VIVIAN CAMPBELL: DIO Is 'One Of The Vilest People In The Music Industry'

October 29, 2003

In a recent interview posted on DEF LEPPARD's official web site, current DEF LEPPARD/former DIO guitarist Vivian Campbell talked about his disdain for hard rock. "The real irony of that is I actually don't like hard rock music," he said. "I know it's a strange thing to say, but I don't really care about my past contributions. Even now I still get these guys coming up to me going 'Duuuuuuuude!', giving me the DIO devil sign and yelling 'Holy Diver!!' and 'Rainbow In The Dark, whoo hoo!!' and it's cool that they remember it, but that music never mattered to me — and still doesn't." Campbell went on to praise and rip Ronnie James Dio, with whom he had an acrimonious split in the mid-'80s, "Oh yeah, night after night, [Ronnie] was absolutely on the money," Vivian said. "An incredibly strong voice and within that niche genre of dungeons and dragons and rainbows and midgets... You know, the sorta old school heavy metal, he's an incredible talent. But he's an awful businessman and way more importantly, one of the vilest people in the industry." Read the entire interview here.

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