The Best in Line
The Top 15 Ronnie James Dio Songs of All Time
While writing my article, What if Judas Priest Had a Top Ten Best Songs of All Time, and the follow up article, Sabbath, Best of Sabbath, I kept thinking back to a conversation I had with Cooter Brown guitarist Grant Masson. The idea of doing a best songs’ list by Ronnie James Dio spanning his entire career was tossed around. When this idea came up, immediately I envisioned covering Dio’s entire catalog, going beyond his work with Black Sabbath and his own band, Dio, to including Rainbow and Elf. Maybe even something from Ronnie Dio and the Prophets. My inspiration to write was ignited again, in part thanks to the conversation I had with Grant, since three new articles were finally born from that conversation.
Art by Boris Lee
It is no secret that Dio was my creative inspiration for storytelling. From being a GM in an RPG, to the stories I wrote for college, to how I wanted to sing if I ever got around to getting good at it, Ronnie James Dio was an intricate part in how my imagination formulated these creations from vision to script. You can read all about Dio’s influence on my creativity here.
As with my Priest and Sabbath list, creating a top ten best of from Dio’s library would not be easy. Due to how I wanted to create a best of list that is something more than a “Greatest Hits” compilation, the idea of only ten songs was just not going to work for covering Dio’s catalog. A couple of rules were created on my part as well, to set my guidelines for what songs would qualify for the list. One rule was the songs on this list were to be off the studio recorded albums, no live renditions. Another rule was to put emphasis on Dio’s solo work, giving more consideration to that library of music than to his time in Black Sabbath or Rainbow. Thus, a top 15 songs would be created. Of course, even that was not a simple task to handle, but after consideration of all aspects, the list was complete, including these honorable mentions.
- “Love Potion 9”- Ronnie Dio and The Prophets, released 1965. Ronnie Dio and the Prophets, formerly Ronnie and the Red Caps, were Dio’s pop rock, Beatles like band. They would eventually go on to become ELF. This song is an early example of what would become Dio’s fantastical based element to his lyrics.
- “Man on the Silver Mountain”- Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow- Album: Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, released 1975. ‘How is this song not on the official list? It is such a great song?’, is most likely what many of you are thinking. I agree with you all that it is a great song… LIVE. The live version of this song, performed either by Rainbow or Dio’s solo band, is superior to the album recording of this classic. The upbeat tempo and energy in Dio’s vocals bring out the best of this song when performed live.
- “Magica”- Dio- Album: Magica, released 2000. I am not referring to the song Magica, I am referring to the entire album being on honorable mention. The album was a return to the classic Dio fantastical song writing style, with former band members Craig Goldy, Jimmy Bain, and Simon Wright returning, putting together what is Dio’s best record since The Last in Line (fight me). A near perfect conceptual album that unfortunately never got its planned second or third installment. There is a 20-minute Magica story narrated by Ronnie himself at the end of the album that caps off this true classic.
- “Stargazer”- Rainbow- Album: Rising, released 1976. This is another song that will probably raise some eyebrows for not being on the official list, and it may be interesting to note that this is one of my favorite Rainbow songs. It was also originally on my official list, but the one thing that has always troubled me about the song is how long it is. Clocking in at eight minutes and thirty-one seconds, the song is an amazing tale of wizards, magic, slaves and the collapse of false gods. It is a story that could be told in six-minutes and change, as the last two minutes of the song are Dio going on and on about how the wizard dies and a slave wants to go home.
- “Computer God”- Black Sabbath- Album: Dehumanizer, released 1992. If asked to name five of the most underrated Sabbath songs of all time, I would put this song at number one on that list. A time-tested prophecy about how technology would end up taking over man and our way of life, changing society’s priorities for the worse. Off the heaviest album Sabbath ever did, and arguably Dio’s angriest vocal performance of all.
With our honorable mentions complete, let’s get into the main event, and see what songs made it to…
The Best in Line
Listen along with the Best in Line playlist on Spotify here, or… on YouTube here.
15- “Strange Highways”- DIO- Album: Strange Highways, released 1993. From what some consider to be one of Dio’s two-worst albums, but I actually feel is a sleeper album full of solid offerings. The title track Strange Highways is a continuation of Dio writing music out of the fantastical realm his is most known for. Heavy guitar riffs and melodic changes put this beast on the Best in Line list.
14- “I’m Coming Back For You”- Elf- Album: ELF, released 1972. If you want to get into a deep dive of Dio tracks and be in touch with the roots that are where Dio’s creative flow first flourished, you have to go back to Elf. I consider this Elf’s best song. You can feel early Rainbow vibes throughout the song.
13- “Bible Black”- Heaven and Hell- Album: The Devil You Know, released 2009. In 2007, when Black Sabbath reunited with Dio, I was shocked, but so fucking stoked. The greatest metal band of all time was back. The gang still had it and brought the classic Sabbath vibe with a newer flow to some songs on this album. This is Dio and Iommi writing as good as they ever did. Unfortunately, this would go onto be the final studio release from Dio, but Ronnie went out with what I felt was the best he could leave us with.
12- “Killing the Dragon”- DIO- Album: Killing the Dragon, released 2002. An excellent follow-up album to Magica, this album is a solid Dio rock and roll outing, with the title track standing strong with all the classic Dio dragon slaying symphonies.
