No it's not that. It's the fact that the dynamic changed. It wasn't Sabbath, it was Dio. Or more accurately, it was Rainbow with Tony Iommi on guitar. and Bill clearly felt the same way, otherwise he wouldn't have left halfway through the Heaven & Hell tour, nor would he have ultimately oppd out of the reunion.

Except of course that all the releases were by Black Sabbath. Tricky matter, that.

The releases were by Black Sabbath because Warner Bros. pretty much forced them to put the album out under that name (see also: Seventh Star).

It's still Black Sabbath. Are we going to have to have a Death list for every different line-up? Should we have a Metallica list for the first four albums and one for the rest?

Exactly.

So let's credit all their music to a completely different act who just so happened to share one member (two later), and only one of the songwriters. That's far more logical.

Deep Purple and King Crimson. Just sayin'

Deep Purple and King Crimson aren't metal, according to ya'lls standards yo.


Look, I'm saying that one Dio song in the Sabbath list is fine.

The Black Sabbath list should factor in ALL of the band's career, not just Ozzy, although obviously that's where the most important material comes from.

To concentrate on Dio the solo artist, I'd say something like this would be in order...

1. Holy Diver (overplayed and cliche as fuck, but still his most iconic song in the public eye)
2. Don't Talk To Strangers
3. Last In Line
4. Rainbow In The Dark (another radio hit.....ugh)
5. Stand Up And Shout

After that, I'm scratching my head...

We Rock would definitely be #6 in that case. I think all of the rest of the tracks on Holy Diver are awesome, esp. Straight Through the Heart, Shame on the Night, and Gypsy.

Awwww MAN that riff on Straight Through The Heart! Simple yet indescribably badass.

Gypsy is honestly my favorite on the album.

Do you own Strange Highways? Thinking about getting that album eventually. Obviously it's got "Pain" on it, which is nearly worth the price of the album by itself, but I also loved "Give Her The Gun".

Yeah, but I don't listen to it very often. In short, if you liked Dehumanizer (which I didn't a whole lot), you'll like Strange Highways. Heavier, slower, and less fanciful than most of Dio's material, with that more aggressive vocal approach.

Ok, so

1. Black No.1 [Little Miss Scare-All] (Bloody Kisses)
2. Love You to Death (October Rust)
3. Life Is Killing Me (Life Is Killing Me)
4. Christian Woman (Bloody Kisses)
5. Wolf Moon (October Rust)
6. Bloody Kisses [A Death in the Family] (Bloody Kisses)
7. Blood and Fire (Bloody Kisses)
8. How Could She? (Life Is Killing Me)
9. Unsuccessfully Coping With the Natural Beauty of Infidelity (Slow, Deep & Heard)
10. Everything Dies (World Coming Down)

Dehumanizer was a great sound for Black Sabbath, but for Dio, not so much.

You Got Another Thing Comin' totally doesn't need to be there. Yeah it's popular, but that's about it.
Generic radio fodder, nothing more.