Ronnie James Dio vs Ozzy

[MERRYKISSMASS2U]

Who do you prefer? RJD KILLS Ozzy in my opinion.

[binnie]

Ok, I went with Ozzy, here's why.

Dio is a better singer by a long, long way. I cannot dispute that, he has more power and a far greater range.

Dio is also one the greatest metal singers of all time, no question. But being a frontman is more than that.

In Sabbath, I would say that Ozzy made the stronger, and more influential material - the vocal lines he came up with were out of this world and added a real mood and melancholy to that band. Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules were great albums but they don't rival the first five Ozzy Sabbath records in my opinion.


It's also about personality and charisma. Ozzy is a legendary rock and roller, everyones favorute nutter when he says "lets go fuckin crazy" you're right there. The energy he brings, that indefinable something which makes him such a unique performer, gives him the edge over Dio for me.

This was a real difficult decision - when I thought about the stuff Dio has done, and how he has brought the best out of Elf, Rainbow and his solo material, plus the Sabbath stuff, I nearly went for him.

But then I remembered "everybody go fuckin crazy!" And it was case closed.

(Bob is gonna kill me!)

[MERRYKISSMASS2U]

the only thing i don't like about RJD: I can't think of one song where he doesn't say "Look Out!"


SHUT THE FUCK UP RON. I do love Ozzy though. I just rented Live and Loud and I love that concert.

[Panamark]

When OZZY was in Blizzard of Ozz, easy choice, Ozzy all the way.
Ive seen both live. DIO in the 80's, Ozzy in the 90's..

Nowadays, I reckon probably DIO would be the better singer...
Havent heard any new DIO material, but the last few Ozzy
albums blew goats balls..

DIO suffers from repetition with his solo material. Lots of
rehashed melodies and chord progressions, but the dude
is fucking awesome live. Ozzy still had "the presence" when
I saw him on the "No more tours" tour...

Ozzy..

[MERRYKISSMASS2U]

Originally posted by Panamark
When OZZY was in Blizzard of Ozz, easy choice, Ozzy all the way.
Ive seen both live. DIO in the 80's, Ozzy in the 90's..

Nowadays, I reckon probably DIO would be the better singer...
Havent heard any new DIO material, but the last few Ozzy
albums blew goats balls..

DIO suffers from repetition with his solo material. Lots of
rehashed melodies and chord progressions, but the dude
is fucking awesome live. Ozzy still had "the presence" when
I saw him on the "No more tours" tour...

Ozzy..

No More Tours was a perfect name for that tour. The latest Dio I've heard is him playing the role of Dr X on Queensryche's Operation:Mindcrime II and his Holy Diver Live.

[Sugar-Dave]

Dio

anybody saying Oz is a fucking idiot

[MERRYKISSMASS2U]

Originally posted by Sugar-Dave
Dio

anybody saying Oz is a fucking idiot

I agree. Ozzy is still awesome though.

[Panamark]

Originally posted by Sugar-Dave
Dio

anybody saying Oz is a fucking idiot

A gleeful idiot I be, fucking on a nightly basis !!

[MERRYKISSMASS2U]

Originally posted by Panamark
A gleeful idiot I be, fucking on a nightly basis !!

Ozzy - Frontman, ok voice.
Dio - Good Voice, ok frontman.

I'm just glad that I love both and I don't have to choose between them.

Case closed.

[binnie]

That's a good point. But who would you rather see live?

At their peaks - Ozzy, hands down.

Now? Dio - Ozzy has become a parody of himself

Who would I rather see fronting Sabbath?

Ozzy.

Everytime one gets the edge, the other comes back!

Personally, I prefer Ozzy - whilst I also love Dio, lyrics about dragons and such like grate on me after a time. Not saying he's a bad lyricist, just not for me.

[Last_Child]

Long Live Rock N' Roll.

[BruinJer]

Originally posted by Panamark
DIO suffers from repetition with his solo material. Lots of
rehashed melodies and chord progressions, but the dude
is fucking awesome live. Ozzy still had "the presence" when
I saw him on the "No more tours" tour...

Ozzy..


BINGO!!!! That's the reason why I chose the Ozz Man. Ozzy has managed to stay relevant for 30 plus years where as Ronnie is stuck in the 80's somewhere. Love Ronnie's stuff and he BLOWS Ozzy away vocally, but Ozzy always delivers.

[bueno bob]

Ron has been the consumate performer since the late 50's. Music is his life, period.

Ozzy got into music because his life of crime didn't pan out.

