A thread for Type O Negative fans and non-fans or whatever

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Prompted by what seems like their sense of humor -- the word 'black' is an insufficient adjective to describe it -- in overdrive again. First, there had been a couple of posts on their website over the last few months indicated their bastard-tall sepulchral-voiced lead dude Pete Steele had been hospitalized and was regaining his health, then there's the new front page of their website, indicating on the face of it that, well, he wasn't around anymore:

http://www.typeonegative.net/

...but I grew suspicious since, well, it IS Type O Negative and they were probably stirring up some shit/getting some PR for their next album/etc. (See also the cover art for Life is Killing Me and a few other things that would indicate that Pete had died about six times over by now.) Blabbermouth posted a denial:

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=36711

...but not much in the way of detail. Already there's a war brewing on the comments page there as to whether or not this was a wrong thing to do, based on a poster claiming his stepsister tried to kill herself when she saw the official site.

So with that all going on -- any other fans? Plenty of detractors? I wouldn't describe myself as a hyperfan or so I thought, but somehow I've ended up with all their albums (I'm annoyed I sold back the first pressing of Bloody Kisses with "Kill All the White People" on it years ago in a fit of folly) and when I saw Danzig on Halloween 1994 they were the openers and Pete was as funny as fuck, intoning all these wry comments in a voice of doom in between the songs. Always thought the humor (evident in everything from art to songtitles to even the bottom-of-the-shoes croon Steele sings with) was a good way to tweak people's expectations while often coming up with some beautiful dark music that seems -- I stress *seems*, I need Siegbran and Scott and John D. et al to tell me otherwise, as I'm sure they'll do -- to have coevolved with (or maybe even inspired?) a lot of the gothed-out/symphonic black metal of later times. A pretty good have your cake/eat it too balance.

And of course there was the Beavis and Butthead connection and Pete's huge fandom of Lycia (Tara of said band was the first one to call my attention to the official site) and their way around making all their albums look like part of a series and etc. But your thoughts?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 14 May 2005 13:55 (twenty years ago)

Ummm...Pete is my cousin. If he died, my dad would have called me first. He's not dead.

I like them, but, you know, I'm biased.

Some very neat, incredibly strange WWVV connection I can tell you about privately, Ned!

― Roger Fidelity (Roger Fidelity), Saturday, 14 May 2005 14:07 (twenty years ago)

Pete is my cousin

Well I'll be damned! Didn't expect that. Yeah, drop me the line privately.

I figured it HAD to be a joke, what else? But those previous news bits dating back to last year did have me curious. Quite a long game if this is what this was all about.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 14 May 2005 14:10 (twenty years ago)

Also - heheheheh - he doesn't have a 'step sister.' But perhaps I'm ruining their fun so I'll stop.

― Roger Fidelity (Roger Fidelity), Saturday, 14 May 2005 14:12 (twenty years ago)

Heh, I should clarify -- the poster was saying it was his own stepsister, not Pete's.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 14 May 2005 14:46 (twenty years ago)

So your cousin's Pete from Type O and your "sister-in-law" is on that hit ABC television show? That's cool.

Type O Negative gets a C from me just because of their cover of "Summer Breeze".

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Saturday, 14 May 2005 18:47 (twenty years ago)

"Love You To Death" is fab, as is "Hey Pete." The only other song I've heard from them is "Everyone I Love is Dead," which is fairly awful.

A lot of people seem to think of Steele as the nadir of the Eldritch Fanboy Goffs, but hell, he's a more than decent singer and I smile when I hear his campy faux-vampire speech style. TON's sound has a pleasant sheen to it, I think.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Saturday, 14 May 2005 18:58 (twenty years ago)

(ha, I should have appropriately altered my screenname for that last post)

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Saturday, 14 May 2005 19:01 (twenty years ago)

He's also an extremely generous, sweet, and intelligent guy.

Pleasant - how did you know about the Desper@te H0usewives thing? I guess I've mentioned it? Oh well. Yeah. My wife's whole family is in show biz.

Other distant, famous relatives of mine: Ed Lynch (former Mets player, now general manager for The Cubs - married into the family - met him once) and Vincent Gardenia (probably best known as Mr Mushnik or whatever from Little Shop of Horrors. Not sure how he's related but he used to send my sister beautiful dresses when she was little. Never met him, never will!)

