Metalheads Discussion

[bennyboy]

Where Dio is the more powerful and versatile singer, the 'better' singer in a traditional sense, Ozzy has a more haunting sort of hollowness to his voice that plays to the demented psychedelia of Sabbath.

In the 90's I saw Dio live in a tiny little dive in Vancouver.  I mean tiny, like basically a rock bar that seated I guess 200-300 when fully packed.  My buddies and I were sitting about 10 feet from him.  My buddy kept making a big deal of making the devil-hand sign, and shaking his hand in the cool way, with the fingers pointing up not down.  I believe, if memory serves me right, that Dio let us buy him a beer or two during his set.

He seemed like a truly nice guy and was a great singer-- he really brought it.  However, I got the sense that it was just a gig for him, not the singing of a man still in love with his art form.  There are a lot of metal bands like that-- lots of talent, incredible technique, but missing some of the love that you'd get from a passionate musician.  In contrast, look at anything, ever, by Hendrix, to see what a pure musician is like.