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#ClassicRock #deeppurple #livemusic #rocknroll
You may find the key that opens up your soul
Today, May 16, 2025 marks 15 years since Ronnie James Dio has passed away. Let us all raise a virtual glass in his memory.
Pete Pardo of Sea of Tranquility also commemorates RJD:
On a personal note, truly yours had the privilege of meeting Ronnie James Dio in person on a couple of occasions. Among his many talents, he possessed this rare ability of being able to talk to a fan, and within a couple of minutes, make you feel like you are the most important person in the world to him.
Rest in peace, Ronnie.
Thanks to ABC Radio for the reminder.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Around the time he caught Ritchie’s and Roger’s eyes and ears, his voice and style was at a peak in versatility.
https://youtu.be/2iV3ixpNcdU
I know that it were only the Rainbow/Black Sabbath/DIO (the band)-eras that followed which turned him into the heavy rock god that remains adored to this day, but that early versatility fell victim to him only “singing in character” as time went on. It did pay the bills and he had been struggling for a while when Blackmore’s call beckoned (he was already in his early 30s when he joined Rainbow and nearly 40 when he joined Sabbath).
I always loved this here:
https://youtu.be/UabY4xb_Pjs
Blackmore, at the end of their relationship, mocked Dio for “his little girlie voice when he sang high” and it is true that Dio could not belt out a falsetto in a Lou Gramm, Brian Johnson or Graham Bonnet gravelly style, but I really liked the tender and – dare I say it – feminine quality in his voice when he sang in a higher register.
Did you know he had a son from his first marriage (the marriage with Wendy – whom Ritchie never liked – remained childless), I didn’t:
https://www.saitenkult.de/2015/08/30/dan-padavona/
I once saw Dio with a couple of early teenage fan girls not more than 13/14 doing their valiant best to look a couple of years older, he ushered them from Rainbow’s backstage area back into the audience before a Rainbow gig and he did not give the appearance of a leering, groupie-devouring rock star, but more of a kind paternal teacher at a school excursion seeing that everyone gets home safely, all smiles and attentive to them, without any apparent ulterior motives. I think that ties in with what Nick wrote.
May 16th, 2025 at 21:51Yes indeed, 15 years and counting. I always think of Ronnie when in a musical world. Rest easy Sir.
May 16th, 2025 at 22:07I do remember Dan Padavona the son of Ronnie giving a passionate plea in his speech at Ronnie’s funeral. “Please people, get a second opinion if in doubt about an illness”, something like that from my memory. A harrowing situation that has befallen others as well. I also think of Frank Zappa there as I recall Frank saying something similar.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/jun/01/ronnie-james-dio-memorial
May 17th, 2025 at 00:47Pete Pardo of Sea of tranquility (one of the best shows on You tube when it comes to talking about classic/progg rock) said that when he listens to Stargazer even to this day he´s in heaven doesnt get any better than that..and i tend to agree with him.
Cheers Ronnie!!!
May 17th, 2025 at 08:39One question: to be precise, which town in Algarve does Big Ian live in? in September I’m passing through there…I’d like to meet him..
May 17th, 2025 at 10:25@5
AndreA, and when you do find Ian, throw his address in the trash so the man can get some well-deserved rest, far away from the hordes of whining women who propose to him daily
May 17th, 2025 at 15:52Very unique voice that is one of kind.
May 17th, 2025 at 18:40God bless his soul.
Peace
AndreA, you shouldn’t have publicized your planned home invasion chez Senhor Gillan here. Now you’ve got fearsome Karin on the ball and she is setting up picketing control posts in the Algarve AS I WRITE!!! No chance that you will pass her barricades.
https://youtu.be/PUlQNsl4Qvk
Karin is to Ian what Brienne of Tarth was in GoT to the Stark lineage!
https://images.ctfassets.net/mgl1kxuxn1e1/3u5esRMgU0usMhtVG9Ddw/7294daf58a6c6a4f41e2bf31f12ca901/BrienneOfTarth.gif
May 18th, 2025 at 01:02Really, when you listen to everything, it turns out that, yes, Ronnie James Dio was the best singer ever.
May 18th, 2025 at 03:28Gad!
Wonderful.
Most consistent vocalist I ever saw live, immense power, just sublime.
May 18th, 2025 at 06:32I liked his voice, my experience as with Coverdale’s voice when I first heard it I got goosebumps in an instant.
His voice, besides having power, also has a warmth that few have. concert examples Rainbow “On Stage” album when he sings “You’re the man” while the audience responds with approval, eventually increasing to “We’re all the maaaan!!!” while the band starts again with “Man on the silver mountain”When an operetta tenor from Milan’s La Scala, his role model, Mario Lamza. Or Live Evil with Sabbath when Dio is left alone with drums beating one … and a bass that slowly “gallops” in E… and Dio moves with the audience…”…on and on, on and on it’s Heaven and hell…(dum-ta-ta,dum-ta-ta,dum-ta-ta)….on and on, on and on, it’s HEAVEN AND HELL…” and it all echoes from his voice…perfection…and then…”than the little black shape looked up at me…” Nature gave him a fantastic voice, becoming over time an idol to many as a musician and as a person. His lyrics relied on medieval fantasy themes, he would sing with intensity, passion and emotion powerful hard rock anthems and sensitive ballads, I love his Rainbow phase the most, Ritchie’s guitar magic inspired by classical music (Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven) and Dio’s voice became the trademark of Rainbow and hard rock.