11- “The Temple of the King”- Rainbow- Album: Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, released 1975. A melodic medieval guitar riff, soft in tonality, which was born from Ritchie Blackmore watching a Yoga show in the seventies, paired with the Magickal lyrics of Ronnie, is a perfectly told tale of a man on his spiritual journey. Simply put, a great groove with fairy tale vibed lyrics are classic Dio through and through.
10- “Sacred Heart”- DIO- Album: Sacred Heart, released 1985. The title track of off the third album under the Dio name is considered to be Dio’s peak of commercial success. The title track would be the focus of an elaborate live supporting tour, with lasers and a dragon coming out to be slain by Dio on the stage. Brings back great music memories putting this song on the list.
9- “Rainbow in the Dark”- DIO-Album: Holy Diver, released 1983. The second single off the first solo offering from Dio is one of his biggest hits, and nearly did not make the album. The rest of the band had to talk Ronnie into putting the song on the record, as Ronnie felt the song sounded too much like a “Pop” song. This is one of the most iconic metal songs in history, thanks to the rest of the band talking Ronnie into the song sounding great.
8- “Gates of Babylon”- Rainbow- Album: Long Live Rock N Roll, released 1978. Coming off the final Rainbow record to feature Ronnie on vocals, this song is one of the strongest in the Rainbow catalog, and the precursor to Dio’s vocal styling that would help reinvent Black Sabbath two years later.
7- “Catch the Rainbow”- Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow- Album: Rainbow. Easy listening melody with Ronnie’s vocals as the star attraction. My personal favorite Rainbow song, landing on a few of my playlists.
6- “Children of the Sea”- Black Sabbath- Album: Heaven and Hell, released 1980. The first song ever written by Ronnie and Tony Iommi, and the song that launched the second life of the greatest metal band to be conceived. Classic.
5- “Holy Diver”- DIO- Album: Holy Diver, released 1983. The first single and most successful song of Ronnie’s solo career. With Ronnie and Vinny Appice departing from Sabbath, they put a new band together. Enter Jimmy Bain (who sort of snuck his way into the band), Vivian Campbell and Claude Schnell on keyboards. Ronnie is credited for writing the guitars and everything else for the title track, Holy Diver and another song that appears later on the list.
4- “We Rock”- DIO-Album: The Last in Line, released 1984. There is nothing like a fast-paced metal anthem dedicated to everyone who listens to a band's music. It’s all about the fans coming out and joining in the wonderful world of live metal and rock music. Kick ass song on all levels!
3- “Don’t Talk to Strangers”- DIO-Album: Holy Diver, released 1983. Is this the best song on the Holy Diver record? When I am asked that question, this is the song that first comes to my mind. It has melodic tempo changes, powerful lyrics, Ronnie’s full vocal range. It would be one of the songs on a playlist I created to introduce a new fan to the legend that is Ronnie James Dio.
2- “Heaven and Hell”- Black Sabbath- Album: Heaven and Hell, released 1980. To not have this song on the list would be criminal. For those who are familiar with my article, Sabbath, Best of Sabbath, you know this song was number one on that list. Then how is it not number one on this list? Well, this is a list comprised from all of Dio’s catalog, and there is a song that overtakes this classic because, it is a song specifically from the DIO solo works. That song is….
1- “The Last in Line”- DIO-Album: The Last in Line, released 1984. A powerful song about humanity being the top of it all. ‘We create our own heaven and hell from our choices’ and there is no higher arbiter. For me, this song is right next to “Heaven and Hell” for being musically perfect and lyrically powerful… and it may have the most eighties themed metal music video in history.
The music of Ronnie lives on in through the Dio Disciples and The Last in Line bands who carry on the legacy of Dio, and through all of us, the fans of Ronnie and everything he has created from the Red Caps to his final horn raise with Heaven and Hell.
What is your best of Dio list? Which songs from this list make your own list? We want to hear from you! Follow on social media and let us know your thoughts! Thank you for reading the latest here at Symptom of the Metalverse.
‘Once upon a silver mountain, the Holy Diver spoke to the Children of the Sea about Fever Dreams, and how One Night in the City, they would find a Lady Starstruck by Voodoo, who would Stand Up and Shout before turning Invisible, leaving them Hungry for Heaven. Only The King of Rock and roll and his Neon Knights could help them solve the Mystery of the Sacred Heart, and set them free of the Night People, to Catch the Rainbow and cross over Strange Highways, passed the Snake Charmer, and into The Temple of the King. There they’d locate the Bible Black, to read the Letters From Earth, and learn it was not Too Late to defeat the Computer God. After All, they had a Time Machine, and with the Push of a button, it would be time to be Killing the Dragon again.’
(~Boris Lee- from the article, Once Upon a Silver Mountain.)
In Memory of Ronald James Padavona
July 10, 1942- May 16, 2010
If you are in the Los Angeles on Sunday, May 18, come out to Rock for Ronnie at the Autry Museum of the American West. I’ll be there at the Metal Babe Mayhem booth helping Alison rock the Metal Babe Merch booth.
Boris Lee is an American author best known for his work in horror fiction and as a columnist covering music and other arts. His anthology of short horror stories, The Shadows of Insanity, was a Best Thriller Top Ten Finalist. Musically Lee is the front Monster for the band, Boris & The Horribles, whose music can be found on all streaming services in 2025. Currently, Lee lives in California where he is creating new horrors for readers everywhere.
For more about Boris Lee, check out his website here: Boris Lee
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