37 YEARS AGO DIO RELEASED THE ALBUM ‘HOLY DIVER’. IT WAS THE DEBUT STUDIO ALBUM FOR THE BAND DIO. RONNIE JAMES DIO HAD JUST LEFT BLACK SABBATH ( FOR THE FIRST TIME) AND PUT THE BAND DIO TOGETHER WITH VINNIE APPICE (WHO ALSO LEFT BLACK SABBATH TO FORM THE BAND DIO).THE GROUP WAS ROUNDED OUT BY JIMMY BAIN ON BASS ( WHO PLAYED WITH DIO IN RAINBOW), AND A YOUNG VIVIAN CAMPBELL, WHO LATER WOULD GO ON TO HUGE FAME IN DEF LEPPARD. THIS IS A KILLER ALBUM. ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE RANKED IT AS 16TH ON THEIR LIST ON THE “100 GREATEST METAL ALBUMS OF ALL TIME”. HERE’S SOME HOLY DIVER TRIVIA:
-Ronnie James Dio wrote or co-wrote all the songs on the album and produced it as well.
-The album cover features the band’s devil-looking mascot, Murray, whipping a chain at a priest who is bound by chains. However, Ronnie once pointed out that appearances are misleading and the cover could just as well depict a priest killing a devil.
-Following the September 11th attacks, “Holy Diver” was placed on a list of tracks with inappropriate titles.
-The lyrics of “Holy Diver” are about Revelations 12:9, which describes Satan being cast to the earth.
-“Rainbow in the Dark,” the second single from the album, is about an inability to release tremendous potential, and Dio once said it was inspired by his time fronting Black Sabbath.
-RJD wanted to cut “Rainbow in the Dark” from the album, thinking it was too poppy and didn’t belong on the album. The rest of the band persuaded him that wasn’t the case.
-The original vinyl release had a photo montage in the liner. It included pictures of Dio during his time with both Rainbow and Black Sabbath.
-The album was certified Gold for sales over 500,000 in 1984, then Platinum for sales over one-million copies in 1989.
HERE’S DIO LIVE FROM THE EDGE IN PALO ALTO !
TWO YEARS AGO IT WAS THE LYNYRD SKYNYRD FAREWELL CONCERT AT SHORELINE. “THE LAST OF THE STREET SURVIVORS TOUR” KICKED OFF ON MAY 4, 2018 IN FLORIDA AND WILL WRAPPED-UP ON OCTOBER 11,2019 IN TENNESSEE. THE 2018 SHOW AT SHORELINE WAS OUTSTANDING WITH A CAPACITY CROWD HANGING ON EVERY NOTE AND ROCKING OUT WITH THE BAND AND TRULY WAS A MAGICAL NIGHT. SKYNYRD’S CAREER HAS SPANNED OVER 41 YEARS, HALTED FOR A DECADE BY THE 1977 PLANE CRASH THAT KILLED 3 BAND MEMBERS INCLUDING RONNIE VAN ZANT AND STEVE GAINES. SINCE THEN, THE BAND TRAGICALLY LOST ALLEN COLLINS, BILLY POWELL, LEON WILKESON AND HUGHIE THOMASSON.
BUT THE BAND KEEPS ON TICKING LIKE A FINE SWISS WATCH. LYNYRD SKYNYRD SOUNDS AS GOOD AS EVER WITH ORIGINAL MEMBER GARY ROSSINGTON, JOHNNY VAN ZANT, RICKEY MEDLOCKE, MARK MATEJKA, MICHAEL CARTELLONE, JOHNNY COLT, PETER KEYS, DALE KRANTZ ROSSINGTON, AND CAROL CHASE. THIS CURRENT LINE-UP DOES THE SKYNYRD LEGACY PROUD. THE BAND HAS SOLD OVER 30 MILLION ALBUMS WORLDWIDE AND THEY REMAIN A CULTURAL ICON. THEIR FINAL BAY AREA APPEARANCE ON THE FAREWELL TOUR WAS AUGUST 24, 2019 AT THE CONCORD PAVILION. HERE’S ONE OF LYNYRD SKYNYRD’S BEST, A LIVE VERSION OF SIMPLE MAN (GREAT QUALITY VIDEO)……
AND THE EVENING’S ENCORE AT LAST YEAR’S CONCERT IN THE BAY AREA
ON THIS DATE 50 YEARS AGO FREE RELEASED ONE OF THE GREAT ROCK SONGS OF OUR TIME ‘ALL RIGHT NOW’. THE SONG ACTUALLY CAME ABOUT BECAUSE THE BAND HAD JUST PLAYED A GIG AT A COLLEGE, AND EVERY ONE OF THE GROUPS SONGS AT THE TIME WAS VERY SLOW TEMPOED. DRUMMER SIMON KIRKE EXPLAINED: “All Right Now’ was created after a bad gig in Durham, England. Our repertoire at that time was mostly slow and medium paced blues songs which was alright if you were a student sitting quietly and nodding your head to the beat. However, we finished our show in Durham and walked off the stage to the sound of our own footsteps. The applause had died before I had even left the drum riser. When we got into the dressing room, it was obvious that we needed an uptempo number, a rocker to close our shows. All of sudden, the Inspiration struck (bass player Andy) Fraser, and he started bopping around singing ALL RIGHT NOW… He sat down and wrote it right there in the dressing room. It couldn’t have taken more than 10 minutes”. THE SONG WAS A MEGA-HIT, AND WAS SO SUCCESSFUL, IT MIGHT HAVE ACTUALLY CONTRIBUTED TO THE EVENTUAL BREAK-UP OF THE GROUP. ACCORDING TO SINGER PAUL RODGERS: “Really it was just a one-off for us, and when the follow-up to ‘All Right Now’ died a death – it was called “The Stealer” – and the album that followed, Fire and Water, from which ‘All Right Now’ was taken, when that didn’t do very well, we took it to heart and the band broke up. So, in an indirect way, ‘All Right Now’ was not very good for the band, I have to say”.
HERE’S A GREAT LIVE VERSION OF ‘ALL RIGHT NOW’