Frustrated by the fact that, regardless of the undeniable individual quality and equal importance in all projects in and around the group, he always remains in the shadow of the great guitarist and his ego, he decides to leave. Ritchie announced that he wants a more commercial sound and that there are enough myths, legends about swords and magic.
May 18th, 2025 at 08:34Fortunately for the music scene, that period coincided with the search for a new singer for Black Sabbath, . That collaboration gave birth to a monument to heavy metal, the album “Heaven & Hell” and “Mob Rules” more Rainbow than BS because Ronnie, unlike Ozzy, knows how to sing … I like the Dio album “Holy Diver”. Later he entered the heavy metal clichés, I like one-sided music …
I was nice to grow up with the voices of Elvis, Gillan, Coverdale, Plant, Byron, McCartney, R Stewart, Freddie Mercury, Elton John, of course Ronnie James Dio
@5: Leave him alone.
May 18th, 2025 at 10:02@10: I love all those things you mention. They are also a perfect example on how these bands used dynamics in their songs and performances. Something that seems to have been totally forgotten these days.
May 18th, 2025 at 10:04@8 & @12
Uwe, I just try to protect Ian’s privacy!
And as you can see in @12 some very important admin-guy agrees with me completely!
May 18th, 2025 at 10:53@ 11- good comments on Ronnie in your assessment of his performances. I have a 27 year gap between my two experiences with him in concert as Sabbath’s singer. Aside from the fact that in 1980 his voice was at its prime as he was younger, I preferred his overall performance in 2007. Much more control and less of the theatrics. Plus he wasn’t up against Ozzy fans calling out rubbish and booing at times as at the 1980 concert. Ronnie was under a lot of pressure in 1980 and my memory of that is that he appeared to be over singing at times, probably nervous and many songs were not his for half of that concert. Sabbath aka Heaven and Hell had so many more Dio era songs to perform in 2007, no 1970’s Sabbath and it was grand. His presence on stage was quite charismatic in 2007, a wonderful performance all round. I have been fortunate to have witnessed a few of the great vocalists in rock/hard rock: Dio, Gillan, Plant, Daltrey and Bruce Dickinson. That poetic drama and pause and elegance and timing is second to none compared to many singers that I have heard in other bands over the years. Freddie Mercury had that too of course and a few other lead vocalist that were not in the harder rock bands. All from the earlier eras too, that says a lot in my book. Good to see you also mention David Byron, a wonderful singer with superb elegance, poise and plenty of dramatic delivery. Cheers.
May 18th, 2025 at 12:35Uwe Karin Svante
May 18th, 2025 at 13:00It’s could be you think I am a lady but not.
I just a male Gillan fan that would like to drink a beer with him..
That’s all
Too little credit is given to his late 50s crooner roots.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew8MUT00aK0
They never went away, it was always there if you listened closely. Put him in the right musical setting and the results were astounding:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhlGa9AH8ws
Yacht Rock Dio!
You’re missing a lot of the man if you only start with the Rainbow debut (which ROLLING STONE magazine derided at the time as “Vocalist Ronnie James Dio has the standard rock singer approach down pat: Plenty of lung power, but little individual style.”).
[I can’t believe that I read this review last 50 years ago in Kinshasa in the library of our school (we had Rolling Stone issues there) and it has remained with me to this day. I can even remember where I sat while doing so. I’m hopelessly weird.
]
May 18th, 2025 at 15:18Rising and HeavenAndHell were among the first records I bought. God love of my life at first listen. I remember the first tour with Craig Goldie in Milan. Their truck with all the equipment had an accident along the highway and the delay to set up the stage was so huge that a shop in Milan offered all the equipment and musical instruments. The concert started late, around 11pm and finished after 1.00am. It was fantastic. I remember the arena full of fans, the concert started with STAND UP AND SHOUT and the chorus with the chorus made it last more times than the record: everyone with arms raised screaming “s.u. and s.”!!! Awesome!!
May 18th, 2025 at 16:03@16
“would like to drink a beer with him.”
Well, AndreA, don’t we all……
Even though I would prefer to drink a very nice cup of coffee with him!
But we have to respect his privacy.
May 18th, 2025 at 16:49I have never been famous, never will be, but I can nevertheless imagine how draining it must be, well not with a decent bloke like you, but all the marriage proposals, sighs, hearts etc
@5
Are you serious or you are just looking for trouble.
He lives in
69 bloodsucker st in the house of blue light by the lake where smoke is on the water.
Enjoy Portugal my friend.
May 18th, 2025 at 16:53Cheers
It’s a pity there’s no tribute bands doing the rounds.His music deserves to be played live
May 18th, 2025 at 16:55Didn’t he reveal his address long ago?
https://youtu.be/pWzrM808OWw
Or was it in Perfect St where that football team Rangers came from?
May 18th, 2025 at 19:29“Rising and Heaven And Hell were among the first records I bought.”
(helpfully and with an understanding voice) What went wrong then, AndreA? Couldn’t you afford some proper and nice music?
https://youtu.be/RpoilY-PmU0
https://youtu.be/syeleV58n60
(OMG – Alice was incredibly hot!)
https://youtu.be/qHGfwxFRWSg
Speaking of great Italian songs, I really dug this on Saturday at the ESC, very Bowie/Ziggy Stardust meets Lou Reed:
https://youtu.be/Vlu5XXDwHos
#5 was a good result, but I was rooting for them to win! The Austrian winner had an impressive falsetto, but the song was theatrically bloated, yet unremarkable. Typically talent show/The Voice contestant fodder: “Look how high he can sing!” Lame.
