Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Top 40 at 40 #30

#30 Black Sabbath- The Mob Rules 1981

Ronnie James Dio. The name is synonymous with greatness. This 65 year old man is in possession of the greatest heavy metal voice of all time. There, I said it. And I love Ozzy Osbourne. Dio is the metal god of all metal gods.. His mouth breathes fire. His eyes shoot severely wicked devil raybeams that freeze you in your denim jacket and force your head to start moving like its never moved before..His "devil horn" salute is the third most popular hand signal behind the peace sign and flipping the bird.. His name MEANS God in Italian(and Spanish for my latino friends)....Amen, my metal brethren, AMEN......

Growing up in Cortland, NY he payed in many bands and eventually formed the band Elf in 1967. Elf opened up for Deep Purple. Ritchie Blackmore stole Ronnie from Elf in 1975 and formed Rainbow. Tony Iommi stole Ronnie from Ritchie and put him in Ozzy's spot in Black Sabbath after Ozzy was fired for doing every drug west of Nottingham. He stayed for two classic albums Heaven and Hell('80), and MOB RULES in 1981 where this ferocious title track comes from.... The opening riff shakes the ground beneath sleeping demons, the drums thunder down like clashing swords swung from the hands of a medieval horde, the solo is the rush of a steed of sturdy stallions breaking and bleeding into battle lines.......YOU"RE ALL FOOLS..THE MOB RULES!!!! You better believe it!

On my first mp3 player, bought in 1999, I could only fit a half hours worth of songs. I was a bit overwhelmed by NYC, where I had just moved. I chose this as the opener. It made me feel "headphone invincible" amidst the crush of the crowd and the alienation in a city of 12 million. Ronnie's voice has that power over me. Regardless of lyrics like " Break the circle/stop the movement/the wheel is thrown to the ground..Just remember it/might start rolling and take you right back around.."...I'm still under his sonic spell.

I was finally able to fulfill a lifelong dream of seeing him live 2 years ago in San Jose with Heaven and Hell(really Black Sabbath 80-81, but Sharon won't let them use the name....I'm sure you know which Sharon I'm talking about!) My goosebumps were like steel rivets when he hit the stage...all that for a 5 foot 2 senior citizen with a golden throat and balls of titanium. It was awesome...

He did one more album with Sabbath in 1992 called Dehumanizer.
His son is a weatherman in Binghamton.
His 66th birthday is Thursday!

Top 5 Ronnie James Dio songs 1) The Mob Rules 2) Rainbow in the Dark (Dio) 3) Heaven and Hell(Sabbath '80) 4) Kill the King(Rainbow('78) 5)Man on the Silver Mountain(Rainbow '75-BEST LYRICS EVER- Check them OUT at lyricfreak.com)
Black Sabbath - The Mob Rules.mp3
3049K Play Download

No comments:

Post a Comment