Type O Negative
Encyclopedia
Type O Negative was a gothic metal
band from Brooklyn
, New York City. The band also incorporated elements of doom metal
and thrash metal
. Their dramatic lyrical emphasis on themes of romance
, depression
, and death resulted in the nickname "The Drab Four" (in homage to The Beatles
' "Fab Four" moniker). The band went Platinum with 1993's Bloody Kisses
, and Gold with 1996's October Rust
, and gained an enormous following with seven studio albums, two best-of compilations, and concert DVD
s.
On April 14, 2010, lead vocalist, bassist, and principal songwriter Peter Steele
died, reportedly from heart failure. No official statement from the band has been made about its future but members Kenny Hickey
and Johnny Kelly
stated in a November 2010 interview with French music magazine Rock Hard that the band is no more. The band's official website continues to have periodic updates.
. Meanwhile, Steele went on to found the thrash metal band Carnivore
. Carnivore spent much of the mid-eighties playing venues in and around the East Coast, including the now defunct CBGB
's on the Lower East Side
of Manhattan
, and the now defunct L’amours in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
. The band's lyrics were harsh and very politically incorrect, dealing with race, religion, war, and misogyny
, with a sound reminiscent of speed metal
mixed with hardcore
break-downs and three-chord
punk rock
.
Following the release of their second album, Retaliation, Carnivore went on hiatus. Two years later, Steele recruited long-time friend, Sal Abruscato
, Type O Negative's original drummer
. Soon after, Silver was convinced to join, with fellow childhood friend Kenny Hickey
following suit. They originally named themselves "Repulsion" (not to be confused with the death metal band of the same name
) and "Sub-Zero," but after an extensive search through the Yellow Pages
for potential names, they realized "Subzero
"
had already been taken. Due to the band already having the "o" negative tattoo
s for subzero, they decided to name the band "Type O Negative." The band released a demo, which caught the ear of executives at Roadracer Records which later became Roadrunner Records
, a prominent American label for metal and hard rock in the late eighties and early nineties. Roadrunner signed them to a five-album record deal, and in 1991 the band quickly released their debut, Slow Deep and Hard
.
None More Negative, Type O's first album Slow Deep and Hard
incorporated dragging dirge
riff
s, maniacal punk-metal outbursts, and droning industrial and gothic atmospheres. The songs were long, multi-part theatrical epics, with lyrical topics ranging from heartbreak
to getting revenge on a cheating lover, and even contemplating suicide
. Their first tour following the album's release was met with hostility, primarily by Dutch
political activists who failed to recognize Peter Steele's tongue-in-cheek
humor regarding certain social topics, which resulted in false accusations that the band's members were misogynists and Nazi sympathizers. This was perceived as ironic by the band, as Josh Silver is Jewish (they made light of the situation on the album Bloody Kisses
, with a song titled "We Hate Everyone").
Back in the States, Roadrunner Records
held Type O Negative to a contractual obligation of recording a live album
with Isaac Hayes
producing. With the money they received from the label to facilitate the recording of the album at Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, Type O instead used it to buy cheap vodka
, and re-recorded their debut in Silver's basement. They later dubbed in live noises, and improvised a fake "fight" between the band and the hostile "crowd." Entitled The Origin of the Feces
, a warning label
was put on the album cover: "Not Live At Brighton Beach." The cover was also controversial, as it originally depicted a man's anus
(believed to be Steele) being spread by his hands, until later copies featured a different cover depicting skeletons. Roadrunner was not amused with the prank, but went ahead and released the album in 1992 anyway.
, was released in 1993 to critical and listener acclaim, and eventually became the first record for Roadrunner to reach certified Platinum status in the US.
Bloody Kisses mostly addressed loneliness and heartbreak, with songs like "Too Late: Frozen," "Blood & Fire," and "Can't Lose You." The organ
-driven "Set Me On Fire" is vintage sixties garage rock
, while "Summer Breeze" covered the 1972 Seals and Crofts
hit. "Christian Woman" and "Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare-All)" became the most popular tracks, after having been edited down to radio-friendly lengths (the album versions were 8½ and 11 minutes long). In order to promote the album, Type O Negative embarked on a two-year world tour. Steele, who stood over 6' 8", had a signature action during concerts of playing a double bass slung over his shoulder with a large chain, instead of an electric bass (this also appears in the "Black No. 1" music video
). During this time, the band was featured on MTV
, VH1
, and in Rolling Stone
. In the midst of this media blitz, drummer Sal Abruscato
quit the band to join another Brooklyn quartet, Life of Agony
. Johnny Kelly
, the band's drum technician, was therefore hired as a full-fledged member. Bloody Kisses was re-released a year after the original release in a limited-edition Digipak
form, including eight of the musical tracks from the original (omitting the "filler" tracks) and the previously unreleased "Suspended In Dusk."
