Do you know people in real life who "get it"?

[LindaJeanne]

Just wondering how many of you do or don't have people you're close to in real life who shared your connection with Ronnie's music? I have wonderful people in my life who are sympathetic and caring-- but none of them listen to Metal or even really knew who Dio was without my telling them.

Actually, I never realized just how few metalheads there were in this area, until the week after Ronnie's death when I was looking everywhere for people wearing Dio or Sabbath (Or Rainbow, Or H&H, or Elf...) T-shirts, and didn't see a single one. All the concert shirts I've seen in the month that I've really been looking are hardcore or hip-hop. So I find myself checking online every day just to reassure myself that yes, there are other people who notice that he's gone, and care.

So I'm just wondering how many others have people that share their connection to music, vs. those who (like me) seem to be musically out of step with the other people in your life.

[olivious the drummer]

I'm from the UK and actually have been very suprised by how many people I know who were shocked by Ronnies passing. People who have never shown any interest in Rock/Metal etc have been spending ages telling me their stories of Ronnie, of the influence he had on their lives or just that they loved a certain track by him.

I think we are a big community but maybe a fairly understated one?
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Stand up and Shout!!!!!

[LindaJeanne]

If I had a dollar for every time in the past month that I've had the following conversation:

"who?"
"He was a rock/heavy metal vocalist and lyricist. Sang for Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio..."
"Oh, I've heard of Black Sabbath..." (often looking slightly weirded out. To the point that I'm surprised no one has asked me yet, didn't he bite the head off of a bat or something? )

A few people have said that the name "Dio" sounded vaguely familiar, like they might have heard of him some place before, maybe. But very, very few people knew who he was, without my having to explain.

(I have gotten sympathy in the form of people mentioning how they felt about other musicians who have died, or of living musicians whom they'd be shaken if they died. So a lot of people understand in the abstract. But I've been very surprised how few are even aware of, let alone care about, Ronnie's music. I've always had very different musical tastes from people around me, but until now I didn't realize just HOW different.)

(Edited a few times for clarity)
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[StargazerGeisha]

All of my non-fan friends called and emailed me right when it happened. Although they aren't fans, they care enough about me to know what Ronnie's music meant to me. I thought it was very nice.

[Metal2767]

Well, I have some friends that were also shocked by Ronnies passing. My best friend, also into metal, but not into Dio that much was sort of shocked too, she always liked "Holy Diver" she said...
But no one around here really understood how his passing has affected me.
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This is your life
This is your time
Look at your world
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[M60]

I have a handful of friends who also listens to classic heavy metal and hard rock. And ofcourse they know Dio, too.
Everyone else have had no idea, when I've talked about him.

[fiddlequeen07]

I was the one in my "circle" who introduced everyone to Ronnie's music. A few of my family and friends knew who Ronnie was before I did, but they never really listened to his music.

When I became a fan, I was able to get my family and friends into Ronnie's music, too. They are not as big of fans as I am, but they have grown to love the music and respect the man.

When Ronnie died, I felt grief as though I had lost a close friend. No one is really able to understand how or why he is so special to me (maybe I don't even know quite for sure), but they did understand that I respected and admired this man, and they showed me great support and sympathy. Even people who are not close to me have shared their condolences--guitar students of mine who always see Ronnie's picture in my studio. Even though they appreciated Ronnie's talent, they weren't really fans, but I was most glad for their kind words.

I am also glad for this forum, and for the wonderful turnout at Ronnie's memorial. I, too, always thought his music was under-appreciated, that there should be more fans in this town, but I always knew there were many, many people around the world who are loyal fans!

I enjoy when I meet someone who doesn't know of Ronnie...it gives me the opportunity to share something wonderful! And in leading by example--that is, by remaining loyal fans--we can introduce others to the magic Ronnie created for us.
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"You'll never make me be like you. I'm Master of the Moon!"

[frina-the-last-in -line]

[usuakari]

I was lucky in that most of my old friends understood, and several shared my sorrow. However, they're 1500km away, so in this city, I didn't have anyone near me who cared or understood much. So I appreciate having all the people here and on FaceBook, Blabbermouth, etc., expressing their loss. It reminds me how many people were once fans of Dio and have remembered that now, even if they had forgotten for years.
Of course, most of us never stopped listening to him!!
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FINIS PER SOMNIVM REPERIO TIBI SACRA COR VENEFICVS OSTIVM AVRVM.

