And with that, Sabbath was reborn.
Never say die indeed.
Ronnie James Dio is also known for a few humorous antidotes that make him common fodder for some of metal’s most infamous jokes. Copyright searches have shown his (disputed) age to be 64 years old (memorialized in the line “You’re too old to rock/No more rockin’ for you!” in the Tenacious D song “Dio”) which does point to the stunning realization that a man older than my own Father is still working the heavy metal circuit.
And if his age and chosen music genre weren’t enough, Dio is notorious for his lyrical Dungeons and Dragons imagery, a fixation that most males grow out of during their teenage years. All of this blatant ammunition comes wrapped in a package that barely scales 5’4”.
Yes, Ronnie James Dio has some image problems.
Black Sabbath may have been the perfect band for him to compliment these shortcomings. They were ridiculed for years for their own juvenile imagery, simplistic musical approach and general lack of critical respect. Black Sabbath has never been a band that apes the critics anyway. No, their primary audience typically fights nocturnal boners when they’re not wearing huge-ass Koss headphones, finger-ready on the pause button of a shitty Craig stereo, listening for the exact moment to steal a copy of Heaven & Hell from a terrestrial radio station.
While a Dio-led Sabbath may have been a match made in Heaven (or Hell), the line up only survived another studio album (Mob Rules) before tensions mounted between Ronnie and the rest of Sabbath during the mixing of Live Evil. Recently, Geezer Butler referred to the album as “Live In The Studio Evil,” a quick jab at an old wound that Dio had re-recorded his vocals and mixed the down the levels of the rest of the band without their consent.
Dio rejoined Sabbath again in 1992 for the frequently overlooked Dehumanizer, which offered the most inspired set since, well, since he was on board a decade earlier.
Rhino Records has recently compiled songs from the three studio albums and the controversial live effort as The Dio Years, an album that actually works well as compilations are concerned, pulling the correct amount of material from the line up’s strongest album and, more importantly, pulling the right material from these sources.
Five of Heaven & Hell’s eight tracks are included, four songs from Mob Rules made the cut, one from Live Evil and three from Dehumanizer can be found. To entice fans that may already own the proper releases, the band regrouped last fall to record new material, three of which are tacked on to the end of The Dio Years.
Of these three, there is nothing revelatory to speak of and they do not match up to the quality of the first two releases. Yes, Dio (who possesses one of the most perfectly matched voices in the history of heavy metal) still manages to deliver vocally and the band sounds notably heavy, the new tracks are unmemorable and suffer from an obvious sense of “I guess we need to fill out the album with some newly recorded material.” They plod along like some of the weaker moments of Dehumanizer and The Dio Years would have been better served by offering the sorely missed “Sign Of The Southern Cross” from Mob Rules, a track that perfectly captures Dio’s full range and Sabbath’s softer versatility.
With this minor complaint aside, The Dio Years serves as a fine introduction to a band in top form even after such a career-ending event like losing a recognizable frontman like Ozzy Osbourne. The band remained relevant and withstood the influx of creativity during the new wave of British heavy metal with their leather in tact.
The compilation actually works better than last year’s anthology of Ozzy-fronted Sabbath, Greatest Hits 1970-1978. With so much glaringly missing from that set, it’s somewhat reassuring that The Dio Years strives to find a balance of quality material with the obligatory unreleased enticements.

Black Sabbath/Heaven & Hell Reunion

I totally overlooked another reunion and a recent show on VH1 Classic reminded me of such.
Ronnie James Dio has gotten back together with Black Sabbath to revisit that era's material. The rub: they're not calling themselves "Black Sabbath," instead choosing to avoid a confrontation with the succubus known as Sharon Osbourne by naming the band after the line up's best album, Heaven & Hell.
I've got an appreciation for that record, as it surpasses many of the late-day Sabbath releases when Ozzy was still with the group. Hell, I'll even admit to enjoying some of the Dio-era Rainbow material and the occasional Dio album, particularly if I've had a few beers and feel like going "off to the witch."
Heaven & Hell are embarking on a too brief tour that takes them to the end of May and one that barely scrapes the Midwest. From what I understand, Megadeath is opening for them which would have been cool if it weren't for Dave Mustaine's continual reminders that he's a born again Christian.
Anyway, Heaven & Hell...fuck this shit...the Dio-era Black Sabbath spoke with Eddie Trunk on their special about the event. Apparently taped during the fall of '06, all three members seemed fairly cordial with each other and it was clear that their words (particularly Ronnie's) were carefully considered to the point where they sounded scripted.
Bill Ward is not in the reunion; It was my understanding that he was part of the initial rehearsals but then bowed out to let Vinny Appice take over the drum chair. It's been reported that Ward will be present for the original Black Sabbath reunion scheduled for sometime later.
Throughout the show, Trunk did a good job at trying to get the three parties to speak about their past differences. Specifically, the band was asked about the Live Evil release, and the tensions that arose from it. The story goes: the band got into a fight with Dio about some after hours mixing he was doing without the knowledge of Geezer, Tony, or Bill. When these three listened to the mix, they noticed that Dio's vocals had been mixed higher than what they were before, causing them to believe that he had redone several of the "live" vocals tracks in the studio.
Geezer gets the vote for funniest quote on the VH1 Classic special when he called the album "Live In The Studio Evil."
Ronnie immediately attempted to sway the conversation away from the bad memories by suggesting that all of those days were in the past. Geezer seemed to be bored during the entire interview and the member most likely to tell the truth on what really went down during Dio's sudden departure back in '82 after the Mob Rules tour.
Perhaps because of Dio's reluctance to spill the beans on Live Evil, Trunk never got around to asking about the events during the Dehumanizer tour from '92. Ozzy asked Black Sabbath to open for him during his final two shows of the No More Tears tour (incorrectly dubbed the "No More Tours" tour). Ronnie threw a fit, claiming that Black Sabbath wasn't an opening act for anyone and abruptly left the group.
The silver lining? They got Rob Halford to sing lead for them on those two shows and if anyone has a copy, you'll be my best friend if you send me one.
The VH1 Classic special showed some rehearsal footage of the band who seemed to be in fairly good form, despite Dio's frightening age. Seriously: the dude is like 65 years old and I don't care how many times he disputes the year of his birth, he looks over 60 regardless of how much make up you throw on him.
So yeah, I would totally be up for seeing Black Sabbath with Dio, regardless of how old Ronnie is, who's drumming, and what Sharon Osbourne is making us call them. You wouldn't get me to come early to see Mustaine's Bible Show or get me to buy the recent Black Sabbath compilation The Dio Years (which doesn't even have "Sign Of The Southern Cross" on it...Fuckers).
And for anyone that wants to dispute how good Sabbath was when R.J.D.'s little shrimp ass was singing for 'em, just pick up a copy of Heaven & Hell (the album, not the band, Jesus Christ I'm confused) and get back to me.