VINNY APPICE was
Asked if he "caught hell" from SABBATH fans for being "the new guy" after replacing original SABBATH drummer Bill Ward in 1980,Vinnysaid (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Not really, because you're the drummer — you're sitting in the back…Ronnie[James Dio, then-SABBATHsinger] had to put up with people in the front, like 'Where's Ozzy[Osbourne]?' signs and all this 'Where'sOzzy?' stuff, and he had to do that. And he hated singing those songs — he hated singing'Iron Man'and'Sweet Leaf'and the Ozzy songs. That's why eventually [SABBATH reformed as]HEAVEN & HELL years later, so we didn't play the old [Ozzy-era] stuff anymore."
Even though Ronnie disliked singing the Ozzy-eraSABBATH material, Vinny says that he "sounded great" belting out the Osbourne clasics. "It was totally different," he said. "It was just a powerful voice singing the melody and the whole thing. So it was incredible."