Time to Burn: A Tale of Two Singers

Time to Burn: A Tale of Two Singers.

Magic has a way of happening when people least expect it, and to say anybody expected the musical union that would take place back in late 1984 would be an understatement. It had started at the Monsters of Rock festival in Germany in September of that year. Two singers, both of whom had been lead vocalists in the same metal band happened to run into each other. And the rest, as the cliché goes, is history.

Following the turmoil surrounding his departure from Black Sabbath in 1982 due to the mixing of Sabbath’s first official live album, 1982’s Live Evil, Ronnie James Dio turned to drummer Vinny Appice, who had also left Sabbath at this time, and bassist Jimmy Bain, formerly of Rainbow in order to start a new band. With the addition of former Sweet Savage guitarist Vivian Campbell, the lineup of Dio was now complete. After the success of their debut album, 1983’s Holy Diver, Dio followed up with 1984’s The Last In Line. It was while touring for this album in Europe as part of the Monsters of Rock tour that Ronnie James Dio would come into contact with someone who by all rights should have been a rival.

After being fired for the second and final time from Black Sabbath in 1979, Ozzy Osbourne began sowing the seeds of what would become his massively successful debut album, 1980’s Blizzard of Ozz. Featuring former Rainbow bassist Bob Daisley and drummer Lee Kerslake, known for his long standing drum work with Uriah Heep, the lineup was completed by Rainbow alum Don Airey on keyboards and then unknown teenage guitarist Randy Rhoads, of the relatively unheard of band, Quiet Riot. This lineup would also go on to record Ozzy’s sophomore album, Diary of a Madman in 1981. At this point, bassist Bob Daisley left, to be replaced by Quiet Riot bassist Rudy Sarzo, and the band went on a massive tour in support of the Diary album. Following the tragic death of Randy Rhoads in 1982 due to a plane accident while on tour, Ozzy would go on to record a live album of Black Sabbath songs, 1982’s Speak of the Devil with Night Ranger guitarist Brad Gillis filling in for Randy and drummer Tommy Aldridge replacing Lee Kerslake. Since this album was made solely at the behest of Ozzy’s record company in order to compete with then Black Sabbath live album Live Evil, there was much disillusionment over both this decision and Randy’s death. Rudy Sarzo left to rejoin Quiet Riot, only for Bob Daisley to come back and take his place. With drummer Tommy Aldridge deciding to stay, a new guitarist was found in Jake E. Lee, who had previously done demo work for both Rough Cutt and Dio. This lineup would go on to record Ozzy Osbourne’s third album, 1983’s Bark at the Moon. Despite several minor lineup changes at this time, including Tommy Aldridge being temporarily replaced by Vinny Appice’s older and more famous brother Carmine Appice on drums, it was this lineup which appeared on the Monsters of Rock tour in ’84 in support of the BATM album.

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In an early 1985 interview with Kerrang!, Ronnie James Dio had this to say about to say about the origins of the super group:

“Ozzy and I had been on the same bill for the Monsters of Rock for two dates in Germany when we ran into each other. I was waiting to hear about how much he hated me, but instead he asked if I had been in contact with any of the members of Sabbath. We ended up chatting about Tony and Geez and the music we had done. He was pretty much drunk at the time, which might explain the offer he made. But when he proposed working together as a way of getting back at the rest of the Sabs, I found myself agreeing.”

Ozzy corroborates this in an ‘86 interview with MTV:

“I was shit faced at the time, but I remember seeing this dwarf walking towards me, and I nearly dropped my pint I was laughing so hard. It turned out him and I had a lot in common with the whole Sabbath thing, as once again Tony [Iommi] had begun taking control of everything. I wanted to hate Ronnie and blame him for me being fired from Sabbath, when it was really Tony who was to blame. We chatted like a couple of old hens until it was time for one of us to be on stage. So I proposed the idea of working together, sort of a big ‘Fuck You!’ to Tony and Geezer for how they had treated us.”

Despite the supergroup forming at this time, they still didn’t have a name. Vinny Appice had this to say about the group in a 2000 interview:

“We couldn’t call ourselves ‘Ozzy this’, or ‘Dio that’, and we initially wanted there to be some reference in the name to Black Sabbath. Ozzy had originally wanted to call us the Black Knights, but Ronnie felt that it was too close to the Deep Purple song, especially considering the whole Born Again thing with Sabbath. Ronnie had wanted to call the band Heaven’s Sabbath, which would have kept that light and dark motif going that Ronnie loved so much. But in the end we didn’t want lawyers to come in and shut the project down over the name. So after that first gig, we settled on Time to Burn, which seemed to get the point across just fine.”