Ronnie has never, since the late '50's, cancelled a concert. Reason being? "The fans want to see me perform - they're why I'm here at all". His words.

Ozzy has never shown the love to the fans that Ronnie has. On stage, sure, he "Loves you all" - backstage, he was always too wasted to pay any attention to you...

Ronnie consistantly releases good, solid material year after year (admittedly, he's been a bit reliant on live albums as of late).

Ozzy hasn't had a hit since No More Tears and each album since No Rest for the Wicked has been progressively worse.

Ronnie is a musician - bass, keyboards, guitar, etc. Writes his own material. Writes his own lyrics. Exceptionally competant in the studio as a producer as well. Also he's an excellent wordsmith - Holy Diver, The Last in Line, Sacred Heart...lyrics to all of these albums (shy of the dragon references) are outstanding...

Ozzy couldn't write a riff if his life depended on it. Has been constantly dependent on his bass players (Geezer Butler, Bob Daisley, et al) for writing. Doesn't write his own lyrics. Certainly couldn't produce an album himself. Needs a songwriting team to write his material for him.

These days vocally? Ozzy is dependent on ProTools studio trickery - you can tell because of his digitized voice on his solo albums...and he can't sing live anymore...

Ronnie lost a bit, but honestly he sounds almost as good as he did back in the '80's - truth be told, when placed up to his competition, Ronnie's lost very, very little and sounds outstanding.

As a frontman, Ozzy will always be better than Ronnie. As a musician, Ronnie will trounce Ozzy every time.

My vote goes to Dio.

[bueno bob]

But I will say this too -

Nothing will ever top the first 6 Sabbath albums. Ozzy, Tony, Geezer and Bill were absolute magic then that would never be duplicated. And most of that can be credited to Tony and Geezer.

BUT -

The closest they ever came to recapturing that gold was Heaven and Hell, Mob Rules, Live Evil and Dehumanizer. No doubt of that.

[bastardog]

I'm with Bob all the way on his point.
I you asked me this question in the 80's I will surelly said Ozzy.
But time passed and Dio constantly do good material (maybe too much on the dragon stuff but good overall) while Ozzy keeps going worse and worse.
for me is basically the same comparison with Metallica and Megadeth.

[saint]

Sabbath : OZZY
solo career: OZZY
Blizzard of Ozz vs. Holy Diver: Blizzard
Singer: DIO
Frontman: OZZY
Musicians (solo): OZZY

So Ozzy easily. Too bad he's not "ozzy" anymore...just a fumbling, mumbling clown who has a wife thats a complete embarrassment to the business.

[Coyote]

Dio.

If you're wondering why not Ozzy, check other posts for my reasons.

[Terry]

Ronnie James.

Far as Ozzy, Blizzard and Diary, and what he did with Sabbath, were legendary. But most of the killer lyrics were written by either Geezer or Daisley, and I'm pretty sure Ozzy didn't have much to do with the musical content; Iommi, Butler and Daisley all tacitly confirm this.

Far as the singing goes, it ain't even close. Ozzy is Ozzy, which is all good and well, but he just can't sing as well as Dio. Never could.

RJD did some great stuff with Sabbath, and what they came up with on Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules I put right up there alongside with the best of classic Sabbath. Plus, Ronnie writes his own lyrics and contributed to the musical composition of his solo tunes.

And the Last In Line tour was just a better show than any of Ozzy's solo outings. RJD, Vivian, Jimmy and Vinnie just fuckin' KILLED on that tour. Ozz did some nice stuff with RR live, and the two tours I saw with Jake on guitar weren't BAD shows at all, but just not quite as good.

For both Ozzy and RJD, their first two solo albums were their best.

[Mr. Vengeance]

In terms of the tunes, albums, presence, live shit, Ozzy is the guy. No, he didn't have the stronger voice. And certainly these days, Ronnie's voice is MUCH stronger, but Oz had the intangibles that Dio never had and never will have. Ronnie has always been too stiff and too consumed with all things Dio. Didn't stop Sabbath from making some great albums with Dio, though.

[PumpedUpMidget]

Dio--Ozzy is nothing more than a caricature of himself, a fucking joke

[saint]

I agree that the Dio albums with Sabbath are good albums, but there is no way those come even close to the 1 st 4 Sabbath albums.

Dio brought something different, a technically better voice, the mysticism but the result: Dungeons and Dragons metal with a good voice, was far from as good. But then how long could Sabbath keep doing the same thing over and over again, they needed a change, and I think that even with Ozzy the change would have been for the worse.

