It's no secret the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has a long-running feud with heavy metal. There are very few heavy metal Rock Hall alumni, and even where there are exceptions, there is still dissent. When Black Sabbath were inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2006, vocalist Ronnie James Dio—who recorded with Sabbath from 1979 until 1992—was not included, leaving the metal titan Dio out in the cold, still waiting for his own nod towards glory.
One person who is not happy about Dio's exclusion from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is ex-Dio drummer Vinny Appice. In an interview on the Talkin' 'Bout Rock podcast, Appice made his feelings clear as to why the standoff still persists.
"'Cause they're a bunch of fuckin' assholes. I mean, Sabbath wasn't in it for how long? They [finally] got in it [16 years ago]." He continued by saying, "I've been to that place, and there wasn't really much of Ronnie in there either. It's, like, Ronnie? C'mon! Rainbow, 'Man On The Silver Mountain,' 'Long Live Rock 'N' Roll.' And then Sabbath, the Heaven And Hell album and the rest of the albums we did, and then Dio, and he's only [featured in the museum with] this 12-inch square placemat or something. They don't mention me. Hey, you know what? I've been around… I'm still around from all these years. I guess it doesn't count for anything."
Elsewhere, Appice notes how much of an influence Dio has been on so many modern artists, including Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl and his former bandmates in Nirvana.
"I meet people, like, 'Oh, man. Holy Diver!' Dave Grohl, he was totally influenced by that album. He even went to Sound City [studios] to record (Nirvana's Nevermind], because there was a platinum Holy Diver on the wall, and they said, 'That's it. We've gotta record here. This album was done here.' It was a great influence on so many people."
You can watch the complete episode of Talkin' 'Bout Rock with Vinny Appice below.
