VINNY APPICE Says ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME Is 'A Joke'; RONNIE JAMES DIO 'Should Have Been Inducted'

Original DIO drummer Vinny Appice says that Ronnie James Dio "should have been inducted" into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

The legendary heavy metal vocalist, best known for his work with BLACK SABBATH, RAINBOW and his own band DIO, died of stomach cancer 10 years ago at the age of 67.

Vinny, who played with Ronnie in DIO, BLACK SABBATH and SABBATH offshoot band HEAVEN & HELL, spoke about Dio's exclusion from the Rock Hall during a recent interview with Jeff Gaudiosi of MisplacedStraws.com.

Asked if he was surprised that Dio and Appice were both left out of the SABBATH Rock Hall induction in 2006, Vinny responded: "Well, I think the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame suck anyway. It's supposed to be rock and roll, and there's people in there that [are] not rock and roll one bit. And just the way they do business — it took 'em that long to put BLACK SABBATH in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame? BLACK SABBATH started all this heavy stuff. BLACK SABBATH started the tuning down that affected everybody, and everybody copied it. And here's a band that started all this stuff, and yet they weren't in it. So I wasn't expecting them to induct Ronnie and I. They should've, but they didn't. So I think they suck."

He continued: "I went [to the Rock Hall] once. It was a fricking joke. And Ronnie should have been in there, even by himself. He should have been inducted… He's been in all these major bands and major albums, and he's not in there. It's sad. I don't even care that they didn't induct DIO — the band DIO — but they should have did him and mentioned us. That would have been nice. I mean, [DIO's debut album] 'Holy Diver' is 37 years old and it's still selling. So that's a joke, that whole thing."

This past February, Ronnie's widow and manager, Wendy Dio, told "The Blairing Out With Eric Blair Show" that she didn't know why her late husband had not yet been inducted into the Rock Hall. "One day maybe they'll come to their senses and realize he was in three biggest bands," she said. "And if you look at any heavy metal chart, there's always a RAINBOW record, a DIO record and a BLACK SABBATH record in there."

Back in 2006, Ronnie's representative said that the singer wasn't bothered by the fact that he wasn't invited to BLACK SABBATH's Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony. After hearing that Ronnie wasn't at the Rock Hall, Cleveland Scene's Ferris called the offices of Niji Management — which is owned by Wendy Dio — to see if Dio's camp had any kind of quote from Ronnie. Niji's Diana DeVille, who answered the phone, said: "Ronnie was not invited, but he's not bothered by it, because he is busy working on his own projects. He wishes them the best."

Dio recorded three studio albums and one live set with RAINBOW before exiting in 1978, including "Rising" and "Long Live Rock And Roll".

He replaced Ozzy Osbourne in BLACK SABBATH in 1980, recording the "Heaven And Hell" and "Mob Rules" albums, plus "Live Evil", before leaving in 1982. He rejoined the group 10 years later for an album called "Dehumanizer", and again teamed with the group under the HEAVEN & HELL banner in 2006. HEAVEN & HELL released an album called "The Devil You Know" in 2009.

He also recorded 10 studio albums with his own band, DIO, including a classic 1983 debut, "Holy Diver", and an equally renowned follow-up, 1984's "The Last In Line".

Dio was also behind the HEAR N' AID project, a collection of metal artists who recorded the track "Stars" in 1985 to raise funds for African famine relief.