And why those three gals did so badly, is beyond me, that was a jaunty little “Queen meets Spice Girls” number, perfect for ESC, well-sung, and actually ideal as an ESC entry.
https://youtu.be/Ur5qRh0BaHk
I will now wallow in my good memories of the ESC …
https://youtu.be/h4-lKMGII_k
I have it from a reliable source that Ritchie really wanted to perform with Bucks Fizz at the 1981 ESC, he had been rehearsing their choreography for years, those hips don’t lie!
https://youtu.be/n4oUaErqr6s
May 18th, 2025 at 21:49I do remember highlighting a little while ago here that Ronnie was much more than a hard rock/metal singer and I was jumped on for that. Sheesh, the mind boggles. Cheers.
May 18th, 2025 at 22:23Gender issues and whatever AndreA currently identifies as aside, I’m totally fine if he proposes to Ian Gillan on an Algarve beach – Ian being a still attractive widower and all. Free your mind.
https://youtu.be/obCFAPsSnKE
Pics or you weren’t there, AndreA!
May 19th, 2025 at 00:17I don’t think I would enjoy talking to Ian Gillan for too long as I don’t like beer, horrible stuff, plus if I cannot talk about reeeeeligion, politics and music, what is left to talk about. Other than all that he possibly could enjoy waffling on about gardening, a little handy work with the wood working tools and some home maintenance and to finish off we could even just talk about Australia. Fascinating stuff. On second thoughts, count me in. Cheers
May 19th, 2025 at 00:44I cannot resist, sorry Karin. After departing Denmark to meet Ian Gillan in Portugal, Karin sits down for a chat and a cup of coffee or tea with Mr Gillan. A lovely warm day it is too, sitting outside in the sun in a lovely garden setting of delight. Ian respectfully states that he will not discuss reeeeeeeeeligion, politics and surprisingly Deep Purple. After a slight pause and a moment of disappointment for Karin, she replies ‘that’s ok Ian, we will just chat about anything you want’, and there lies Karin’s big mistake. Ian with a glint in his eye then says, ‘I will tell you who I will talk about though, he was initially from Tupelo, Mississippi and then Memphis. Tennessee. I was only a wee lad back in the 1950’s…………………………………………………………………………………………………four hours later Karin drags herself out of Portugal and heads for home. Poor René and Anton upon her arrival back home. ……………..Four hours of nothing else but Ian admiring the butter tenor, oh dear. Cheers.
May 19th, 2025 at 01:54@ 23 Uwe
I like your culture in Italian music. You mentioned three nice songs, however I distinguish well between what I like to just listen to and what I like to listen to and then buy. Italian music has never excited me that much, it is a culture without blues and without RnR.
I admire Lucio Corsi a lot but I think I can’t digest listening to an entire album.
When I bought those two records I was about 12 years old. before I was fascinated by the Rockets, whose homonymous record I still consider really nice. as much as I would like to meet Gillan, obviously it was between serious and facetious: I am satisfied with the time for a beer and a cigarette. Just a greeting
Ciaoo
May 19th, 2025 at 08:28@27
Arrhhh man you made me laugh very hard
I can promise you I am the woman for making Ian talk about anything else than the butter-tenor!
We could discuss the many benefits in coffee!
Or we could talk about eating fish compared to beef!
Or what about his golden sneakers at that concert?
And we could also talk about the Higwaystar.com! I would love to hear his opinion about all the brilliant talk in here
I would even talk about Caramba, just to stop him gushing about EP!
And 4 hours you say!
May 19th, 2025 at 08:39I really don’t think anyone can talk about EP for 4 hours! It’s a quickly exhausted topic!
Ah yes, I can see it now, how Frau Verndal just melts in a sea of endorphins as Ian whispers to her: “Would you like me to show you my original Sun Studios Elvis acetates?” This would be a courtship & seduction scene of Hollywood Dream Factory proportions …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2NtAuuEYwg
https://storage.canalblog.com/17/30/363481/82014417_p.jpg
PS: Huh, an Aussie who doesn’t like beer (served in pitchers with ice naturally …)? The mind boggles – no wonder they extradited him to Tasmania!
May 19th, 2025 at 10:20“I do remember highlighting a little while ago here that Ronnie was much more than a hard rock/metal singer and I was jumped on for that.”
By me? I never questioned his ability to do more, frankly I seem to be the only guy here who is more deeply acquainted with his work prior to Rainbow and Roger Glover while everyone else seems to pretend that his musical career started in 1975 with Blackmore, finding continuing relevance with Sabbath in 1979. All I have said is that Ronnie painted himself into a musical and lyrical corner EVEN THOUGH he could have done so much more.
PS: What did the seasick juvenile penguin say as he was jumped about by a kangaroo in its pouch: “How I hate these student exchange programs!”
May 19th, 2025 at 10:35Mr G lives a few streets away from me in Dorset
May 19th, 2025 at 10:48With Him I could also speak about football..
May 19th, 2025 at 11:57https://youtu.be/U25KuXdnyiY?si=qf6Ja-RliTJjkoRD
I still miss Ronnie very much. He was the voice of Heavy Metal. I remember just getting into music listing to Black Sabbath, Rainbow. Then Dio the band was formed and i first saw Ronnie on his Holy Diver tour in 1983 @ the Tower Theater in Philadelphia and i was just blown away with his voice and the performance of the show that it will always be one of the greatest times in my life.
