Who's the superior Black Sabbath vocalist?

[Gundog]

Basically, I want to hear some opinions here, and I noticed since most people here enjoy listening to quality music such as Black Sabbath, I might as well, go ahead and ask.

 

Ozzy or Dio? Who is better in terms of songwriting and vocals?

 

For people that don't know who these gods are, I will write something brief about them. I'll use Wiki just to tell you where and when they were born.

 

Ozzy Osbourne

 

 

John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne, born in Aston, Birmingham on the third of December, 1948. He and Tony Iommi founded Black Sabbath, and became a hit within a year. Ozzy is a great songwriter and vocalist, he has a large vocal scale, and wrote classics such as "Paranoid", "Iron Man", "War Pigs", and the first heavy metal song ever, "Black Sabbath". He unfortunately got kicked out of Black Sabbath for drug abuse in 1978, and started his solo career. After Black Sabbath, he wrote brilliant pieces like "Mr. Crowley", "Bark at the Moon", "Hellraiser", etc. He is now 60 years old, and still goes on tours. Ozzy is considered to be one of the best musicians of the 20th century.

 

 

Ronnie James Dio

 

 

Ronald James "Dio" Padavona, born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on the tenth of July, 1942. Dio started singing for Black Sabbath in 1978, just after Ozzy was kicked. He is widely praised for his powerful voice, and for popularizing the "Devil horns". His career fluctuated in strange patterns, he was in a lot of bands, but is mostly known for his solo career. He is currently in a band called "Heaven and Hell" with all the band members of Black Sabbath, except Ozzy of course. His nickname, Dio, is Italian for "God", and everyone seems to think it suits him perfectly.

 

 

I choose Ozzy, because I always favored his voice, and that special weirdness in his lyrics.

Edited August 10, 2009 by Gundog

[Slamman]

Tony Martin... Eternal Idol.

 

 

There's been a number of threads, seriously, dude!

haha

[Gundog]

Well, sorry, I wasn't here long enough to see one. Well... at least I get to see some opinions, don't I?

[Vanilla Shake]

There's been a number of threads, seriously, dude!

haha

Yeah, made by you. You need to give us all a break with these topics Slammo. It's annoying.

 

To stay on-topic, I'll say Ozzy.

[Slamman]

I make the topics I'd like to see. Actually, before mine, I'm sure. I made one just about Sabbath in general (spaced out the letters)

I don't think Ozzy's vocals are all that wide in range. As the performers get older, even that takes a beating.

Ozzy's late 70s live bootlegs show him forgetting his own lyrics. Needed a teleprompter on stage like Axl Rose had/has!

[The-King]

Dio, Ozzy is a f*cking prick and Dio is damn near a metal god.

[Slamman]

How in HELL is Ozzy a prick? Maybe slightly full of himself, but these guys are performers who pull no punches or put on airs about it, that's who they are. They both LOVE the music and have done heaps for it. Same with Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth, they are both viable artists and of importance

[TheJonesy]

Although Ozzy was with the start of their legacy, Dio is definately the better singer. As Slamman pointed out, it's very similar to Van Halen's situation: a lot of people recognize DLR as the frontman, but Hagar does have some vocal talent. It's the whole "Original-versus-Talent" scenario, in my opinion. But as I've answered, the best would have to be Dio.

[Slamman]

Yeah, DLR is a frontman, but in reality, Eddie Van Halen sang the vocals in Mammoth, early Van Halen. The thing I would say is that DLR can hold a note, he sings in tune, even if his voice is flawed, he's got the cherisma of an entertainer, through and thru

[okei]

I chose Ozzy solely because he's British although I have nothing against Dio because he's American. To me, both are good.

Sure beats the poor excuse of music you get these days even if you find one of them inferior to the other.

 

My 2 pence.

[Lt. Dan]

Ozzy can only sing in downtuned versions of his old songs. Dio is almost in his seventies and can sing like he's in his twenties. Dio all the way.

[ptiko]

Ronnie

 

DIE YOUNG

 

DDDIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE YYYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUNNNNNNGGGGG

[Zyo]

Who is technically a better singer would be without doubt, a vote for Dio.

 

However who is the superior Black Sabbath Vocalist, the vote is for Ozzy. The best Sabbath songs are the ones that he sings, and although I do think Dio is great and "Heaven and Hell" is one of my favorite Sabbath records, Ozzy is still the best man for the job.

 

I think somewhere in another topic I mentioned a "heaven and hell" tour with Dio and Butler, Iommi and Appice. That should be worth seeing.

[Slamman]

Yeah, The band continues! DIO must play for the masses!!

 

I would remind you the Ozzy cover album didn't go over too well, where he paid homage to his heroes. Ozzy can't well sing other's material. I think that has truth to it.