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Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi Sues Live Nation For Copyright Infringement

Photo: Kane/Getty Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi has sued Live Nation after the concert giant sold merchandise using the band’s logo after their contract had expired. Live Nation bought merchandise company Signatures in 2007 for $79 million. Unfortunately for Live Nation, however, Black Sabbath’s contract with Signatures expired in 2006, and Tony Iommi reclaimed the band’s trademark. Live Nation and Signatures, Iommi alleges, continued to sell over 100 items of merchandise featuring the band’s likeness, name and logo. Iommi says he sent a letter to the companies in April, asking them to stop selling their merchandise. They didn’t, so now the guitarist has taken it to court, asking for damages in the amount of three times the profits from the merchandise sales, plus a halt to the Black Sabbath product sales. Live Nation has declined to comment on the case. However this ends up, it’s safe to assume that if Black Sabbath should ever reunite with Ozzy Osbourne, Ticketmaster will likely handle the ticket sales. Related Stories: • Black Sabbath, Motorhead, Judas Priest Prove Their Metal Mastery on Long Island • Dio’s Black Sabbath Readies Box Set; Heaven & Hell Plan New Album, Tour • Black Sabbath Bring the Rock at Radio City

Published: 2008-12-17 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News

Readers’ Rock List: Sports Anthems

Photo: Retna With the baseball playoffs in full swing, last week we asked the readers to tell us their sports anthems. After sorting through information like the Vancouver Canucks’ goal song and what Dio song the Phillies’ Pat Burrell comes to the plate to, we can reveal that Guns N’ Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle” is your favorite stadium rocker, beating out a pair of tunes by AC/DC, Metallica and the White Stripes song that has become the unofficial theme song for soccer hooligans. Check out the list below: 1. Guns N’ Roses — “Welcome to the Jungle” 2. AC/DC — “Thunderstruck” 3. Metallica — “Enter Sandman” 4. AC/DC — “Hell’s Bells” 5. White Stripes — “Seven Nation Army” 6. Ozzy Osbourne — “Crazy Train” 7. U2 — “Vertigo” 8. Ramones — “Blitzkrieg Bop” 9. Todd Rundgren — “Bang The Drum All Day” 10. House of Pain — “Jump Around” Related Stories: • Guns N’ Roses Premiering New Song In New Film Body of Lies • Metallica Face Criticism Over Quality of Death Magnetic • AC/DC Expand Tour, Announce Rock Band Package

Published: 2008-10-06 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News, Rock Lists

Dio’s Black Sabbath Readies Box Set; Heaven & Hell Plan New Album, Tour

The Ronnie James Dio-era of Black Sabbath will be memorialized in the upcoming boxed set The Rules of Hell, out July 22nd via Rhino. The five-disc set will see four of the Dio Sabbath albums — Heaven and Hell, Mob Rules, Dehumanizer and the double-disc Live Evil — get the remastered treatment. The set will also include extensive liner notes and new interviews with the band. In addition to the set, Dio and Tony Iommi are currently recording a new album as Heaven & Hell, set for release in early 2009. In anticipation for that album, Dio & Iommi will tour with Judas Priest, Testament and Motörhead on the Metal Masters Tour this August. [Photo: Getty]

Published: 2008-05-21 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News

"The world has lost an irreplaceable talent"

Iron Maiden have paid tribute to legendary metal vocalist Ronnie James Dio, who died at the weekend. In a post on www.ironmaiden.com the band wrote: "It is with huge sadness we hear that Ronnie has lost his battle against stomach cancer, and our heartfelt condolences go out to his wife Wendy and family at this terrible time. From his earlier years in Elf, Black Sabbath and Dio, right through to his most recent days fronting Heaven and Hell, Ronnie, time and again, proved his genius as a frontman

Published: 2010-05-17 Provider: Kerrang!