May 19th, 2025 at 12:09Uwe
May 19th, 2025 at 12:19Because you follow italian pop music, do you know this? https://youtu.be/JRH_uNRechw?si=VuZ2ADwJTS4qOLR4
@31 Uwe
May 19th, 2025 at 13:25He probably just did what he liked most..
Now I do, AndreA, and I like it! It’s basically bel canto singing and I’ve always dug that (hear Karin in the background catcalling “Butter tenors all!”). Not everything has to be sung in dead-serious Tolkienesque old wizard storyteller mode.
I found it unfortunate how he always downplayed and belittled his pre-Rainbow career. If you take just a little interest in the history of pop and rock, there are some real nuggets in his early oeuvre …
Rhythm & Blues:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezjqz_ezZPs
Quirky psychedelia (written by himself and not unlike some of the stuff Episode Six were doing at the time):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_5x_BW5Lhw
Or this here which echoes early The Who:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJWcUfYScXw
If Ronnie’s image wasn’t so awfully relegated to the dungeons & dragons heavy metal scene (which doesn’t seem terribly interested in his early work, I must say) like the porn section behind curtains in a seedy VHS shop, someone would have compiled all this stuff long ago and put it into a nice boxed set to show that there was more to him than stargazers in heaven & hell doing the holy dive. It deserves to be presented comprehensively to show the full breadth of his musicality.
May 19th, 2025 at 15:53A truly great human being and by far the best singer in Black Sabbath and Rainbow to name two bands he sang in. I will always listen to his music and remember his huge talent both as a musician and man.
May 19th, 2025 at 20:32Every musician paints themselves into a corner eventually. It is a human condition of sorts, it happens, that is the way it is. We end up with a very familiar well worn path. Some change genres in an attempt to diversify, a few others change instruments and so on. In popular music, which has its rather shorter limitations, many walk a well worn path and that is fine. It is a short life, an income is required and if they stay within their confines that is good for them too. Show me someone who doesn’t have an easily recognised formula. Nobody has to keep listening to their music, the same with actors and movies etc. Everyone has their golden moment or two in life even if they don’t ‘make it’ as the most popular and recognised trend or fad. Ronnie is no different to many other rock and pop musicians from different musical genres that I have seen or heard in my time. Easily recognised and sticking to the old tried and trusted formula and why not, it is their life. Cheers.
May 19th, 2025 at 23:43“Every musician paints themselves into a corner eventually.”
A suitably vast statement, Herr MacGregor, worthy of an Oceanic Continent! And which corner was that with David Bowie or Peter Gabriel exactly? Did David die as Ziggy Stardust and does Peter Gabriel reenact The Lamb Lies Down On Browadway on a regular basis? [Something was wrong with that coffee this morning. Maybe the palm civet responsible for your kopi luwak had some fermented alcoholic fruit before?]
Ronnie was a good singer and his care for fans laudable, but he ploughed a needlessly narrow artistic furrow from 1975 onwards, never straying from it. No one forced him to to sing thematically about the same stuff for 35 years, dress the way he did and and limit his musical output to regurgitating ideas from essentially three albums (Rising, Heaven & Hell + Holy Diver, though that already contained nothing new). If Ronnie is revered in metal circles (to which in a roundabout way we belong too, unfortunate and inaccurate as many here may deem that bracket), yet hardly known outside of them, then that is a reflection of his ( IMHO underselling) own artistic decisions and not the result of any limitations of his talent. I believe Dio was concerned that any sidestep from his chosen field of occupation would have damaged his “metal credibility” with a less than tolerant fan base, hence he clung on to what he already had.
When Purple toured the Concerto in Germany we took along a befriended couple who were barely acquainted with the name Deep Purple and knew absolutely nothing of Ronnie James Dio, Rainbow or Black Sabbath, much less DIO the band. They were the kind of people you would perhaps meet at a Bryan Ferry gig. Anyway after the Concerto gig they were so-so about the experience, but my friend’s (then) wife said their absolute highlight was: “That old little guy who looked like a munchkin, he was extremely good and powerful. Great voice!” This was Ronnie leaving a lasting impression on the totally uninitiated on the basis of four-and-a-half songs (2x Butterfly Ball in the Roger set, 2 DIO songs played by Purple and a verse in SOTW) during a Purple gig with Ian Gillan, he was that good and convincing. So just maybe, he should have stretched a bit more artistically since 1975.
May 20th, 2025 at 12:51Note the word ‘eventually’ Uwe. Bowie sounds like Bowie when he open his mouth, as in singing. Same with Gabriel. That is their instrument as we know, it all starts to sounds rather similar after a while and that is ok, they are humans. I am not only talking about a character role as in pantomime etc, Ziggy to the Thin White Duke etc, plus that is especially from their earlier days. I still listened to some of the later Bowie and Gabriel, their better days were well behind them. It sounds like they are spent. Ronnie chose to stay within that genre earlier in his hard rock slash metal career for a reason. As we know he was around for quite a while treading the boards before he decided to do that. Bowie and Gabriel took a little while longer after they ‘made it’, before they started resting on their laurels, from what I observed. It all becomes a little like a treadmill. Once Peter Gabriel did those mid 80’s albums, has anything really changed after that. Bowie was playing it safe too from about the 90’s era onwards. It is what it is. Everyone has their niche. Cheers.
May 20th, 2025 at 23:31You’re right, this really shows Bowie
https://youtu.be/y-JqH1M4Ya8
still sounding (and attempting to look) like
https://youtu.be/kMYg_Ra4cr8
Zero development, just like AC/DC. Stuck in a treadmill and resting on his laurels. Also “playing it very safe”.
