Other Great Metal Influences: Part 8, Rainbow

I happened to be listening to the Rainbow "Anthology" album the other day and it was responsible for this posting. While there are many who will argue that Rainbow was better in the 1980s, when Graham Bonnet and Joe Lynn Turner provided the lead vocals, many will also argue that their best period was in the mid to late 70s when Ronnie James Dio was the front man. After listening to the forementioned album, I have to agree with the latter case.

It is true that in the Bonnet/Lynn Turner eras, Rainbow had more success commercially. My compilation CDs have the hits "Fool For Your Loving" and "Since You've Been Gone" located somewhere on them with no tracks from the Dio era. However, many Rainbow officianados have equated "Man On the Silver Mountain" and "Long Live Rock and Roll" with those other hits even if the charts didn't. My argument and it is agreed by many, is that the Dio era was their most creative period and it is why I have chosen to include it here.

When Rainbow was first formed in 1975, the band's creator, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, brought his love of classical music which fused with lead singer Ronnie James Dio's love for the medieval themes of swords and sorcery. This proved to be a winning combination for the band which gave them a unique sound that did not lose it's hard rocking edge. Further proof can be heard in the early Rainbow albums such as "Rising."

In the mid 1980s, long after Dio's departure from Rainbow, more and more heavy metal bands began to copy the medieval theme first started by Rainbow. Ronnie James Dio spear headed this theme himself at the time when he founded and fronted his own band Dio where he achieved commercial success of his own. This is why Rainbow can be counted as one of the great influences of the metal we came to love in the 80s and why the songs penned by Ronnie James Dio will still be counted as classics long after his passing. It is also why I sing the praises of Dio so much in "Rock And Roll Children."
Next post: The Sweet
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