Dio:Sacred Heart

Dio:Sacred Heart

1985

Warner Bros Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. King of Rock and Roll  2. Sacred Heart  3. Another Lie  4. Rock 'n' Roll Children  5. Hungry for Heaven  6. Like the Beat of a Heart  7. Just Another Day 8. Fallen Angels  9. Shoot, Shoot


Alright, now that we're done w/ the Dinosaur Jr section, we're moving onto a random Dio record...I don't especially 100% know why I have this...I think I found it for a buck or two at FYE and they used to always do these weird deals where you had to pick a certain amount of records to get the discount (The whole "Buy four get 50% off the total purchase" thing)...I was also mildly amused by the stiff-and-cute dragon on the cover, which immediately drew me in...But ultimately, I'm not a huge Dio fan or anything...I mean, I mightily enjoy Dio-era Black Sabbath, and I salute Ronnie's unguarded, wholesale embrace of the dorky fantasy genre...

I always get the impression that ones appreciation of Dio is in direct proportion to their time spent rolling D20...See, I've only played D&D maybe two times in my life...I'm fascinated by all the colorful dice and the large rulebooks full of monsters, but actually playing the game is a pretty painful experience for me...Similarly, I appreciate the album covers and the sentiments of a Dio record but it's not often that I'm cranking "Sacred Heart" on my hi-fi...On a strictly intellectual level, I usually find myself listening to Dio from a safe, ironic distance...

Oh the other hand, I grew up on big, dumb hard rock...It's one of my favorite genres...Y'see, on a typical Friday Night, you won't find me stroking my goatee to the Arcade Fire's latest self-important masterpiece...No, I'm too busy rocking out to Kiss! Therefore, there's definitely a part of me that's into the larger-than-life riffs and fist-pumping grandeur... As a result, I'm often torn on the merits of Dio...Especially a Dio album that's often cited as being a bit of a sell-out and arguably his first stumble...But I don't know about those accusations...It pretty much sounds like Dio doing what he's always done...Singing grandly of wizards, dragons and rainbows over orc-ish power chords...I doubt even the reportedly egotistical Dio had any aspirations of being a pretty-boy, hair metal pin-up, so I have a hard time believing he was trolling for hits..Besides, if Dio saw a troll he would kill it with a sword...

 That said, I do have distinct memories of hearing "Rock & Roll Children" on the radio back in the day, but that was nothing unusual...The 80's were a pretty popular era for him due to hits like "Holy Diver" and "Rainbow in the Dark"...I'm betting the whole 80's "Satanic Panic" thing had something to do with his popularity too..I remember Ronnie, in particular, was someone they would always single out as being a...gasp...Satanist...

Probably due to his invention of the FUCKIN' METAL HANDS!!! WHOOOO-OOO-OOO!!!!!

And if you were a Heavy Metal musician back in the 80's and the moral majority labelled you a Satanist that was the best possible endorsement you could get...You could scare the shit out of your Parents and freak out the others kids at school via the simple act of  buying a Dio record...Still, the D&D kids knew better...Ronnie James Dio wasn't an evil figure...His alignment probably would have been "chaotic good"...Dio was the romantic hero in his mind, battling evil dragons and rescuing Rock & Roll Children by smashing crystal balls...

(Oh yea...You must watch this video...)

And that's why this stuff is so enduring...There's always going to be dorkus 15-year-olds obsessed with warriors and elves who will be able to relate to Dio, cos they're all sword-wielding heroes in their own minds too.. It's nice to get away from a world that's always beating you down and retreat into the misty, magical worlds of a nerdy Dio album...Besides, "Hungry for Heaven" will always rule because it's really just a rewrite of "Baba O' Riley"...

So I'm all for it...If you're a fantasy-based metal-head, you're going to hear this as an album packed with stadium-ready, inspirational anthems and if you're a non-believer, it''ll work as a freakin' hilarious comedy album..So either way, you can't lose...

Here's "Hungry for Heaven" by Dio...Enjoy...