May 21st, 2025 at 12:56I love ♥ AC/DC just for their trademark sound..
May 21st, 2025 at 13:40One of those bands that you can’t criticize: you either love them or hate them, there’s nothing in between to say
And to me they sound moronic! Can’t help it, always did, ever since I saw them live in 1976 opening for Rainbow. I always imagine that AC/DC sounds to me like hard rock must sound to a person that doesn’t really like hard rock.
May 21st, 2025 at 22:09@43
AndreA, tell me: Bon Scott or Brian Johnson?
May 22nd, 2025 at 05:41@44
“I always imagine that AC/DC sounds to me like hard rock must sound to a person that doesn’t really like hard rock.”
Please listen to this and think: “it’s pop, not hard rock” – over and over again, and I guess you’ll be fine!
https://youtu.be/g-qkY2yj4_A?si=a3tGrFh5eINNj_Vq
)
(With the legendary Bon Scott
And then dive into this one:
https://youtu.be/3f2g4RMfhS0?si=sQInM6FYYAdGBq1o
(Also BS)
And finally:
May 22nd, 2025 at 08:20https://youtu.be/FrFvNphZ5BQ?si=JcZxnKQW5x74ZG1f
(Brian Johnson, not bad either! But remember, it’s pop!)
@43 Karin
with both; I think the band changed their musical style depending on the singer. I like all the albums with Bon, my favorite is Powerage. Bon is a free dog on the sidewalk but I think my favorite album of all is Flick Of The Switch: it’s a bomb, it really rocks. I’m not crazy about all the albums with Brian but in their favor there is the less dated production. An iconic band that now also belongs to the past. Today I don’t consider them anymore since the drummer and the bassist, two historical members of the band, have left: for me they are no longer AC/DC.
Ciao Karin
May 22nd, 2025 at 08:37I’ve always liked Phil Rudd’s style. His way of playing seems easy because “everyone” says that AC/DC always played only four chords. But it’s not like that: for me he is the most difficult drummer to copy, his way of playing with the counter-times on the cymbals, snare drum and bass drum is unique and inimitable.
May 22nd, 2025 at 08:42@45 !!!
Karin
with both; I think the band changed their musical style depending on the singer. I like all the albums with Bon, my favorite is Powerage. Bon is a free dog on the sidewalk but I think my favorite album of all is Flick Of The Switch: it’s a bomb, it really rocks. I’m not crazy about all the albums with Brian but in their favor there is the less dated production. An iconic band that now also belongs to the past. Today I don’t consider them anymore since the drummer and the bassist, two historical members of the band, have left: for me they are no longer AC/DC.
Ciao Karin
May 22nd, 2025 at 09:01Bon Scott era any day, because it was rawer, the original and the songs are better. I loathed them fifty years ago when they first appeared on tv here in Australia. They were played to death everywhere and anywhere, that didn’t help my appreciation for them at that time. I was heavily into the British rock bands. However over the next few years ACDC grew on me a little. Not that I owned any albums other than the live album If You Want Blood, back in my younger party days. They were original and sounded like no one else, something I have always put a lot of emphasis on. Bon was a gentle soul and incredibly down to earth. He would help anyone and he had NO airs or graces about him. A shame he passed too early, however it seemed to be his destiny. He was a free spirit, a bohemian character, a troubadour even. Let there be rock. Below is Bon in his earlier band Fraternity. Cheers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEDzyFS0Avs
May 22nd, 2025 at 10:12Not that my heart’s in it…but some comments need a closer look I think.
I do not consider AC DC pop. I’d rather say it’s blues based rock’n’roll. Yes, yes, I know, rock’n’roll is always blues based (The Blues had a Baby…and They Called it Rock’n’Roll – a great song btw!) but with them it’s pretty obvious. More so than with…say…a lot of others. Plus they got a swing that’s unique.
And you don’t have to love them or hate them. I manage to just like them…but can’t stand a two hours listening to their stuff.
May 22nd, 2025 at 10:56@47
“it’s a bomb, it really rocks.”
– SSSHHHHHH AndreA! I’m trying to convince Uwe that AC/DC is not rock but pop
I think I’ll succeed if you help me!
“drummer and the bassist, two historical members of the band, have left: for me they are no longer AC/DC.”
– ohh I get your drift here!
But Angus, the very interesting banjo-player still shows up!
I loved Bon Scott, because to me it sounded so easy for him to sing!
I do adore Brian Johnson though, but that’s more his personality, not that I don’t like his singing, but he really has to strain his voice.
I’ve seen BJ in some BBC program about cars, and hear him speak normally really shows how much he is twisting his voice.
I read an article in an Australian newspaper, regarding how the brothers (before Malcom died) liked to relax, did they hit the clubs and drinking their brains out?
– gotta love that 
May 22nd, 2025 at 12:48Well, Angus answered: “every Sunday we meet at our sister’s for tea”
@48
“I’ve always liked Phil Rudd’s style.”
May 22nd, 2025 at 12:51– well, AndreA, me being an illiterate into music, I have no idea what you mean, so here is my girlie comment: man he was cute when he was young
Not pop to me at all, Karin, sorry, they have a few songs in a pop’ish vein like “You Shook Me All Night Long”, but for the most part AC/DC are rock, not heavy metal, but hard rock.
