The wonder years: Rocker Dio reflects on controversial period in the limelight

Kirk Baird

Friday, Nov. 17, 2000 | 9:36 a.m.

In rock 'n' roll, image is everything. And in the early '80s, few had an image as notorious as Ronnie James Dio.

As a former frontman for Black Sabbath, Rainbow and his self-titled band, the reputation he developed had nothing to do with drugs or hard living, but rather the belief that he was, in some way, associated with the devil. Dio performs today at Mandalay Bay's House of Blues.

In some ways it's easy to see why.

His lyrics tended to focus on the darker side of existence. His album covers were covered with enough satanic imagery to fill a Stephen King nightmare.

And even his voice, a powerful tool that is archetypal of '80s metal bands, at times seemed hell-spawned, alternating from quiet anguish to an all-out wail that would make the devil cringe.

As a result, at the height of his popularity, when metal hits such as "The Last in Line," "Holy Diver," "Hungry for Heaven" and "Rainbow in the Dark" turned up on album-rock radio stations, the singer heard all of the rumors.

He now simply laughs them off. But there were times, he admits, when the stories did get to him.

"You'd be a fool if you weren't annoyed when untruths are lashed at you," Dio said in a recent phone interview from Los Angeles. "Let people think what they want to; there's nothing I can do about it. As long as I'm content and happy with myself, that's all that matters."

But those "untruths" and "satanic imagery" certainly didn't hurt when it came to the checkout line, he admits. Rebellion sells to the teenage marketplace, and who is more rebellious than the devil?

"(The imagery) certainly couldn't hurt from a marketing standpoint," he said. "All those things sell lots of T-shirts and, hopefully, lots of albums as well."

Howard Kramer, associate curator of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, said that was the point of heavy metal: to create an image teenage boys could latch on to.

"Heavy metal is not flashy, it's a musical idea," Kramer said. "What is the one possession a teenage boy covets most? A loud, fast car. Why is it that their music shouldn't be loud and fast, too?"

As far the satanic imagery associated with Dio and the whole genre, he said it was simply business.

"When you're young, you attach more meaning to the music," Kramer said. "When you're a musician, this is their livelihood. This is commerce."

But in light of musicians such as Marilyn Manson, whose gender-bending appearance and confrontational lyrical style have pushed the envelope and religious leaders that much further, not to mention the underground death metal scene, all the fuss over Dio hardly seems relevant anymore.

Beginning his fourth decade in rock music, Dio doesn't seem to be quite the threat to the souls of youth he once was.

Where his fantasy-filled storylines were readily misinterpreted, now his lyrics hardly seem threatening. For example, this stanza from "Magica-Reprise" from his latest album, "Magica": "No one gets to heaven till they lived a while in hell. And even then it's rare that you'll be getting there."

"It's metaphorical," Dio said of the line. "It's not to be meant religious in that matter. Heaven and hell are mentioned as good things and bad things.

"It's rare that any of us will be going to the place that they want to go, which I think is heaven."

Perhaps that dichotomy of good and evil, and the eternal struggle between the two, is what Dio is best known for. And not just in his lyrics, but album covers as well.

Dio's first solo album, "Holy Diver," featured a devil-type creature standing on rocks next to the sea holding a chain while a priest ,wrapped securely in the chains, is seen drowning in the water.

To many, the meaning of the image is pretty clear. But to Dio, the interpretation is subjective.

"The question was always, 'Well, that's really evil. Why did you have the monster or the devil killing the priest?' And I said, 'Well, how do you know it wasn't the other way around? What makes you think that just because you see these things up here, this guy who looks like he's a devil or a monster?'" he said. "You don't know what a devil or monster looks like, but I know a few priests who are monsters."

But now that high school boys aren't scrawling his name on their school folders or notebooks, and T-shirts with that familiar logo of Dio's name aren't being worn at malls with great frequency, there's not much discussion about his offstage religious practices.

In fact, with a new wave of angrier, more socially relevant bands, such as Limp Bizkit, assuming the mantel of parental enemy No. 1, Dio hardly seems to come up anymore.

It's a reality, however, that he's comfortable with.

"The medium for playing the kind of music we've played for all these years virtually went away," he said. "The next generation took over -- as it should."

But he stops short of saying he and his band are no longer musically relevant.

"You can probably ask the same question of Limp Bizkit 10 years from now, or anyone else like it. Is their music relevant? It is to people who like it," Dio said.

Which is his reasoning for sticking around: As long as there is an audience for him -- in this case, he said, it's a mix of longtime fans and those who've just discovered him -- he'll continue to make music.

Perhaps to appease that core group of supporters, he listened to what they had to say about his music.

"I'd talk to people after a show and they'd tell me, 'Why don't you do music like you used to do? You know, the way you used to write,' " he said.

At first Dio said he was a bit miffed at the perceived criticism being lobbed at him by his fans. Over time, though, their opinions got through.

"After listening to it enough, you realize they're right," he said.

So, he got back with longtime collaborators -- bassist Jimmy Bain and guitarist Craig Goldy -- to return to his "old style" while still trying something different.

The result? "Magica," his first concept album. Fantastical with healthy doses of archetypal characterizations, "Magica" tells the story of good vs. evil on the long-since dormant world of Blessing. Recently discovered by an alien race, the beings unearth a written history of the planet, which details a ferocious struggle long ago between mighty wizards for control of the world and its denizens.

The concept is so central to the piece, the disc includes a booklet of the story, which Dio also narrates on the album's last track.

One listen to "Magica" and it's obvious this is pure Dio. And it would appear the fans agree.

Beginning a new leg of a U.S. tour that will take him through the first half of December, Dio said his shows have been selling out -- both in the United States and previously in Europe.

As for his future, Dio said that shortly after finishing touring later next year, the band will return to the studio to work on its next album. Though he is hesitant to make another concept album, the singer said he still wants to keep the music the way it is now, "a nice blend of what was and what is."

Does this mean Dio is back to basics?

"I don't know. You could say that in a broad sense," he said. "But it's certainly not very basic these days.

And heaven help those who don't like it.

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