This is something I’ll never understand. They all released albums around the same time. Ronnie James Dio was hugely popular, and the Dio albums are incredibly well produced and strong. I wonder why they remained cult popular as opposed to massive.
Very few bands ever reach popularity status of the size of Priest and Maiden, maybe Dio's line up changes hindered them?
Both Priest and Maiden had a bit of "roll" in their metal, expanding their appeal outside the core community.
I always felt that after The Last In Line, the albums got worse, don't get me wrong, I love Sacred Heart and Dream Evil, but they aren't as good as the first 2, and from Lock Up The Wolves onwards I lost interest.
This is pure speculation and guesswork: - Maiden had a jump of three years and three albums on Dio. Priest had an even longer jump. By the time of the Dio debut in '83, it was harder to get noticed in an increasingly crowded metal market. - Also by 1983, melodic heavy metal was about to be displaced. Kill 'em All came out the same year and thrash was about to eat away at the audience for more trad-sounding bands, except basically for Maiden, Priest, and Ozzy (all beloved acts of the prior era). The actual melodic end of metal drifted completely in the other direction, toward glam. - Not a strong enough presence on MTV or radio to compensate for the above. "Holy Diver" was a nice radio track but they didn't have any big hits per se, or heavy rotation videos. They were therefore only positioned for cult success. There was a natural ceiling on what a band with that style in the mid-80s could accomplish, and I think they did pretty well under those circumstances. - Maiden in particular had unbelievably good marketing that came down to a cool logo and iconic mascot. Dio tried on both fronts but nobody was ever going to replicate the ubiquity of Eddie shirts and merch.
I generally found catchy and melodic stuff on all of his albums. I think Ronnie really had that kind of skill. Somewhere in between metal and Queen.
I love Dio, but after the third album they weren’t a “band” in the same sense, and one could argue they weren’t even with the original lineup, more of a Blizzard of Ozz situation. but it’s hard not to notice a decline after the 2nd LP. Priest and Maiden kept making top-shelf albums for at least 7-8 LP’s (albeit not necessarily in a row).
Iron Maiden had a run of seven classic albums. Judas Priest were a little less consistent but nonetheless recorded great albums too. Dio’s first and second are classics but after that it gets spotty.
I know some will disagree with this, but Priest and Maiden had much better songs. Sometimes, it really is that simple.
Being a pre teen at the inception of the MTV video era Dio got much more resistance from the bible belt areas than did the other 2. I knew more than one kid my age who was banned from listening to Dio altogether.
Lets not forget that Priest and Maiden had “cooler” looks - Eddie is cool, the motorcycle/leather look of Priest was cool too. Dio, revered as he is/was, was still a diminutive older dude with a sort of medeivel/swords and sorcerers image
Ronnie James Dio had impeccable metal credentials with his tenures in Rainbow and Black Sabbath but Priest and Maiden had made an indelible mark on the metal scene by the mid to late 1970s. Also Dio the band had a slicker sound than either of Dio’s previous bands, or Priest or Maiden did, and I think sounded closer to the style of metal that would result in glam, but without the defining imagery of the most popular glam bands. It doesn’t help that after the first two LPs the material took a dip too.
Answer: Vivian Campbell left the band. When he left to join Whitesnake, Dio ceased to be a band. But at least from my memory, Dio was bigger than either Maiden or Priest during Campbell's time with Dio at least toward the end. Both had missteps with introducing synthesizers with Somewhere in Time and Turbo during this time. These two albums are more fondly thought of today than they were back then. Here's the thing about Maiden and Priest, both their singers eventually left their bands after these more experimental albums. But they both returned with reinvigorating the bands to return to what made them great. Campbell after leaving Whitesnake, joined Def Leppard where he's been since. Oddly he's in the Rock Hall of Fame and Dio isn't.
Great point regarding the diminishing commercial appeal of melodic heavy metal (melodic HARD ROCK is a different story - MHR took off in the late 1980's, but melodic heavy metal diminished) -- I always felt that Accept got caught up in this to such a degree that their fantastic follow up to Balls to the Wall (Metal Heart) was far less commercially appreciated.
There was a bit of buzz to "Lock Up The Wolves" era Dio (thanks in large part to 6-string wunderkind Rowan Robertson), but it was short lived. 1990 was very late for Melodic Heavy Metal to take hold - and Dio found a decent level of success with his return to Sabbath on 1992's Dehumanizer.
Dio was better with Sabbath than solo in my opinion. Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules were phenomenal. Edit: I should add that I don’t think any of Dio’s sidemen were really that great as far as composition goes. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy his solo work, I do. But no one he worked with was near the level of Iommi/Butler. Dio with Sabbath truly was a match made in Heaven and \m/HELL\m/
Excellent point. Interesting parallel with Ozzy losing Randy Rhoads (although the decline in popularity wasn't as pronounced).
Dio’s solo career had the appearance of transitioning projects between stints leading other peoples bands. Not fair at all but I recall it being the case.
Priest and Maiden built a following for years by the time they got to the mid 80s. RJD was starting his 4th band by that time. As great as Rainbow, Sabbath & Dio were, he was somewhat starting from scratch over and over, the consistency of name recognition helps build a band to be mega stars. The first 3 DIO albums are amazing, but music was changing by the time Sacred Heart came out, and for better or worse he didnt change much, until the sabbath reunion. having said that, i remember dio being pretty big. even sacred heart was somewhat of a big production show. I'm ok with him not being as big though. I personally love his whole career and wouldnt change a thing. Some artists are better without the mega success. he's freakin DIO though..... LEGEND!
Dio came in on a high with Holy Diver after his wildly successful Sabbath stint. That album did very well but it seemed Dio was going for a more commercial and teen friendly sound not nearly as consistently heavy as Maiden or Priest. Dio went for mass appeal and was a bit cheesy at times while Priest and Maiden were just releasing relentless slabs of prime metal on vinyl. Dio became too campy and cartoony. Dio wasn't really playing metal.
