There was nothing like those Rainbow albums at that time, nor did Sabbath know how good hey could be before Ronnie. He didn't leave his mark on the rock music, he put his stamp on it. The first band I was ever in played Kill the King, Run with the Wolf, and 16th Century Greensleeves.. and we only had 12 songs. To be alive at the time that stuff was coming out was just awesome. I remember despising Graham Bonnet and Joe Lynn Turner for ruining Rainbow. And then Heaven and Hell came out and I remember wondering why Sabbath had stuck with Ozzie Osborne for soooo long.
For me, he added dimension to the dramatic and brought images to motion through his melodic inflections and snarling defiance. That sense of foreboding and danger.. life and death.. the eternal struggle with the demons we both create, and deny. It was so powerful and yet I didn't take it literally, seriously, or with any ill-intent.. it was just good, clean storytelling - art, in the sense that the movie playing in my head, was merely a song being brought to life by a voice like no other.. with ominous guitars to polish the mood.
So, live for today.. for tomorrow never comes..
I am more one to celebrate a life than to mourn a death, but Still I'm Sad..
Sleep in peace