The supergroup would go on to make their first live appearance at the Spectrum in Philadelphia PA in 1985, operating under the makeshift title ‘Ozzy and Dio’, something which pissed Ozzy off to no end at the time:

“It was like we were an old show on the telly for fuck’s sake, ‘Ozzy and Dio’. Fuckin’ hell.”

The lineup for this show was as follows:

Vocals: Ozzy Osbourne, Ronnie James Dio
Guitars: Vivian Campbell, Jake E. Lee
Bass: Jimmy Bain, Bob Daisley
Drums: Vinny Appice, Tommy Aldridge
Keyboards: Don Airey, Claude Schnell

Despite some of them having their own issues with each other, the show went surprisingly smoothly. Ozzy came out first, followed by Dio, with each band playing 7 songs before they would have a mini Rainbow reunion with Vivian Campbell and Vinny Appice filling in for Ritchie Blackmore and Cozy Powell, respectively. This would be followed by the entire group coming out to play a set of Sabbath numbers before the show closed with the performance of a new song, the aptly titled, Time to Burn. The song seemed to be telling the Sabs to take all the time in the world to realize their mistake. Tony Iommi had this to say about the group during an interview he gave promoting his 1986 solo album Seventh Star:

“I had heard a rumour to the effect that Ozzy and Ronnie might be working together, but I had thought it was all a publicity thing or that one of the crew was puttin’ me on, you know. Then I heard the adverts on the radio for the concert while I was out in Los Angeles, and I remember thinking, ‘Fuck me, they were actually serious.’ I ended up calling Geezer at like 3 in the morning to tell him about it and I could almost hear his jaw drop through the phone. It didn’t look good for the future of Black Sabbath….”

Setlist for the 1985 Spectrum show:

I Don’t Know
Mr. Crowley
Bark at the Moon
Suicide Solution
Flying High Again
Diary of a Madman
Crazy Train

Intermission 1

Stand up and Shout
Straight Through the Heart
Holy Diver
Don’t Talk to Strangers
Egypt (The Chains Are On)
The Last In Line
We Rock

Intermission 2

Kill the King
Man on the Silver Mountain
Long Live Rock ‘N’ Roll
Lady of the Lake
Stargazer

Intermission 3

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (Ozzy on vocals)
Symptom of the Universe (Ozzy on vocals)
Snowblind (Ozzy on vocals)
Black Sabbath (Ozzy on vocals)
Iron Man (Ozzy on vocals)
N.I.B. (Ozzy on vocals)
The Mob Rules (Dio on vocals)
Children of the Sea (Dio on vocals
Heaven and Hell (Dio on Vocals)
The Sign of the Southern Cross (Dio on vocals)
Country Girl (Dio on vocals)
Neon Knights (Dio on vocals)

Encore:

War Pigs (both)
Children of the Grave (both)
Paranoid (both)
Time to Burn

With a running time of several hours long, the concert was a hallmark for its time, being hailed as a legendary gig; some even said it rivaled the Led Zeppelin shows at Earl’s Court back in 1975. Whatever one’s opinions on it was, there was no doubt that it had been a smashing success, with every seat having been sold out and the subsequent TV broadcast and recordings going for what’s rumoured to have been a seven figure sum. Nobody is quite sure just how much was paid for the video footage and live tapes from the gig, but both Dio and Ozzy during an interview for the Hear ‘N Aid project later that year remarked that they could both have retired happily off of the money.

With the gig behind them, and the name Time to Burn finally decided upon, the supergroup went on to appear on Hear ‘N Aid, which was the metal community’s answer to Live Aid. Raising money for famine relief in Africa, the project was a moderate success given the star power involved, especially with the popularity of the track Stars, which was written specifically for the album. The track featured such notable rock and metal singers as Eric Bloom, Ronnie James Dio, Don Dokken, Kevin DuBrow, Rob Halford, Dave Meniketti, Ozzy Osbourne, Paul Shortino, and Geoff Tate all taking turns on vocals.