― Roger Fidelity (Roger Fidelity), Saturday, 14 May 2005 19:38 (twenty years ago)

My father's half-brothers' cousin is Jimmy "Mouth of the South" Hart.

"Black #1" would make for a great wrestling intro.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Saturday, 14 May 2005 20:02 (twenty years ago)

Got October Rust which I really, really like. It's a very unusual record in places, even though I've had it for years I've been unsure what to get next, I heard a track from the album after O.R. in a record shop once and it sounded great.
Like the Neil Young cover too.

― mzui (mzui), Sunday, 15 May 2005 04:25 (twenty years ago)

They were my favorite band in middle school! I've still got October Rust hanging around in a box somewhere, but I think I sold the others. Fun stuff.

― Ian John50n (orion), Sunday, 15 May 2005 16:22 (twenty years ago)

three months pass...

Anyway, the death rumor was just that, new album due soon, but more importantly I'm listening to October Rust for the first time in a long while and holeeeeee fuck I've underrated this album and then some. Surely this really *was* a massive influence and/or gathering of impulses that combined majestic arrangements, goth imagery/singing and a sheer sense of power that a hell of a lot of bands took and ran with. "Green Man" is flat out blowing my mind right now.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 26 August 2005 03:10 (twenty years ago)

CARNIVORE

― el sabor de gene (yournullfame), Friday, 26 August 2005 04:34 (twenty years ago)

I really like the hilariously overblown cover of Cinnamon Girl, I see traces of TON in the new Ulver CD too, although I'm sure it's accidental.

― mzui (mzui), Friday, 26 August 2005 06:33 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...

Events on the TON website have led to whisperings of what may be the biggest rock star death rumor of all time: Could Pete Steele, Musical Genius, be dead?

I have an opinion. What's yours?

― mr. shantley, Friday, 14 October 2005 21:44 (twenty years ago)

wasn't that disspelled like, three inches above your post?

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 14 October 2005 22:24 (twenty years ago)

one year passes...

fair enough, but i had no way of finding this. grant me that

― Charlie Howard (the sphinx), Wednesday, 15 November 2006 12:52 (nineteen years ago)

Google search function, entered "type o negative" in quotes. Found in two seconds.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 15 November 2006 12:58 (nineteen years ago)

muy bien

je vais utiliser cette option la prochaine fois

*sigh*

― Charlie Howard (the sphinx), Wednesday, 15 November 2006 13:01 (nineteen years ago)

october rust is ok, but a little campy and thin. not using campy as a criticism mind you, it's just that the record seems to overdo the novelty thing. it's also a record that gets me anxious with the skip-button finger - i can never seem to let this one play all the way through. 'my girlfriend's girlfriend' is a really catchy little single though.

anyway, let the conversation rebegin

― Charlie Howard (the sphinx), Wednesday, 15 November 2006 13:13 (nineteen years ago)

i love this album:

http://www.debaser.it/resize.aspx?path=/files/200612616.27.40type.jpg&width=250

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 15 November 2006 16:55 (nineteen years ago)

could do without the beatles cover at the end though.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 15 November 2006 16:55 (nineteen years ago)

that's a deceptively dark record that one. playing it now. apparently pete was 'for real' all the way through on that one

― Charlie Howard (the sphinx), Thursday, 16 November 2006 10:59 (nineteen years ago)

If I wasn't at work / too lazy, I'd be more tempted to post pics from Pete Steele's Playgirl spread.

― billstevejim (billstevejim), Thursday, 16 November 2006 19:04 (nineteen years ago)

three years pass...

Search: Bloody Kisses, October Rust, World Coming Down, and Life is Killing Me
Meh: Slow, Deep, and Hard
Destroy (only mildly): Dead Again

I really really think Life is Killing Me was a great revitalization of their sound. Poppier, catchier, and the cover of "Angry Inch" is great.

Dead again is a middling mess though.

― Phoenix in Flight (Cattle Grind), Saturday, 3 April 2010 13:29 (fifteen years ago)

Slow Deep and Hard is their best album

― Reatards Unite, Saturday, 3 April 2010 18:51 (fifteen years ago)

RIP, Peter Steele ... Peter Steele from the band Type O Negative has passed away

― Getting My Volcano On (Eisbaer), Thursday, 15 April 2010 16:08 (fifteen years ago)

three years pass...