There is a key difference between pop and rock: chords tend to change more frequently in pop songs (there are not necessarily more of them, but they are often played for only one bar or even a half-bar until another chord change comes along), that makes them sound jaunty, tuneful and harmonically lively. AC/DC tend to hang on to chords before changing. Definitely rock. Rock tends to move in two-bar steps or even (much) longer (but there are exceptions of course).
Examples for songs with rapid chord changes:
https://youtu.be/x_ksSEONVyc
https://youtu.be/j13oJajXx0M
Good pop done well is a skillful craft, chord change-wise it is a lot more demanding than blues or hard/heavy rock which tend to move a lot more sluggish in harmony.
But even applying rock standards, I hear no elegance in AC/DC’s rock which is to me a key factor in music. Primalism doesn’t go very far with me, I tire of it quickly. For the same reason, ZZ Top never floored me either, I find them instrumentally and harmonically largely uninteresting.
I’m more the type who digs something like this:
https://youtu.be/ejorQVy3m8E
https://youtu.be/9IqiRY60ZDE
https://youtu.be/gT1HAo53224
https://youtu.be/9s3sFidHwgU
https://youtu.be/ABbBTbB3Bxc
I guess you’ll hear that it is a music that moves harmonically more than AC/DC does.
Of course, even DP aren’t really a busy band harmonically and as frequent chord changes go, but they are still within my range of tolerance – if their music moved less though I certainly wouldn’t like them as much (not much of a Mistreated fan for that reason). Blame it on me having grown up with The Beatles who were really busy chord changers.
May 22nd, 2025 at 14:02@51
“I do not consider AC DC pop. I’d rather say it’s blues based rock’n’roll.”
– well, ok, but compared to hard rock, I found the term ‘pop’ to be less offensive
“I manage to just like them…but can’t stand a two hours listening to their stuff.”
May 22nd, 2025 at 16:49– I like them! When I’m cleaning the whole
@51
“I’d rather say it’s blues based rock’n’roll.”
– well ok, I found ‘pop’ less offensive!
“I manage to just like them…but can’t stand a two hours listening to their stuff.”
May 22nd, 2025 at 16:55– well I like them! And cleaning the whole house, makes my tempo go up, and when I am finished I have heard enough for a while!
But I do think BS’s voice is easier to digest, at least in my head, because it sounds more natural than the voice of BJ. Listening too much to him I get a sore throat
@54
Somehow I knew you would bring up a definition of pop vs rock
That’s ok, I don’t need the definition in details (but it’s so nice of you to provide some insight here 🫡) I just know what I like and not like!
What is amusing though are all the fans of AC/DC and their burning desire to make this sign all the time
whilst trying to look dangerously at the same time.
May 22nd, 2025 at 17:00Instead they should make this beautiful sign:
I’m with Max, AC/DC in small doses is ok, I think Hell’s Bells is a classic, I have difficulties telling a lot of their other songs apart.
I don’t get the pop association at all, Status Quo with their preference for major key songs, major key solos, harmony vocals of Rossi and Parfitt and more frequent chord changes (Quo might often employ only three or four chords, but between those they change around a lot more often than AC/DC who tend to follow the “root note and then a riff over it”-recipe) are much more pop than AC/DC ever were.
Max makes a good case: the (rhythm &) blues-basis of AC/DC. Now Quo have that too – a lot of their songs are glorified 12 bar -, but they give it a pop twist every time, inter alia because Francis Rossi has a folk/pop and not a rock or blues voice and because he is adamant – unlike Angus Young – to solo in major keys plus Parfitt’s non-standard poppy tunings on his trademark rhythm guitar (he’s a bit like Keith Richards in that way). It explains why Quo regularly had and have single hits and AC/DC doesn’t, their music isn’t really all that tuneful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrfTSJkh0fg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wI3tbBk1PA
So for more than two or three songs at a time, AC/DC are for me
– not instrumentally intricate enough to hold my attention (unlike DP),
– not elegant and dramatic enough in their metallic edge (unlike Judas Priest),
– not poppy and swinging enough (unlike Status Quo)
– and not really deep-bluesy enough (unlike Robin Trower, Ten Years After or Rory Gallagher).
Not that it matters, they have done plenty fine without me, but my CD collection features only a handful of AC/DC albums (which I never ever really listen to, you hear them often enough at rock gigs of other bands during intermissions) which is laughable because I generally make a habit of collecting all the works of bands I like – hell, I even have all the studio output of, say, Iron Maiden, The Doobie Brothers, Dr Hook & The Medicine Show, Rick Springfield (he changes chords often!), Scorpions and Aerosmith!
May 22nd, 2025 at 17:03The last time AC/DC sounded really poppy is quite a while back:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biaGJ_4rEzE&list=PLO1xu4274B4KQuMJ7j1pBfT0vo5xXjHr2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKp1vQ0qIJI&list=PLO1xu4274B4KQuMJ7j1pBfT0vo5xXjHr2&index=4
I actually like that type of poppy rock’n’roll somewhere between Stones, Quo and Slade better than the classic AC/DC sound which has always been way too garage and sparse for me.
May 22nd, 2025 at 21:30BTW: Brian can actually sing and not just scream if you let him and give him a melody:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gioRszD_fz4
Oh, and he can do pop too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgI1in3OZx0
I’m a teen of the 70s, I have a weak spot for all that glammy stuff. It’s more tuneful and fun than AC/DC to me. And the dance moves are better too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzp9RRf4dU8
Proper pop, Karin!
