As the quarter is drawing to an end, it would seem prudent to cap the course or surmize it and review the material which the course introduced to the class, instead I wish to discuss a Heavy Metal singer whom I find fascinating, this singer being Ronnie James Dio. Dio is a bit of a contradiction as he was 67 when he died of stomach cancer. Yet still was able to sing at very advanced level that one would not expect him to sing at given his age. Furthermore he was married to his wife Wendy Dio for several decades yet was involved in a genre in which casual sex was elevated and celebrated. He was also known for his compassion in a genre that concerned itself with strength and aggression. His life and compassion were euologized in Rolling Stone upon his death in 2010, "
It wasn't just his mighty pipes that made him Ronnie James Dio — it was his moral fervor. With Black Sabbath classics like "Heaven and Hell," or Eighties solo classics like "Holy Diver" and "The Last in Line," what always stood out was Dio's raging compassion for the lost rock & roll children in his audience, his fiercely anti-clerical religiosity, his hatred for the kings and queens who blind our eyes and steal our dreams. Dio barely ever sang about women unless he was empathizing with them, as in "Invisible," where he also empathized with gay teenagers, which was (to say the least) a bold move from a straight rock star in 1983." To me this is why Dio stood out from the crowd, in an industry where frontmen talked about the three Ps "playing, paycheck and, pussy" Dio was happily married and writing Heavy Metal songs that were very good. Furthermore Dio is an artist that I listen to a great deal. As I can relate to his song Heaven and Hell. I even play it while I am writing papers. Which is a song that concerns itself with how we can create our own hells or our own heavens, it is a composition that conveys a great deal of compassion for its listeners. Dio was also appealing in that he was very forthright. He was not a playboy or a clownish character like Van Halen or Poison. He was serious, Rolling Stone said it best, "Dio never pretended to be one of the kids — he sang as an adult assuring us that we weren't alone in our suffering, and some day we might even be proud of conquering it. Morrissey sang, "There is a light that never goes out"; Dio sang, "Some light can never be seen." But they were coming from the same dark place, really." It is funny because I had always listened to the music of Dio in an ironic fashion. A friend and I always laughed at what we assumed to be homo erotic lyrics in his song. We even assumed that Rainbow in the dark was somehow about latent homosexuality as we assumed most of Heavy Metal to be. However both I and my friend missed the mark entirely, in fact we were both a bit pretentious as Dio wasn't an artist that concerned himself with muscles or how strong or tough he was rather Dio was concerned with compassion and understanding, which makes Mr. Dio an interesting subject in a very masculine genre. This what makes him so interesting. In fact I was actually saddened to hear of his passing, which is rarity for me, as I never cry much. Essentially Dio was what Heavy Metal could be when it tried hard enough.
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