Ronnie James Dio, heavy metal star, dies

By Whitney Pastorek Fronted Black Sabbath after Ozzy Osbourne's departure, as well as his own band; he had been diagnosed with stomach cancer last fall

Published: 2010-05-17 Provider: Entertainment Weekly Keywords: Partners, CNN Home RSS Feed

Heaven And Hell cancel European tour

Metal legends Heaven And Hell have canceled their summer European tour, which was to include sets at the Bloodstock and Sonisphere festivals. The cancellation is due to frontman Ronnie James Dio's ongoing cancer treatment. "We have to announce that all forthcoming Heaven And Hell European shows have been cancelled as sadly Ronnie isn't well enough to tour this summer," reads an official statement from the band. "We hope that everyone understands and want to thank fans and industry colleagues for

Published: 2010-05-04 Provider: Kerrang!

Black Sabbath, Motorhead, Judas Priest Prove Their Metal Mastery on Long Island

When two of the singers who most define the genre are in the house, calling a tour featuring Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, and Motorhead the “Metal Masters Tour” doesn’t have even a hint of hyperbole. The ashen skies threatened to open at any moment at Long Island’s Jones Beach Theater on Sunday, but even though lightning crackled in the distance during Judas Priest’s night-closing set, the evening remained dry. The band only pulled out one song from this year’s Nostradamus, so the rest of the set was dedicated to the glory days of yore. Apart from the old standbys (”Breaking the Law,” “Metal Gods,” “Hell Bent for Leather”), the deeper cuts provided some of the evening’s finer moments, especially a thunderous rendition of “Dissident Aggressor” and “Hell Patrol,” an unjustly forgotten number from the Painkiller album. Though the ticket read “Heaven and Hell,” a Ronnie James Dio-fronted Black Sabbath is still Black Sabbath. Guitarist Tony Iommi appeared in great spirits, cracking a huge smile while carving out the jagged solo on “I” (some of those Dehumanizer tracks are a lot better than you may remember). Dio was in fantastic voice, sounding more like one-third of his alleged 66 years, especially on “Children of the Sea” and “Heaven and Hell,” the set’s closing number. As always, Motorhead was Motorhead, and that’s all it takes. From a breakneck “Going to Brazil” to “Killed By Death” and the unstoppable closing one-two punch of “Ace of Spades” and “Overkill,” Lemmy Kilmister’s gravel throat has retained every bit of its charm, and his band is still top-notch. The only downer of the evening is that the audience skewed so far towards the older side, as kids with heavy metal dreams would be well advised to sign up for an evening of education and learn from the best. [Photo: Getty]

Published: 2008-08-11 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News, Live Shows

Black Sabbath's Ronnie James Dio Dies at 67

A metal legend has fallen. Ronnie James Dio, former frontman of Black Sabbath and his own band Dio, died today from stomach cancer. He was 67. His wife, Wendy, posted the sad...

Published: 2010-05-16 Provider: E!Online

LISTEN UP: Finally an Excuse to Play Dio In My Living Room

Anyone else excited about Guitar Hero 80's Edition? I can't wait to try to play the game drunk at 4 am and completely butcher every song... from the EIGHTIES. (Neiles Life) Quick Before It Melts posts a handful of mp3s including a remix of my favorite song from The Knife, "We Share Our Mother's Health." Also, this bullet point somehow got an 8.9 on Pitchfork. JasonHare.com provides perhaps the most extensive blog post in history of the band Air Supply, along with three mp3s of acoustic takes on some of their classics. As far as I'm concerned, though, if the band isn't plugged in and and f*cking rocking out, then they're not really Air Supply. To appease all the metal heads out there, I feel like it's about time I linked to a Mastodon track. I hope BWE doesn't have to give up its distinction as the "#1 one-stop-shop online for metal fanatics and all things metal." (Culture Bully) Finally, all the critics who blast the Smashing Pumpkins for their tendencies towards self-indulgence can just 19-minute live version of "Gossamer"? Suck on it and taste the correctness of their observation, I mean. (Deaf Indie Elephants)

Published: 2007-07-25 Provider: VH1