May 22nd, 2025 at 21:45@ 56 – Well, Angus answered: “every Sunday we meet at our sister’s for tea”
– gotta love that! “Tea? Am I seeing this clearly or am I hallucinating. I would have thought coffee would have been more what you loved Karin. Are we witnessing a changing of the guard here, no more coffee perhaps? Tea is good too, I do love a good cup of that and tea is a rather British thing in some aspects. I know what you mean, just joking.
Ha ha ha, you do come out with a few beauties Karin, I agree regarding ole Brian. Have you watched the Nick Mason doco with Brian. He is like a little boy in a lolly shop there with all of Nick’s classic cars. A wonderful episode. Did you watch Bon singing with the band Fraternity, that link I sent? He was a different singer there before ACDC. Cheers.
May 22nd, 2025 at 23:12“BJ. Listening too much to him I get a sore throat”
Not hard rock:
https://youtu.be/4TLUzxytC6E?si=BjNgVi1OZ5S98O5r
Just sayin’!
May 23rd, 2025 at 03:45@58
“I’m with Max,”
– you guys always stick together, like glue and some more glue!
Will there ever be someone who will stick with me…. Even when I’m wrong (as you guys so apparently are here
)
May 23rd, 2025 at 05:08@51
Finally!
Listened to ‘the Blues had a baby…’
Nice tune, no doubt about it
But then explain this bright blond who got together and had a baby and named that baby Pop!
May 23rd, 2025 at 10:52@59
Ha ha
We found the same song ‘Can I sit next to you girl’, as an example for no hard rock, but pop!
@60
he ought to keep screaming!
No no no….NO! BJ really can’t sing ‘Hold the line’
‘Can you do it’ – NICE
,
Mud: Tiger Feet, sounds like the guys behind Sweet!
And I do like pop Uwe! I have a weakness for this guy, apparently I’m the only one left in the world, but never mind…
https://youtu.be/z5a1xk61wfg?si=pT9Jr8Sg39HTYyXI
Yeah, I do know he is from one of the boybands who were haunting the music scene in the 90s! But I have never listened that much to it, so for me it still feels fresh and somewhat sweet and endearing
May 24th, 2025 at 16:12History class again:
Yes, fledgling AC/DC still had a strong pop ingredient, but they stripped that away as Bon Scott joined as new lead singer (even though he had Pop and even Prog roots himself:
https://youtu.be/WEDzyFS0Avs )
Let’s not forget that the elder sibling of Malcolm and Angus, George Young, had played music like this with fellow AC/DC producer Harry Vanda:
https://youtu.be/LDdMSY4bnKQ
Rock’n’Roll is basically derived from Blues and C&W, the two great types of North American folk music, black & white, ying & yang so to say. In Bill Haley’s Rock Around The Clock, the Country Swing (a form of C&W incorporating Big Band Swing which in itself had evolved from Blues too) influences were still very plain to hear:
https://youtu.be/VsAlSuEG26A
This here (incidentally featuring Roger Glover on production and bass in the studio)
https://youtu.be/82_jIzWHPUY
is a pure country song:
https://youtu.be/OPvARPfquPc
So C&W (as well as British Music Hall:
https://youtu.be/3kGO4iAuGac )
goes into what we today know as Pop as well.
May 24th, 2025 at 16:17@61
“Am I seeing this clearly or am I hallucinating. I would have thought coffee would have been more what you loved Karin.”
I certainly do prefer coffee, and my fingers had the hardest time writing the line!
But: I was quoting the Australian newspaper, and so far I haven’t been found guilty in quote cheating, so I wrote ‘tea’
And you know, Australians do prefer tea, I’m told, but maybe that is completely wrong?
“Are we witnessing a changing of the guard here, no more coffee perhaps?” – NO NO NO……N O !
My sweetheart is worried about me because he feels I have trouble sleeping because of too much coffee, but that is not the situation MacGregor!
I do love coffee, I really do, but I prefer a little but goooooood amount.
At the moment I’m drinking coffee with the alluring name: Irish Rum Cream, and I grind the coffeebeans before each portion I make, so it’s fresh and completely lovely
But I don’t overdo it! I get two cups in the morning and two in the afternoon. That’s not much, is it?
“Have you watched the Nick Mason doco with Brian.” – yes I have, and I enjoyed immensely watching BJ! I really like him as a person, which is also why I put up with the ‘sore throat’ thing
“Did you watch Bon singing with the band Fraternity, that link I sent?”
)
May 24th, 2025 at 16:42– yes I did, and thank you so much for the link!
(Sorry I forgot all about it, but again I blame Uwe for the quadrazillion links he sends my way every day! Not that I don’t enjoy them, but that is the reason I now and then zoom out
I was so thrilled to see him playing the recorder like a polite little schoolgirl (or boy…!) and I must say his voice is certainly something else than when he joined AC/DC!
Being honest and truthful I must say, I do prefer BS as a cheeky minister in ‘Let there be rock’
@66
Thank you so much for the link to the Easybeats! I’ve never before heard them, but I really dig their freshness and cheekiness! And they add a tiny bit of charming insanity
And also thanks for the link to SQ!
That voice of mr Rossi, ohh it’s mighty fine, or was indeed neat when he had that age!
But the one with Hank T, ohh would make me sob like a little girl!
I prefer sad lovesongs with some rythm and devil-may-care attitude.