[Northern Girl]

Why compare?

RJD rocks and so does Oz. Ozzy's voice is haunting. Incomparible.

[bueno bob]

Had Ozzy stayed on past 1979 with Sabbath...it would have been a fucking disaster...if Never Say Die was considered "bad" by people...holy shit...1980 would have driven the final nail in the coffin, if an album would have ever been finished before Ozzy OD'ed...which is exactly what would have happened...

Ronnie was the perfect thing for Sabbath at the perfect time - and, much as it KILLS me to say it, Sharon was exactly what Ozzy needed to get his shit togther - the perfect thing for him at the perfect time.

Had he just divorced the bitch prior to the 90s...things would have been great!

[FORD]

I'll say this about both of them.....

They're only as good as the band they have at the moment. Though at least Dio would still be able to write songs. Ozzy's helpless without a bass player who can write lyrics.

I'll also have to say that Dehumanizer was a kick ass album. I'd like to have an original Black Sabbath album to compare it to, but 10 years into their "reunion", THEY HAVEN'T FUCKING MADE ONE :mad:

The more I think about it, the better Dio looks, actually, as far as the present tense goes.

But Black Sabbath is like Van Halen and Ac/Dc in the sense that you just can't go wrong with the first 6 albums. And the other two grow on you after a while.

[MERRYKISSMASS2U]

I've always wondered if Ozzy sings through a synth. Does he?

[Matt White]

OZZY


No question

all things considered....it's not even close....

SABBATH VOLUME IV alone puts him out in front of EVERY metal singer......

BLIZZARD OF OZ caps it off...............................

He makes the most of what he has now...but in his PRIME he had NO equal................

His legacy is set in stone.................

[Mr. Vengeance]

Yup. Vol. 4 is the best Sab album!

I don't know why everyone rips apart Never Say Die...it's not THAT bad. The band was in shambles, and obviously needed to break up, but as a whole, NSD is okay. It's better than pretty much every Sab album after Born Again. MAYBE Eternal Idol is on a par with NSD. I suppose Dehumanizer as well, is on a par. But NSD beats the hell out of all the other post Oz, Dio, Gillan Sab albums

[bueno bob]

Originally posted by MERRYKISSMASS2U
I've always wondered if Ozzy sings through a synth. Does he?

Yes, he's been using Protools in the studio to digitize his voice for some time now...since...probably '95ish?

[bueno bob]

I don't know if it's ALWAYS been Protools per se, but his voice has been digitized and
"studio tweaked" for a while now.

[BruinJer]

Most of Ozzy's live stuff "Officially Released", Ozzy's vocals were done in the studio. His studio stuff is doctored up... But Ozzy just knows how to get a rise out of the audience. That's why he's been relevant for 35 years!

[Matt White]

OZZY has "doubled" his voice for ages......

[Dave's Bitch]

been done before

[Soul Reaper]

OZZY....for the fact that the first 6 Sabbath albums and his frist 2 solo albums are monumental.....and that's something Dio's albums weren't....

Dio is a great musician and has a great voice but his songs aren't as good as Ozzy's....even if Ozzy's recent alubms have been shit, it doesn't diminish his reputation that much because he was already a legend.....

Dio may have popularized the devil 'horn' sign, but he didn't bite the head off a bat.....

Dio, better voice, better musician
Ozzy, better frontman, better albums

[Tiki-Tom]

Dio. by far the better singer
and a cool dude also!
The little man with the huge voice has my vote.

listen to Sabbath's Falling off the Edge of the World
is there any question?

[binnie]

In Sabbath?

Ozzy every time - much as I love "Heaven and Hell" & "Mob Rules", the Ozzy era Sabbs in untouchable!

As a frontman, Ozzy too.

But as a singer, RJD every time. He's been great in every band he is in...

[ELVIS]

Originally posted by MERRYKISSMASS2U
I agree.

You started the thread and chose Ozzy !!

[Tiki-Tom]

Originally posted by binnie
In Sabbath?

But as a singer, RJD every time. He's been great in every band he is in...

Yes in Sabbath. RJD was/is the best singer by a long shot.
Now as far as the rest of the Sabbath guys, the older stuff may be better, but Ozzy has never been much of a singer. His image or reputation, if you will, is legendary and his voice did have a lot of character back then. But vocally, he's always been impaired. He does have a knack for surrounding himself with amazing players. I have seen him live a few times. What a buffoon. I love old Sabbath, but in vocal ability, there's no contest.