Ex-Dio Drummer Calls Rock Hall ‘Bunch Of F****n’ A**holes’ For Not Inducting Ronnie James Dio

Tilly antoine, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
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Ronnie James Dio is one of the greatest metal vocalists and frontmen to ever perform, and yet, the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame has continued to ignore all his work. During a recent appearance on the Talkin’ ‘Bout Rock podcast, ex-Dio drummer Vinny Appice spoke to his disgust with the Rock Hall for ignoring Ronnie.

Specifically speaking to him and Ronnie being left out of Black Sabbath‘s 2016 induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, Appice said (all quotes transcribed by Blabbermouth): “‘Cause they’re a bunch of fuckin’ assholes. I mean, Sabbath wasn’t in it for how long? They [finally] got in it [16 years ago].” He continued:

“I’ve been to that place, and there wasn’t really much of Ronnie in there either. It’s, like, Ronnie? C’mon! Rainbow, ‘Man On The Silver Mountain’, ‘Long Live Rock ‘N’ Roll’. And then Sabbath, the ‘Heaven And Hell’ album and the rest of the albums we did, and then Dio, and he’s only in there for this 12-inch square placemat or something. They don’t mention me. Hey, you know what? I’ve been around… I’m still around from all these years. I guess it doesn’t count for anything.”

One of the other folks on the podcast episode brought up that Ronnie’s album Holy Diver has influenced a great number of musicians; Appice said the following in regards to this point:

“That should be in it. That should be in it… I meet people, like, ‘Oh, man. ‘Holy Diver’.’ Dave Grohl, he was totally influenced by that album. He even went to Sound City [studios] to record their album, Nirvana, because there was a platinum ‘Holy Diver’ on the wall, and they said, ‘That’s it. We’ve gotta record here. This album was done here.’ It was a great influence on so many people.”

It is a damn shame how the Rock Hall has overlooked Ronnie James Dio. Do you think the Rock Hall should do something in Ronnie’s honor? You can check out the whole conversation featuring Vinny Appice below.