Re the Beatles tune: entre nous: my mum actually liked AC/DC
May 24th, 2025 at 20:28Yes Karin, Bon Scott certainly found his niche with ACDC. The Fraternity band I had never heard of (Uwe will roll his eyes) even though they were an Australian band from the early 70’s. I was only told about that approximately five years ago and went in and had a listen. I have never had much interest in certain bands pre fame history, ACDC included, but we all knew of the George Young older brother scenario and the Scottish born family and Bon also being a Scott (no pun intended). What a surprise that was with his singing in Fraternity, for me at least. Everyone has to start somewhere and Bon like Ronnie James Dio enjoyed a total change in their careers and good for them. At least Bon will never be accused of not changing at all after the event. Ouch, that is a bit below the belt. Poor Ronnie. Cheers.
May 24th, 2025 at 22:55Karin @65, it’s perfectly fine to be a former Boyzone fangirl here, better than Led Zep I tell you. Your dark past means nothing to us. Ronan Keating is a very nice man and he has a pleasant voice, I like him.
Come on, be honest with us, you liked this here too, ‘fess up:
https://youtu.be/ZvMsp7s78Do
May 25th, 2025 at 00:20@70
At the moment Uwe I’m not fessing up to anything!
But I do remember the young man with the Cindy Crawford look-alike-wart
I remember some annoying young man screaming the chorus from the top of his lungs “I AAAAAAM THE OOOONE AND OOOOONLYYYYY”
To which I said: stop that or you will soon be ‘the one and lonely ‘
And about Ronan Keating, well, I am awaiting a commentary….
May 25th, 2025 at 10:00@ 66 – thanks Uwe for that link to The Beatles video, ‘Your Mother Should Know’. I have never viewed that before, I know the song and I have always really liked it. McCartney at his grandest in many ways. Everyone having fun, wouldn’t it be a blast to be in there somewhere as an ‘extra’. A classic moment in time, captured on film. Those were the days. Cheers.
May 26th, 2025 at 08:32I already commented on Ronan @70, Karin, did you leave your reading glasses in the garden?
He does credible Bob Seger and Kenny Rogers impressions.
https://youtu.be/EfGOphZE8Cc
https://youtu.be/C3BuITOx3Cs
https://youtu.be/HCBhN4LIyXQ
(He wrote it!)
Now don’t melt all over the floor, Karin, or you’ll slip!
May 26th, 2025 at 16:56I already commented on Ronan @70, Karin, did you leave your reading glasses in the garden?
He does credible Bob Seger and Kenny Rogers impressions.
https://youtu.be/EfGOphZE8Cc
(We’ve never had Jeanette Biedermann on these pages before, it was time, Max and his horde of frühreife Kinder will thank me profusely.)
https://youtu.be/C3BuITOx3Cs
https://youtu.be/HCBhN4LIyXQ
(He wrote it!)
Now don’t melt all over the floor, Karin, or you’ll slip!
May 26th, 2025 at 17:04@73 & 74
I never heard a lot of Ronan Keating and his band when they were new and fresh, I somehow listened much more to Purple (still do actually!)
So for me RK is this singer who really can sing, is charming and joyful.
But I can easily live without his music
Just like with Spice Girls, I didn’t listen to them either when they were launched, so when I accidentally hear some song with them, I don’t feel nauseated at all!
But Uwe, I don’t melt anywhere
What I do tend to melt over though is the brilliant Gillan (the band!)
May 26th, 2025 at 18:25Man they can move me, and Ian’s voice….oh woah!
But this comment belongs in another thread I believe.
I’m always intrigued by what people have done before and after they had/have joined a band I like. I’m a history buff.
My first two Tommy Bolin albums were Teaser and CTTB – from there I went back to James Gang’s Bang and Miami as well as Billy Cobham’s Spectrum, eventually arriving at Alphonse Mouzon’s Mind Transplant, Moxy’s debut and the two Zephyr albums with him.
https://youtu.be/fxqcyrxNIEQ
https://youtu.be/LuxL0R79wXU
I found it all equally rewarding and interesting.
Before Glenn joined DP I didn’t even know that a band like Trapeze existed.
https://youtu.be/Rm6F7cpOoC0
It was hard getting their records in Germany, I don’t think they ever toured here. Finding the Capatain Beyond albums with Rod Evans took quite a bit of time too.
https://youtu.be/BnJfzPhTxSE
This is all stuff I would have likely never heard had I not discovered it via the DP connection.
May 26th, 2025 at 21:48I liked Sporty Spice, Mel C could rock.
https://youtu.be/QUnXTAD9JR4
The footballer’s wife couldn’t and didn’t really sing either, her mic tended to be muted most of the time because she really couldn’t hold a note and was a bit tone-deaf, but I think she turned out to be a great fashion designer, nature always has a way of compensating.
May 27th, 2025 at 04:40@77
Hey don’t you completely forget Baby Spice, Ginger Spice and Scary Spice??
Well, never mind, none of them can carry a tune if their lives depended on it!
But you’re right re Mel C!
May 27th, 2025 at 10:21Unfortunately ‘the word on the street’ was quite negative re her looks.
I don’t get it though, I always found her to be the cutest, most natural.
But then again, my interests goes in another direction than women, so what do I know?
She should have eaten properly – one Karen Carpenter is quite enough -, but I always found her Brit-girl-next-door pretty.
Not a fan of Baby Spice at all and kind of oblivious to Ginger and Scary.
Girls Aloud were great with this number!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9Wv4SCBiTE
May 27th, 2025 at 23:18@79
Oh I do prefer this old Pointer Sister’s act:
https://youtu.be/rk7zhB_m4gc?si=YGUEtwYskQgBJRmQ
I hope I don’t add to peoples nightmares
May 28th, 2025 at 16:04