Metal Family Tree

This is a project aimed at making it easy to see who inspired the bands you love or even hate. For this I try not to use any influences that the band don’t claim themselves. There will be a focus on predecessors but successors will be added as they site the band. These trees become more and more interactive as new bands are added, allowing you to click any band that has a tree and jump to it.

We want our lists to be better. If you know something that belongs on this list, let us know. When in doubt we will leave it out, so we need reliable sources.

One of the most Influential metal and rock vocalists of all time is easily Ronnie James Dio. After becoming well known from playing with Rainbow and Black Sabbath, Dio started his own band. Dio did not just write lyrics and vocal parts, but also composed songs on guitar, bass, and keyboards. We will take a look at the bands that influence Ronnie as well as members of his bands who have contributed to the writing. Most of Dio’s music are collaborative efforts. Later line ups would had members who would site Dio as well as Ronnie’s other past bands has influences.

Phase One

This consists of the original Dio line up which consisted of Dio, Vivian Campbell on guitar, Jimmy Bain on Bass, and Vinny Appice on Drums. Jimmy also covered keyboards for the first album. Claude Schnell was on keys for albums 2 and 3 but did not contribute to writing.

Johann Sebastian Bach

Back was a composer in the Baroque era. Dio named him as a composer he really liked. Jens also names Bach as an influence.

Ludwig van Beethoven

Beethoven is of the most well known classical composers. Dio was a big fan.

Mario Lanza

Buddy Rich

Max Roach

Jimi Hendrix is easily one of the most influential guitarists. Jimmy named Hendrix as a big inspirations to him. Vinny also names Mitch Mitchell as an influence on him. Rowan named Hendrix as one of his biggest influences.

One of the most important and popular progressive rock bands, Pink Floyd was another band named by Dio when asked about favorite bands in his Elf days.

Carmine Appice is the older brother of Vinny. He got his start with Vanilla Fudge but would go on to play for many bands. Vinny said he was very influenced by his brother and the bands showed to him by him.

Deep Purple who started more of a rock band before getting heavier and even at times play heavy metal. Dio named them as an influence stating that at the time he was in Elf but wanted to be part of a heavier band. He mentions Deep Purple as his favo… — Deep Purple who started more of a rock band before getting heavier and even at times play heavy metal. Dio named them as an influence stating that at the time he was in Elf but wanted to be part of a heavier band. He mentions Deep Purple as his favorite band at the time. Vivian is also a big fan an also is influenced by the Tommy Bolin funkier album that followed Ritchie’s departure. Craig names Deep Purple as his favorite band and being obsessed with learn how to play like Ritchie. Claude and Jens were both hugely inspired by John Lord.

Jeff Beck was a very influential guitarist in his time. Vivian says he is the greatest guitar player. Craig also names his as one of his top 5 influences. Tracy named him as his biggest influence.

Led Zeppelin are one of the most influential bands for both rock and metal. Dio named them as an influence and said he was mostly influenced by British bands at the time. Vinny names Bonham as one of his biggest influences.

Rory Gallagher was and Irish blues rock guitarist. Vivian said he was the first who really made him really want to play guitar.

King Crimson are another hugely important progressive rock band. Dio was a big fan in his early days.

Thin Lizzy was a hugely influential hard rock band. Vivian said he is a massive fan and was influenced by all the guitarist of Lizzy but particularly Gary Moore. Rowan also names Gary Moore as one of his biggest influences.

Billy Cobham is a influential jazz/rock drummer named as an influence by Vinny.

Van Halen completely changed the world of rock with Eddie’s flashy guitar playing. Vivian said after hearing them he started playing with a floyd. Craig also names Eddies as one of his top 5 guitar influences. Rowan also named Eddie as one of his bi… — Van Halen completely changed the world of rock with Eddie’s flashy guitar playing. Vivian said after hearing them he started playing with a floyd. Craig also names Eddies as one of his top 5 guitar influences. Rowan also named Eddie as one of his biggest influences.

Phase Two

After the first three albums, guitar was taken over by Craig Goldy.

Genesis are a progressive rock band who are more well known for their poppy stuff but their early stuff has been influential. Craig named them as one of his big influences.

After Ozzy was no longer in Black Sabbath Ronnie stepped in to do two albums with them before starting Dio. Craig said Dio era Sabbath was an influence on him. Rowan called Sabbath the greatest heavy metal band.

Neal Schon

Ronnie really became well known after being part of Rainbow with Ritcie Blackmore. Craig named Rainbow as one of his influences being he is a huge Blackmore fan. Jens anemd Don Airey as an influence and the best soloist. — Ronnie really became well known after being part of Rainbow with Ritcie Blackmore. Craig named Rainbow as one of his influences being he is a huge Blackmore fan. Jens named Don Airey as an influence and the best soloist.

Al Di Meola

After David Coverdale’s departure from Deep Purple he formed Whitesnake. Craig named them as an influence.

No, Ozzy was not an influence on Ronnie, however Craig named the Rhandy Rhoads era Ozzy as a big influence on him.

Phase Three and Beyond

Phase Three saw the biggest change to the line up with only Dio being the constant. On Guitars, Rowan Robertson. Teddy Cook joined on bass, Simon Wright was on drums, and Jen Johansson was on keys. Many songs were still written before Jimmy and Vinny were replaced, so both still have writing credits. Teddy and Jen have some credit on the album while all songs are co written with Dio and Rowan.

The line up would change quite a few more times following this line up. Further below are other members as well as their contributions and influences. Some of these members only share in a relatively small amount of co-writing credits so their influences will be noted below instead of in the main list.

John Fahey

Bert Jansch

Eric Clapton is an influential blues / rock guitarist being in several influentail bands such as Yardbirds, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, as well as Cream and others. Rowan named him as an influence.

