Category Archives: Blog Stuff
On break
It’s been a week since a post of any kind from me here on Metal Excess. That’s a bit of a rarity. The truth is there’s some personal issues I’m dealing with right now and while I’m listening to a bit of music here and there and I have new releases to review, I’m just not in the mood to write about them.
Have no fear, Metal Excess will return shortly! Until then, take care.
My thoughts on the 2010 Revolver Golden Gods Awards
This was the second annual Revolver Golden Gods Awards and the first to be broadcast on VH1 Classic (was the first on Fuse TV?). The awards took place in April and aired last night on VH1 Classic at 10PM as a one-hour special. Revolver is a hard rock & heavy metal magazine based in the U.S. I’ve never bought an issue but just by flipping through it a few times in the last couple of years, they seem to focus more on the current metal scene than anything else but don’t come across as a genre band-riding fanzine like other U.S. metal mags Metal Edge, Circus or Hit Parader have.
I knew “Golden Gods” sounded familiar. Apparently this awards show is going to co-exist with the Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards (both magazines are owned by Future Publishing, which also publishes the amazing Classic Rock magazine). Both shows have similar categories but their nominees aren’t always the same. Basically, the Revolver show caters more to America and Metal Hammer more to England. I can understand that as there’s often a big difference between both countries in terms of rock and metal preferences but I think having them both billed as “Golden Gods Awards” is a bit confusing and unnecessary. I guess they’re betting on fans in both countries to not care enough about the other to realize there are two of these shows.
The show itself was okay but the editing was HORRIBLE. I’m sure this event easily was about three hours in length so why they decided to chop it down to one hour of “highlights” is beyond me. There was so much jumping around it was annoying, no segment had time to breathe. As soon as a band was done playing, the show clipped to the next batch of presenters rambling off the list nominees.
In my opinion, an event that brings together Chris Jericho (host), Andrew W.K. (host), Alice Cooper, Rob Zombie, Slash, Ozzy, Ronnie James Dio, Vinnie Paul, Lemmy, Dave Grohl, Dave Mustaine, Jerry Cantrell, Zakk Wylde, Joey Vera, Rob Halford, Kerry King, et cetera, et cetera is a HUGE event and should be treated like such. The whole set up was cheap looking and was not helped by the intimate little venue it was booked to be held in. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the idea of the Golden Gods, I LOVE that VH1 Classic aired it, I just wish better care was given to the editing and the production of the show in general. Hopefully, the show did decent numbers and Future will pump a little more money into the show next year.
I guess I shouldn’t be too harsh on an awards show that is only in it’s second year but it would really help if they took the time to explain what the categories were all about and what they meant. Obviously “best guitarist” is self-explantory but one example is the actual Golden God Award. There was no build up given to this award. Ozzy announced what the award was the handed it over to Rob Halford. TELL US WHAT IT MEANS! In addition to that, another cool feature would have been maybe some clips of Halford footage and a narration telling us why Rob deserved to be “honored” with this award. Things like that go a long way in making the show and the individual awards feel special. This goes for all the awards. Show some clips of the best guitarist shredding, show a graphic of each nominated album of the year as you’re reading the list of nominees, etc. It’s pretty easy.
Again, the idea is great but the execution was lacking. Hopefully as the years go on, this will become a bigger and better hard rock & heavy metal awards show. They’ll know what worked, what didn’t work, hopefully get a bigger budget, hopefully get some more airtime on whatever station it ends up airing on.
Of note, the late, great Ronnie James Dio won Best Vocalist for his work in Heaven & Hell. How cool is that? This was Ronnie’s last public appearance and you couldn’t even tell he was sick. It’s so sad that just a few weeks after this was filmed the cancer took a turn for the worse and took Ronnie away from us.
Check out Ronnie accepting the award:
Complete list of winners:
Revolver Golden God Award: Rob Halford
Revolver Golden Gods Lifetime Achievement Award: Lemmy Kilmister
Album Of The Year: Alice In Chains – Black Gives Way To Blue
Best Vocalist: Ronnie James Dio
Best Guitarist: Zakk Wylde
Best Drummer: Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan
Best Live Band: Metallica
Comeback Of The Year: Alice In Chains
Best Underground Band: The Dillinger Escape Plan
Hottest Chick In Metal: Maria Brink
Ronnie James Dio – 1942-2010
When I woke up this morning and got online, I logged into my Google account and scrolled through the news that had piled up since last night in my Google Reader’s “Music” folder. Late last night news “broke” that Ronnie had passed away. Ronnie’s wife Wendy quickly laid those rumors to rest but added they were at a hospital and that Ronnie was not doing well at the moment. Fast forward to this afternoon and I am saddened and heartbroken to say that this early morning Ronnie passed away and unfortunately that is the truth.
