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The Latest Breaking News from Ronnie James Dio

In 1979, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow began making their fourth album, Down To Earth. Cue pranks, tantrums, line-up changes, bad vibes and really bad hair days

"I didn’t look like them and I wasn't into their music" - Graham Bonnet on being offered the job of Rainbow singer

Louder

"Yes, we all want to bang our heads at Christmas, but we also want to sit down with a cup of tea and a mince pie and have a bit of a chillout": Rob Halford's 8 favourite Christmas songs

Metal God Rob Halford salutes the most wonderful time of the year, as he selects his eight favourite Christmas songs

Metal Hammer

"As metal staggered to its feet and limped out of the 80s, it was on the cusp of becoming stronger than ever before": How heavy metal got its mojo back

Big hair and bad spandex almost killed any credibility metal had in the 1980s. But metal not only survived, it also came back bigger and stronger than ever

Metal Hammer

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Our 15 favourite metal and heavy rock guitar moments of 2023: featuring Wolfgang Van Halen, Nita Strauss, Nuno Bettencourt, Paul Gilbert, Metallica, Periphery and more

Including the guitar solo of the year

MusicRadar

"It was the most scary thing any of us had ever been through." Ronnie James Dio on the "evil spirit" that apparently sabotaged Rainbow and ended up pushing his wife down the stairs

While recording in a haunted château, Ronnie James Dio believed he'd accidentally summoned a "really evil spirit" that caused chaos during their sessions

Metal Hammer

"I'll be honest here – I think they blew us off stage every single night": what happened when AC/DC went on tour with Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow

In 1976 Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow embarked on the Rising tour of Europe with a young band from Australia in tow: Ronnie James Dio was watching them very closely

Metal Hammer

“I just can’t believe this is really happening”: watch Ronnie James Dio unleash his vocals on a Tenacious D song

The former Black Sabbath and Rainbow man belted it out for Tenacious D's Kickapoo track

Louder

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"I’m not so lonely now, there are other girls to talk with and exchange tips and tricks on how to survive a tour!" Heavy metal Queen Doro on a career in rock, near-death experiences and, erm, fighting ducks

We interviewed living metal legend Doro Pesch using questions from her biggest fans

Metal Hammer

The 10 greatest solo albums in heavy metal history

Bruce Dickinson, Rob Halford and Ozzy Osbourne have all proven you don’t need to be in a band to make top-notch heavy metal

Metal Hammer

The 11 greatest final shows in heavy metal history

From Black Sabbath to Metallica’s Cliff Burton, these excellent gigs also proved to be bittersweet goodbyes

Metal Hammer

The 10 greatest guest spots in heavy metal history

From Bruce Dickinson teaming with Rob Halford to Dave Grohl’s Probot album, here are the times big names made great metal songs even greater

Metal Hammer

Positive Grid continues its signature Spark Mini spree with a Paul Gilbert amp – and it's joined by custom presets of his “most iconic tones”

Only 100 units will be made, and each will bear the virtuoso's signature and the dragon emblem from his Ronnie James Dio tribute album

Guitar World

“Will I be borrowing the Harley? Nah, they’ve given me a moped!": Richie Faulkner's Elegant Weapons are the supergroup trad metal needs in 2023

How emergency heart surgery, COVID and a love for trad metal led to Richie Faulkner's Elegant Weapons, featuring members of Judas Priest, Rainbow and Pantera

Metal Hammer

“I don't know whether we played it properly, but the audience loved it”: When Black Sabbath regularly covered Smoke on the Water – and unwittingly inspired Spinal Tap's Stonehenge

Sabbath's ill-fated Born Again tour featured comically oversized props “as big as the real Stonehenge”, onstage spills, and a crowd-pleasing hard-rock crossover

Guitar World

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Metal Hammer

"It was an utterly ridiculous idea": Geezer Butler on the embarrassing truth behind Black Sabbath's infamous Stonehenge set, their unfortunate 'devil baby' and Spinal Tap

"People often ask if I've seen the film This Is Spinal Tap. I always reply, 'Seen it? I lived it'."

MusicRadar

Tony Iommi admits that, yes, sometimes he got carried away playing guitar solos – but Ronnie James Dio was his enabler

Iommi says the Dio years challenged Black Sabbath to up their game and RJD would tell him to solo longer. “Listening back to things, you think, ’Bloody hell! That was a bit over the top‘”

Metal Hammer

"If an arrow has been shot at me, I shoot it back..." The life and career of Ronnie James Dio, in his own words

The amazing life and career of a true metal legend, as explained by the man himself

Louder

20 bands whose second album is the best thing they ever did

The bands who defied the sophomore slump to deliver the greatest albums of their career

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Metal Hammer

How Tenacious D's satanic stoner comedy The Pick Of Destiny went from box office bomb to cult classic

What Tenacious D's comedy rock opera The Pick Of Destiny lacked in box office returns, it made up for in heart and star cameos

Metal Hammer

Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi once had an onstage guitar solo interrupted by local taxi firm orders coming through his amp

Black Sabbath's 1981 UK tour was a victory lap for their rebirth with Ronnie James Dio. A shame then that a local taxi company gatecrashed the celebrations

Louder

Do you need a great singing voice to be a great rock’n’roll frontman?

Dee Snider created a Twitterstorm by suggesting that Ronnie James Dio was a great singer but not a great performer – and rock history is filled with other examples

Metal Hammer

The top 20 best Tenacious D songs ever

The 20 best songs by the greatest band on earth – these are Tenacious D’s most epic anthems

Metal Hammer

British politician lands himself in trouble for sharing Rainbow's Kill The King on social media days after the coronation

Welsh councillor Dave Jones lands himself in hot water after sharing Rainbow 1978 track Kill The King following King Charles coronation

Guitar World

Paul Gilbert explains why 21-fret guitars can actually deliver higher notes than 24-fret models

The Mr. Big virtuoso revealed how a 1983 Ibanez Roadstar II helped him tap into Ronnie James Dio's vocal tones – and hit notes higher than a modern-day 24-fret would allow

Guitar World

Everything you need to know about Metallica's scorching new album – only in the new Guitar World

Plus! Samantha Fish & Jesse Dayton, Steel Panther, Paul Gilbert does Dio, Chris Holmes, the top 10 tools for every gig and tributes to Gary Rossington and David Lindley

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