The unexpected success of Bloody Kisses brought on the pressure of recording a successor. The record label, suddenly capitalizing on the revenue being generated by Type O Negative, began pressuring Steele and company to write even more commercial-friendly songs. The band tried to strike a balance between the commercial and the creative, and the result was 1996's October Rust
. Picking up where Bloody Kisses left off, this album continued to explore themes of sex and sensuality, explored in a humorous sense on the single "My Girlfriend's Girlfriend" and then taken much darker with "Love You To Death." This record also saw a cover of Neil Young
's "Cinnamon Girl," as well as the fan favorite, semi-serene "Green Man." While not quite as successful as Bloody Kisses, the album was certified Gold in the US, and was the first Type O Negative album to enter the top half of the Billboard Top 200
, debuting at No. 42. It was also around this time that the band garnered some controversy. On The Howard Stern Show, Steele admitted having fantasies of murder-suicide
involving girlfriends, and confirmed claims that Kurt Cobain was his "hero" for "having the balls to shoot himself." He also appeared in Playgirl
, although he regretted the decision after finding out via Kenny Hickey's publishing contacts that "[only] 23% of the magazine's subscribers are female." Steele was reportedly "very disheartened" when he found out about the magazine's demographics, and made light of the situation on the track "I Like Goils" on a later album, to underline his purely straight stance on his sexuality.
With the completion of another successful world tour, writing for a fourth album began. In the period immediately following the release of October Rust, Steele experienced several deaths in his immediate family, and he began drinking heavily to mask the bereavement and pain. This epoch of self-loathing would eventually manifest itself in the next album, 1999's World Coming Down
(working titles included Prophets Of Doom and Aggroculture). The vibe of the album was a significant change from October Rust; this time the band revisited the more dooming sounds of Slow Deep & Hard. This time around, instead of sex and romance, lyrics
focused on death, drug addiction, depression
, and suicide. Songs such as "Everyone I Love is Dead," "Everything Dies," "World Coming Down," and "All Hallows Eve" were not meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but rather true life reflections of Steele's mindset at the time. It was nowhere near as accessible as Bloody Kisses or October Rust, but despite its morbid subject matter, World Coming Down debuted at # 39 on the Billboard Top 200
charts.
A 'best of' album followed in 2000, entitled The Least Worst of Type O Negative
. Although most songs appear on previous albums, many are unreleased remixes
or B-sides
on previously released singles. Along with these songs are some unreleased numbers from the World Coming Down sessions, the band's cover of "Black Sabbath" by Black Sabbath
, and a cleaner version of "Hey Pete" (originally released on the mock live album The Origin of the Feces).
(originally called The Dream Is Dead after the closing song), was released in 2003. For this album, the band picked up the pace of their sound from the dirgeful slowness of World Coming Down. Songs such as "Todd's Ship Gods," "(We Were) Electrocute," and "I Don't Wanna Be Me" convey the band's classic elements of melody, though the song lengths were much shorter on this outing, the longest being the 7 and a half minute "How Could She?", a list of female character names from television shows. A humorous cover of the song "Angry Inch" from the musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch
, detailing a sex change operation gone terribly wrong, marks the band's return to its trademark humor that had been absent on their previous album.
After the release, Steele spent a brief time in prison
for battery and endured a stint in drug rehabilitation
. After Roadrunner Records released the 2006 compilation The Best of Type O Negative
(allegedly without notifying the band), Type O split from the label upon a better offer from SPV Records
and released Dead Again
in March 2007. A video for "The Profits of Doom" (spelled "Profit" in some instances) arrived in April, and the "September Sun" video was finished in November. Both videos saw frequent airplay on MTV
's Headbangers Ball
in the weeks after each release. Dead Again saw a culmination of previous Type O styles, from the thrash
-inspired title track to the blues rock style "An Ode To Locksmiths." Female vocalist Tara Vanflower
also appears on "Halloween In Heaven." The album debuted at # 27 in the US; the band's highest chart debut to date. They also continued to tour through October of that year, including a performance at the Rock am Ring
festival in Nürburgring, Germany.
Two special editions of Dead Again were announced in January 2008, for a February release. One is a two-disc package that includes live performances at Wacken Open Air
2007, with interviews and music videos, and the other is a 3LP vinyl
set, with a 12-page booklet and T-shirt.