The statement Wendy Dio issued to Blabbermouth.net:
Today my heart is broken, Ronnie passed away at 7:45 a.m. [on Sunday] 16th May. Many, many friends and family were able to say their private goodbyes before he peacefully passed away.
Ronnie knew how much he was loved by all.
We so appreciate the love and support that you have all given us.
Please give us a few days of privacy to deal with this terrible loss.
Please know he loved you all and his music will live on forever.
I know in the coming days and weeks there will be many touching tributes and words directed towards Ronnie James from family, friends and fans alike. In fact, many are already be posted online.
For myself, I must admit that up until just a few years ago, I wasn’t a huge fan of Dio’s music. I had no ill feelings towards his work but it never clicked with me despite owning a few Black Sabbath and solo albums: Heaven and Hell, Mob Rules, The Last In Line, Stand Up and Shout: The Dio Anthology. It wasn’t really until he reunited with Black Sabbath under the name of Heaven and Hell that I gave him (and Sabbath) a second chance. I started to immerse myself in the works of Sabbath, revisited those first two albums with Dio and fell in love with them. Then I began to pick up the rest of Dio’s solo work (only Intermission and Strange Highways elude me now) and just recently I picked up Rainbow’s Rising and Long Live Rock ‘N’ Roll.
I won’t turn this into some retrospective, as I’m sure many of those are to come, but the guy had an amazing career dating as far back as 1958. It wasn’t until the early ’70s and the band Elf that the Ronnie James Dio the world knows and loves began to take shape. From there, he went on to front Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio and Heaven and Hell. In short, if you’re not familiar with Ronnie’s discography then you’re missing out on some of the most essential and landmark rock and metal albums of all time.
I never got the chance to see Ronnie perform in person. Heaven and Hell came to nearby Detroit last summer but I didn’t go see them. It’s been a regret of mine ever since and obviously an even bigger regret now.
Dio has played a large part in my music obsession these last few years. His songs have dominated my playlist in the last year and because of this I’ve grown to feel a great connection and fondness for this man, who by all accounts, legitimately comes across as one of the nicest and most intelligent and articulated men in rock. No matter what band he was in at the very least you knew the album would be solid and it’s not hyperbole to say he’s one of the greatest rock vocalists of all time. No longer do I have a merely passing interest in all things Dio. He is one of my favorite singers and personalities in rock ‘n’ roll and Black Sabbath and Dio are two of my favorite bands of all time.
Literally just yesterday I was watching Dio’s Evil or Devine concert DVD courtesy of Netflix and now here I am writing about his passing. It’s all a bit hard to take. Ronnie had been battling stomach cancer since last year so I think everyone knew this outcome was a real possibility but it doesn’t lessen the impact or shock.
I don’t really know what else to say other than rest in peace, Ronnie James Dio. You will be missed greatly.
UPDATE:
A number of my metal blog brothers have posted their own thoughts & feelings on this tragic situation. Here are the links. I will post more as they come to my attention:
- http://heavymetaladdiction.com/2010/05/16/r-i-p-ronnie-james-dio/
- http://demolishmag.wordpress.com/2010/05/17/dio-r-i-p-reflections-on-a-metal-legend/
- http://hardrockhideout.com/2010/05/16/rest-in-peace-ronnie-james-dio-july-10-1942-may-16-2010/
- http://metalmark.blogspot.com/2010/05/remembering-ronnie-james-dio.html
- http://metalodyssey.wordpress.com/2010/05/16/ronnie-james-dio-rest-peacefully-and-rock-with-the-angels/
- http://themetalfiles.wordpress.com/2010/05/17/thanks-senor-dio/
- http://tokyo5.wordpress.com/2010/05/18/dio-rip/
Here is one of my most favorite songs that Dio ever sang on– Black Sabbath’s “I”. Amazing vocal performance.
