Original DIO drummer Vinny Appice says that Ronnie James Dio “should have been inducted” into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.
Vinny, who played with Ronnie in DIO, BLACK SABBATH and SABBATH offshoot band HEAVEN & HELL, spoke about Dio‘s exclusion from the Rock Hall during a recent interview with Jeff Gaudiosi of MisplacedStraws.com.
Asked if he was surprised that Dio and Appice were both left out of the SABBATH Rock Hall induction in 2006, Vinny responded:
“Well, I think the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame suck anyway. It’s supposed to be rock and roll, and there’s people in there that [are] not rock and roll one bit. And just the way they do business — it took ’em that long to put BLACK SABBATH in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame? BLACK SABBATH started all this heavy stuff. BLACK SABBATH started the tuning down that affected everybody, and everybody copied it. And here’s a band that started all this stuff, and yet they weren’t in it. So I wasn’t expecting them to induct Ronnie and I. They should’ve, but they didn’t. So I think they suck.”
He continued:
“I went [to the Rock Hall] once. It was a fricking joke. And Ronnie should have been in there, even by himself. He should have been inducted… He’s been in all these major bands and major albums, and he’s not in there. It’s sad. I don’t even care that they didn’t induct DIO — the band DIO — but they should have did him and mentioned us. That would have been nice. I mean, [DIO‘s debut album] ‘Holy Diver’ is 37 years old and it’s still selling. So that’s a joke, that whole thing.”