Hear ‘N Aid album tracklisting:

Stars – Hear ‘N Aid
Time to Burn (live) – Time to Burn
Up to the Limit (live) – Accept
On the Road (live) – Motörhead
Distant Early Warning (live) – Rush
Heaven’s on Fire (live) – Kiss
Can You See Me – The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Hungry for Heaven (live) – Dio
Killer of Giants (live) – Ozzy Osbourne
Go for the throat – Y&T
The Zoo (live) – Scorpions

Following the success of Hear ‘N Aid, the Dio and Ozzy Osbourne bands each went their own ways musically, making sure to schedule a few Time to Burn shows during their world tours, mostly at the various festivals in Europe, but also playing to sold out crowds in Japan, South America, and of course the United States. Their most notable appearance during this time however, was as the headliners of the August 20th, 1988 Monsters of Rock festival at Castle Donington. Despite having been billed separately as both Dio and Ozzy, when it was announced that they were co-headlining, everyone knew that Time to Burn was going to show up instead.

During this time, Black Sabbath released several albums with a new singer, Tony Martin, 1987’s The Eternal Idol, which was the first to be released on CD, and the last to be released by Warner Bros before the band was dropped due to low popularity. In an attempt to bring in star power to help boost Black Sabbath’s image, skinsman Cozy Powell was brought in and appeared on their 1989 album, Headless Cross. This album fared little better than the last one, and suffered from poor promotion by their independent record label, IRS. 1990 saw another attempt to break out of the obscurity with the fan-loved Tyr album. Yet despite several semi-successful tours in Europe and Japan for these albums, a US tour never materialized.

This changed however with 1992’s Dehumanizer album, as the band finally managed to book a major tour of the United States. Sensing that the tour could go tits up at any time if there wasn’t enough support in the United States for a tour, the Sabs did what anybody would do; they made a peace offering. Geezer explains in a 2004 interview:

“It was quite simple really. We needed some sort of publicity to make sure the tour actually went somewhere, so Tony had me reach out to both Ronald and Ozzy to see if they’d be willing to join us on tour for a couple of dates. We even made sure it was the last two nights so that the tour promoters wouldn’t just up and cancel the tour after they made their appearances.”

Dehumanizer lineup:

Vocals: Tony Martin
Guitar: Tony Iommi
Bass: Geezer Butler
Drums: Cozy Powell

It was on the last two dates of the Dehumanizer tour that Ozzy and Dio both appeared with Black Sabbath, on November 14th and 15th at Costa Mesa in California. Each of them came out to perform songs with Sabbath from their respective Sabbath careers, with the last song of both nights being a duet of the song War Pigs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhDUfbOF-to

Despite occasionally getting together again over the years, nothing quite captured the magic or held the spark of those Time to Burn shows, or even the Black Sabbath shows from those two nights in 1992. Black Sabbath decided to try working with Ozzy Osbourne again, which ended up going nowhere save for a track or two, while Dio continued to fly solo, releasing his next album Strange Highways in 1993 in Europe and Japan, and 1994 in the United States. He would follow it up with his Angry Machines album in 1996. As of now, there hasn’t been another Time to Burn show is well over a decade, although both Ozzy Osbourne and Dio have continued to release albums.

Who knows, maybe there will be another Time to Burn?
 
As you know LIB, I'm not too knowledgeable about Metal, but from what you say, even I'd be willing to listen to a Time to Burn performance recording, or better yet, hear a new one live.

One question: I had always thought of Tony Iommi as being a great guitar player, in the top 25, and probably the second best lefty. Is he a control freak as well? Your post would make me think so.

"as once again Tony [Iommi] had begun taking control of everything"
 
As you know LIB, I'm not too knowledgeable about Metal, but from what you say, even I'd be willing to listen to a Time to Burn performance recording, or better yet, hear a new one live.

One question: I had always thought of Tony Iommi as being a great guitar player, in the top 25, and probably the second best lefty. Is he a control freak as well? Your post would make me think so.

"as once again Tony [Iommi] had begun taking control of everything"

He was a control freak in the sense that anybody who'd the driving force behind the band is. For years, he was the one keeping the band going. During the mixing of Live Evil, the band formed into two camps, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler on one side, and Dio and Vinny Appice on the other. Both accused the other of sneaking into the studio to alter the mix of their respective parts of the live album, which is what resulted in Dio and Vinny Appice going on to form the band Dio, and for Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler to go on and bring in Ian Gillan for the Black Sabbath album, Born Again.

By contrast, Ozzy was fired in '79 because he was so drugged out of his mind that he wouldn't show up or if he did, he wouldn't participate. With the record label breathing down their necks, Iommi was left with little choice but to find another singer.

All in all, I'd consider Tony Iommi a control freak especially given the constant revolving door of members throughout the early '80s and into the mid '90s. That being said, I don't hold it against him, as he was trying to keep his band, and by extension, his livelihood, alive.