[Lady of Armageddon]

Only a handful of people I know in person really "get it". Though when I went to see Primal Fear, I saw a good number of folks that spoke the same language, so to speak. Toasts to Dio all around that night.

Even though I have not personally had the priviledge of meeting Ronnie, I felt a huge loss when I heard that he passed away. Still, I feel as though I did know him by way of his music.
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Stand up and shout!

[Driftin Elf]

You sound like me. I grew up in the mid to late 80's as one of about five in my high school who even wore Dio shirts. I always wore mine proudly, and never didn't have a Dio tape in my car.
My best friend (died five years ago) and I found our greatest bond through Dio's music. I think his lyrics were a bit too complicated for many to appriciate. Dio's music challenges you to think about his lyrics. Most of the people I knew/know we're into AC/DC type rock which requires no thought process to listen to.
My fiancee had no idea who Dio was, but is becomming a Dio fan...I even drug her to the memorial.
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...and the time had come for the one to go to the temple of the king...RIP Ronnie.

[LindaJeanne]

Thanks, all, for your responses! One of the reasons felt I had to go to the memorial despite it being on the other side of the continent (and I'm glad it wasn't & farther, and that I WAS able to go) was so that I could be in the presence of other people who understood. There was just a surreal cognitive dissonance with it being just me and the "people living inside my computer".

Driftin Elf: Sorry to hear about your friend . True about the lyrics. I remember being so frustrated that all anyone ever seemed to sing about was being in love, wanting sex, or being bitter and hating their ex-- none of those lyrical topics interested me in the slightest. So when I first heard Holy Diver-- in addition to being wonderful musically, the lyrics were a breath of fresh air.

[LindaJeanne]

For some reason, the grief is hitting me especially hard again tonight.

Somehow, I didn't notice this forum until a week after the memorial service. Even though I'd been checking the page for months for updates on the cancer, somehow I never noticed the "forum" link. I wish I'd seen it sooner.

In addition to the usual reasons of wanting to say goodbye, one of the reasons I had to go to the public memorial (despite the fact that it was a 2600 mile hike) was that it was really important to me to be around other real, live human beings who shared the grief, rather than just sympathizing with it.

I wasn't counting on meeting & connecting with people at all, though in the back of my mind I was kind of hoping I would. But the super-crowded, super-cramped, super-long flight over left me so overwhelmed that I pretty much had to hide from people that night & the next morning before the memorial. And by the time the memorial was over, I needed to be off alone again.

But I was very glad I went. It was a beautiful service; I was very grateful to be able to pay my last respects; and it was very powerful to be around so many other people who felt the same way. It was definitely worth the trip out. But in a way, it also felt like a missed opportunity-- here I was, around all these people with whom I shared something very important, but was to overwhelmed to do anything before or after the service that might have allowed me to meet any of them. I had to leave before the crack of dawn Monday to catch my plane home.

But like I said, I'm very glad I went. It was very important to me to be able to be there, and I'm grateful that it was possible for me to go. (I know there were lots of other people who wanted to be there as badly as I did, but for whom the trip wasn't possible). It was very moving. (I was also very grateful to Wendy for having the public memorial service at all).

Not sure where I'm going with this. Just feeling really sad tonight that Ronnie is gone, and kind of rambling to share my grief.

To be honest, I'm kind of surprised at how hard this is suddenly hitting me again.


Edited to add Feeling a lot better this morning. Don't know why it was hitting me so hard last night. (I'm sure it will hit me again, if I can find a copy of that "Classic Rock Magazine" y'all are saying has the special feature...)

[Holymagica]

LindaJeanne
Thank you for this topic, if we had an award for topic of the month, this would win.

My non metal friends ''got it''
Mainly becoz I have always talked about DIO's music to them even if they liked it or not
They have been caring and to be honest it was a non metal friend that told me to about the Ronnie Jame Dio issue in Classic Rock.
I don't think any of the metal fans out there really get it if they don't have a Ronnie Jame Dio cd in their cd collection.
Sad fact for today...That some younger Metal fans just don't care about the legends, they are feed this rubbish watered down version from the metal media.
There has been a dumbing down of metal by some bands and record companies.
One of the greatest things about being here or going to DIO concert is the amount of young people who do ''get it''

[StargazerGeisha]