Totally listening to "I Don't Wanna Be Me" today and this line is one I overlooked...kills me given the way he died :/

Two steps forward, three steps back
Without warning, heart attack
He fell asleep in the snow
Never woke up, died alone

― Neanderthal, Monday, 23 September 2013 22:10 (twelve years ago)

six years pass...

Is this band... good? Pitchfork’s retrospective piece on Bloody Kisses today is intriguing (even though much of it is hand-wringing over uncool things that I guess the guy said or sung at certain points). The TON threads here are surprisingly thin.

― Ticket Tout (morrisp), Sunday, 23 February 2020 19:44 (six years ago)

Is this band... good?

No.

― but also fuck you (unperson), Sunday, 23 February 2020 20:32 (six years ago)

What Unperson said. And Steele is a prick.

― Ngolo Cantwell (Chinaski), Sunday, 23 February 2020 20:44 (six years ago)

I think their shit is funny! and they do not sound like anyone else, really… they were/ are unreconstructed mooks from a part of Brooklyn unlikely to be rehabilitated, and as such are representative …I interviewed him in the 90s, and he was quite self-aware…

― veronica moser, Sunday, 23 February 2020 20:45 (six years ago)

They're good, start with October Rust perhaps, if you like it you'll most likely dig the rest.

― Maresn3st, Sunday, 23 February 2020 23:06 (six years ago)

I was reading up on these guys elsewhere; it’s a pretty funny story about him posing for Playgirl, and then being miffed to discover it was mainly guys reading it (and asking him to sign the centerfold).

I’ll check out the albums at work tmrrw...

― Ticket Tout (morrisp), Monday, 24 February 2020 00:14 (six years ago)

What Unperson said. And Steele is a prick.

― Ngolo Cantwell (Chinaski), Sunday, February 23, 2020 3:44 PM bookmarkflaglink

Was.

― sorry for butt rockin (Neanderthal), Monday, 24 February 2020 00:37 (six years ago)

Aye, fair point. That was a bit unfair of me, really.

― Ngolo Cantwell (Chinaski), Monday, 24 February 2020 13:48 (six years ago)

type o negative was a great band

― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, 24 February 2020 14:34 (six years ago)

I feel that they were hard to completely pigeonhole which, I guess, in the realm of Gothic-styled music is unusual.

I recall folks found that somewhat frustrating, getting hung up on whether they were darkly serious, just sending themselves and the genre up or exactly what level of snark was at play.

They had this really over the top but interesting sound that predicted bands like Rammstein, so many bad production choices too and over the top imagery but it's all besides the point, they made epically tuneful dirges like this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzaflC73iTk

― Maresn3st, Monday, 24 February 2020 15:21 (six years ago)

great band

― adam, Monday, 24 February 2020 16:14 (six years ago)

I'm enjoying Bloody Kisses... It's heavy but melodic -- and, yes, "funny." I'm not steeped enough in metal or goth culture to appreciate deep, inside-baseball irony involving those genres, but the humor here isn't exactly subtle.

― Ticket Tout (morrisp), Monday, 24 February 2020 18:50 (six years ago)

Wow -- October Rust kicks the tunefulness and "accessibility" to another level. These are good songs!

― Ticket Tout (morrisp), Monday, 24 February 2020 20:42 (six years ago)

five years pass...

too late too late too late for apologies uh uh!

― harper valley paul thomas anderson (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 28 October 2025 14:29 (three months ago)

I love watching Youtube singing coaches doing react videos to Type O (esp Love you To Death) and getting all hot under the collar at the imagery and Pete's baritone

― Maresn3st, Wednesday, 29 October 2025 13:40 (three months ago)

I revisited Neon Nightmare's Faded Dream recently and really liked it, it's an obvious tribute but might work better overall than any of the Type O albums

― Brad C., Wednesday, 29 October 2025 14:06 (three months ago)

So for five years, this thread was introduced with "Shame about Pete... Shut up, he's not dead" posts...

Until the one time it wasn't started like that, and then the dude dies less than two weeks later.

― pplains, Thursday, 30 October 2025 20:36 (three months ago)

Cattle Grind was me, so...I killed him?

;_; the loss just gets harder

― Edward Albee Sure (Neanderthal), Thursday, 30 October 2025 20:42 (three months ago)

Eh, it's just like loving the dead.

― pplains, Thursday, 30 October 2025 20:54 (three months ago)

it's like

― Edward Albee Sure (Neanderthal), Thursday, 30 October 2025 20:59 (three months ago)

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