Cream was a very influential psychedelic rock band. Rowan named Clapton as and influence and Jeff named Jack Bruce as an early influence. — Cream was a very influential psychedelic blues rock band. Rowan named Clapton as and influence and Jeff named Jack Bruce as an early influence.

ZZ Top were an influential blues rock band. Rowan named Guitarist Billy Gibbons as an influence

Queen were a hugely influential rock band. Rowan named them as an influence.

Gary Moore was a one time Thin Lizzy guitarist, but also had an influential solo career as well as playing with numerus others. Rowan named him as one of his biggest influence.

AC/DC are the quintessential hard rock band. Rowan named them as an influence. Simon played with AC/DC for several years.

Yngwie Malmsteen is often credited as beginning neo-classical shred. Rowan named him as an influence. Jens played with Yngwie prior to joining Dio and named him as an influence.

Steve Vai is an influential guitar virtuoso. Rowan named him as an influence.

Tool helped bring progressive rock to a new era. Dio names them as an influence in a 1994 interview saying they were not just influenced by old bands and wanted to take their sound into the future. *Angry Machines* which came out that year has its share of progressive parts.

Dio said he grew up with opera around him and it influenced his later style.

Dio says that Alice Cooper’s stage performance influenced him to find his own style.

Dio mentions Aerosmith’s “Dream On” is a favorite song of his.

Dio said that when at home after a tour he listened mostly to classical music. Ronnie said one it helped cleanse his mind so he wouldn’t accidentally steal ideas from similar bands when writing.

In a 1994 interview Dio talks about not trying sound like older dio albums and looking back they was looking forward and was influenced by bands like Tool and Napalm Death. The latter is harder to hear, but the tool influence can be subtlety heard on Angry Machines. He also praises thrash rhythm playing but said at the base, Dio is still a traditional band.

I’ve been unable to find influences of Jimmy Bain other than Hendrix. Jimmy contributed a lot to writing when he was in the band which was on the first four albums as well as Magica and Killing the Dragon although he didn’t write on Magica.

Vivian Campbell played on the first three Dio albums before going on to create a bunch of shitty Def Leppard albums. Vivian said T. Rex was the band that first made an impression on him and made him want to be a rock star. He also mentions Lynyrd Skynyrd leaving a mark on him as a kid. Vivian also said he got into The Stranglers because his sister use to play them. He says Mick Ralphs of Bad Company is a hugely underrated guitarist.

Vinny Appice played on the first four Dio Albums as well as Strange Highways and Angry Machines and has writing credits on all of them.

Craig Goldy played guitar on three albums, Dream Evil, Magica, and Master of the Moon and co wrote on all three.

Claude Schnell played keys on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th albums but only has writing credits on the 4th, Dream Evil. He grew up with classical piano training.

Rowan Robertson played guitar and co-wrote on Lock Up the Wolves. He names influences as “Hendrix, Queen, ACDC, Gary Moore, Eric Clapton, Billy Gibbons, Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen, Bert Jansch, John Fahey and many more.” He was a huge Dio fan as a kid being a big fan of the first two albums.

Teddy Cook played bass on Lock Up the Wolves. He only has one co-writing credit. I’m unsure of his influences.

Jens Johansson played keys on Lock Up the Wolves but only has two co-writing credits. His influencs include Jon Lord, Don Airey (Rainbow), Eddie Jobson (UK), Bach, Frank Zappa, and he also names guitar players Allan Holdsworth, Uli Roth, and Yngwie Malmsteen. (Note: Eddie Jobson was a founding member of UK which at one time featured Allan Holdsworth on guitar. Eddie was previously with Frank Zappa)

Tracy G played guitar and wrote on Strange Highways and Angry Machines but other than Jeff Beck mentioned above I haven’t found his influences.

Jeff Pilson played bass and wrote on Strange Highways and Angry Machines. He said Chris Squire of Yes was the bassist that really made him fall in love with playing bass. His earlier influences were Jack Bruce of Cream, SteppenWolf, and John Entwistle (The Who).

Doug Aldrich played guitar on the Killing the Dragon album. He only has two co-writing credits on it with the majority being written by Dio and Jimmy. From the bio on his website “On the weekends the band would jam and learn the tunes of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, UFO, Van Halen and Deep Purple. Although he enjoyed playing the tunes of these artists, Doug's largest influences came from Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck. Later Doug learned the styles of newer players like Stevie Ray Vaughn and Gary Moore.”

Drummer Simon Wright played on three albums but only has one co-writing credit. His main influences are Cozy Powell, Tommy Aldridge and John Bonham.

Bassist Chuck Garric never played on any albums but co-wrote a song on Master of the Moon.

Bands influenced by Dio!

(It is important to note that people influenced by Ronnie James Dio might not be listed here if they site Rainbow or Black Sabbath instead of Dio)

As this project advances, bands will be added here… there are many!

Influential NWOBHM, They started years before Ronnie formed DIo.

One of the leading modern thrash bands.

If you are completely unaware of the greatness of Dio, you’ll want to check out

Dio 101

Sources:

http://dmme.net/interviews/dio2.html
http://dmme.net/interviews/dio1.html
https://earofnewt.com/2015/11/17/ronnie-james-dio-the-lost-interview-of-1985-an-ear-of-newt-exclusive/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_5wsTzQXzM
http://ronniejamesdiosite.com/NewsInterviews/Interviews/Extremeinterview.html
https://myglobalmind.com/2013/08/20/exclusive-interview-with-vinny-appice-drums-jimmy-bain-bass-last-in-line/
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wplrOtprjQ0
https://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/vivian-campbell-picks-10-essential-guitar-albums-603438
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https://ultimateclassicrock.com/jeff-pilson-interview-2016/
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