Essential Dio Songs

My love for Dio really took off about 10 years ago when an older coworker at the print shop where I worked was a HUGE fan. He loaned out the first couple Dio albums he had on CD to me, and around that time, Dio had rejoined his former Black Sabbath bandmates, so it was like a perfect storm, with lots of Dio to dive into. That coworker of mine named Randy also told me he wanted Dio played at his funeral when he dies. Hopefully he'd like my choices on this list..

10. "Fever Dreans" (Magica)
Latter day Dio isn't as good as the 'classic 80's' years but it still manages to pack a punch, with Magica being the best among them. His previous albums were mystical from a light and rainbowy perspective, while Magica was supposed to be about the darker side. "Fever Dreams" is my favorite from that album and was a crucial song in my Dio playlist when I was running a 5k.

9. "Caught In The Middle" (Holy Diver)
This song just rocks. In fact, all of Holy Diver is amazingly solid.

8. "I Could Have Been A Dreamer" (Dream Evil)
Most Dio songs reference a "rainbow" in the lyrics or the song title, whether it's Rainbow, Sabbath, or solo stuff. This song is no different, as he heard about a rainbow that makes you go crazy.

7. "Don't Talk To Strangers" (Holy Diver)
The first Dio album is one of my favorite metal albums and this recent listen solidified it's place. The album is full of catchy choruses, rocking riffs, and it's heavy on cheese, too. Dio's lyrics were always mystical, sometimes inspirational, and often reference rainbows. This one even has this lyrical nugget- "don't dance in darkness, you may stumble and you're sure to fall."

6. "Egypt (The Chains Are On)" (The Last In Line)
This is one I never cared much for until this recent run through the Dio catalog. I'm sure it's due to the fact I must have some mild for of ADD, so I tend to skip around a lot with CD's, and "Egypt" is the last song on The Last In Line. I probably didn't make it that far too many times. This time I made a playlist for a 5K I was running and hit it a few times on shuffle, both while training and during the race. It even kicked ass hearing it live performed by the band Last In Line, which cemented it as a favorite of Dio's songs.

5. "Time To Burn" (Intermission)
While this was originally on the Dio album Intermission, I'm familiar with it from a later album, Finding The Sacred Heart. Intermission seems like a bittersweet album as it was the last to feature Vivian, although he was dubbed over with new guitarist Craig Goldy, whose first contribution to the band is this song. Seems like he did a fine job filling Vivian's shoes as this song is a scorcher.

4. "Hungry For Heaven" (Scared Heart)
Not just on Sacred Heart, this song is on the Vision Quest soundtrack, which is full of cool stuff from Journey, Madonna, and John Waite. While I originally thought this song was super cheesed out, I think that's exactly why I like it now.
"You're a dancer, but you're dancing on air", and "You're a runner, but you're chasing yourself" and great cheese lyrics that I can't get enough of!

3. "Holy Diver" (Holy Diver)
The classic Dio song that most metal fans know, even if they don't like Dio, thanks to the cover by Killswitch Engage. LOOOOOOK OUT!!!

2. "Rainbow In The Dark" (Holy Diver)
This was the first Dio song I ever heard, way back in my freshman year of high school on a WWF-released CD called Stone Cold Metal. The songs were supposed to have been hand-picked by Steve Austin himself, and weren't necessarily metal. Although it did serve as an introduction to a lot of classic rock bands like The Cult, KISS, as well as Dio. One other notable thing about the video is that I think Dio was way ahead of the times with the Ug boots trend, since he's got some neat, fluffy, white boots in the video.

1. "The Last In Line" (The Last In Line)
If you'd asked me like 5 years ago, I'd have said the definitive Dio song was "Rainbow In The Dark." Now, it's definitely "The Last In Line." I love how the song starts out soft with a light verse by Dio, before the rockin commences! Cheesy lyrics abound as well-- "WE'RE OFF TO THE WITCH!" It just has it all as far as metal songs go.