As for the song Time to Burn, it was the first Dio song recorded with Craig Goldy on guitar, following the departure of guitarist Vivian Campbell, who ended up joining Whitesnake before becoming the rhythm guitarist in Def Leppard. The song was released on the Intermission EP in mid '86, so I took some liberties with having it be recorded a year or so earlier.

Here you go Beau: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ7cX2Cnusg
 
As for the song Time to Burn, it was the first Dio song recorded with Craig Goldy on guitar, following the departure of guitarist Vivian Campbell, who ended up joining Whitesnake before becoming the rhythm guitarist in Def Leppard. The song was released on the Intermission EP in mid '86, so I took some liberties with having it be recorded a year or so earlier.

Here you go Beau: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ7cX2Cnusg
I think I just became a Dio fan!:D Craig is a great axe man, every bit as good as what I've heard from Iommi, or better. I'm sorry I discovered Dio so late.:(
 
I think I just became a Dio fan!:D Craig is a great axe man, every bit as good as what I've heard from Iommi, or better. I'm sorry I discovered Dio so late.:(

Yeah, I was given a copy of The Very Beast of Dio as a 17th birthday present by a buddy of mine I went to school with. I haven't looked back since. :)
 
Great story LiB and very plausible in my opinion.
I think you captured the mood of the time just right with the internal politics of the band (Sabbath) and Iomni's perfectionism (need to control) and both Ozzy's and Dio's distaste with that.

Love Ozzy's reaction to the sitcom sounding "Ozzy & Dio" billing! :D
All I cans say is I would have loved to have attended one of those shows and have the video.

Again great work man! :cool:
 
Oh, very cool.

That 35-song (!) show at the Spectrum in '85 would almost certainly become not only metal's Woodstock, but probably the most iconic metal moment of all time.

If Steve Clark dies on schedule in 1991 -- which seems likely -- and Vivian Campbell is butterflied out of the Def Leppard circle, then perhaps you'd see Tesla's Frank Hannon join Def Leppard in '92, which in turn would butterfly away the Slang album (good riddance, as far as I'm concerned) and everything after that.
 
Time to Burn: A Tale of Two Singers.
<Snip>Encore:

Hear ‘N Aid album tracklisting:

Stars – Hear ‘N Aid
Time to Burn (live) – Time to Burn
Up to the Limit (live) – Accept
On the Road (live) – Motörhead
Distant Early Warning (live) – Rush
Heaven’s on Fire (live) – Kiss
Can You See Me – The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Hungry for Heaven (live) – Dio
Killer of Giants (live) – Ozzy Osbourne
Go for the throat – Y&T
The Zoo (live) – Scorpions
The Jimi Hendrix Experience? How did that butterfly happen? Is there a sequel planned for this?
I hope so. :cool:
 
The Jimi Hendrix Experience? How did that butterfly happen? Is there a sequel planned for this?
I hope so. :cool:

That's actually on the album. The Hear 'N Aid album was made in '85, but there were so many problems getting the rights to the songs that it took until '86 or '87 to get the album released, and even then it only ever came out in Japan. The only two songs I added, were the Time to Burn track, and the Ozzy track, Killer of Giants.
 
Great story LiB and very plausible in my opinion.
I think you captured the mood of the time just right with the internal politics of the band (Sabbath) and Iomni's perfectionism (need to control) and both Ozzy's and Dio's distaste with that.

Love Ozzy's reaction to the sitcom sounding "Ozzy & Dio" billing! :D
All I cans say is I would have loved to have attended one of those shows and have the video.

Again great work man! :cool:

Glad you liked it man, and so would I . :)
 
Oh, very cool.

That 35-song (!) show at the Spectrum in '85 would almost certainly become not only metal's Woodstock, but probably the most iconic metal moment of all time.

If Steve Clark dies on schedule in 1991 -- which seems likely -- and Vivian Campbell is butterflied out of the Def Leppard circle, then perhaps you'd see Tesla's Frank Hannon join Def Leppard in '92, which in turn would butterfly away the Slang album (good riddance, as far as I'm concerned) and everything after that.

It's possible. I didn't really give too much thought to the outside world at this time, mainly due to the fact that I really wanted to concentrate on Ozzy and Dio, and the whole Time to Burn thing. But anything that butterflies away the Slang album would be welcome.
 
Despite lack of knowledge on the subject, I will continue to read any updates on this.

It's more of a one-off. I mean, I could expand on it, but it would mostly be things like setlists and lineups, which while interesting, gets stale after awhile. Besides, Ace Venom already has a heavy metal timeline on here which I'll admit, is where I got the style from. :)
 
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