In 2007 the band played at the biggest open-air festival in Europe (400.000 – 500.000 rock fans every year) – Przystanek Woodstock
in Poland
died, reportedly from heart failure. The following statement concerning Steele was released on the 15th of April on the band's official website:
In a November 2010 interview with Rock Hard
magazine, Johnny Kelly and Kenny Hickey confirmed that following Steele's death, the band is no more.
Roadrunner Records will release a box set of all the band's albums for Back To Black Friday 2011, a spinoff of Record Store Day, on November 25th 2011. Each vinyl cover will be textless and The Origin Of The Species will include its original cover art. The box set will also contain various bumper stickers related to the band. The box set claims to include all Roadrunner released material by the band, but it has not yet been indicated whether it includes any non-album tracks.
, including "Blood and Fire (Out of the Ashes Remix)" on the 1995 Mortal Kombat
movie soundtrack
(also on the bonus CD of Life Is Killing Me), "Love You To Death" in Bride of Chucky
, "(We Were) Electrocute" in Freddy vs. Jason
, and "Summer Breeze
" in I Know What You Did Last Summer
. As a result of Howard Stern
being a self-professed fan, Private Parts: The Album
contains "Pictures of Matchstick Men
" with the band playing music and Ozzy Osbourne
on vocals. "Haunted" also appears on The Blair Witch Project
"soundtrack CD" (the album's concept was to contain songs from "a tape that was found in the woods with the students' gear"; the flaw with that plot point
is that the film takes place in 1994, but "Haunted" was released in 1996). In 1998, Arrow Videos made their own version of the 1922 classic horror film
Nosferatu, by simply overdubbing the silent film
with a soundtrack consisting entirely of Type O Negative tracks, taken from the first four albums. This version is now on DVD from DigiView Entertainment, a company that makes budget-priced DVDs. It also has an introduction by actor David Carradine
.
In other media, the computer game Descent 2 features a shortened, instrumental version of the track "Haunted". Additionally, Descent 2: The Vertigo Series contains a full-length version of the instrumental; the compilation Duke Nukem: Music To Score By features "Cinnamon Girl (Extended Depression Mix)"; "Love You To Death" in the computer game Blood
; "Out of the Fire" from the Life is Killing Me bonus CD was a theme created for WWE
Superstar Kane, but was never used. Recently, the opening two seconds of "I Don't Wanna Be Me" were used as a frequent sample in Grand Theft Auto IV
, on the Liberty Rock Radio Station.
Numerous covers have also been performed. The Doors
' "Light My Fire
" has been covered live numerous times, mostly during the 90s. Steele has described the song as "probably the greatest song ever written," before apologizing for having "destroyed it." Seals and Crofts
' "Summer Breeze" appears on Bloody Kisses
, and Neil Young
's "Cinnamon Girl
" appears on October Rust
. The tongue-in-cheek "Angry Inch" (from Hedwig and the Angry Inch
) also appears on Life Is Killing Me
. World Coming Down
also included a Beatles medley
consisting of "Day Tripper
," "If I Needed Someone
," and "I Want You (She's So Heavy)
." Other covers include a rendition of Black Sabbath
's "Paranoid
" and "N.I.B."; Status Quo's "Pictures of Matchstick Men
" with Ozzy Osbourne
, two versions of "Black Sabbath" (one with the original lyrics and one rewritten by Peter Steele to be from Satan's perspective), Jimi Hendrix
's "Hey Joe
" (rewritten as "Hey Pete"); The Beatles
' "Back in the U.S.S.R.", Deep Purple
's "Highway Star" and Creedence Clearwater Revival
's "Bad Moon Rising
". A medley of Santana
's "Evil Ways," "Oye Como Va," and "Black Magic Woman" are also available on the CD accompanying the DVD Symphony for the Devil. The 2007 tour song set started with a cover of "Magical Mystery Tour
" from The Beatles.
"In the Flesh", originally written by Pink Floyd
from their album "The Wall," is another song that Type O Negative covered, as they used it as the opening song for their 1999 World Tour. Their version can be seen on the live DVD, "Symphony for the Devil." Also on the same DVD, in "Too Late: Frozen", the intro began with Jethro Tull's "Aqualung".
. A fictional individual named "Phlogiston Verdigris" has been mentioned in at least two different contexts. He is mentioned as the conductor of the "Brooklyn Philharmonic
Orchestra" in the notes for Bloody Kisses
, and attributed the quote "Better to be hated for who you are than loved for who you are not" on the back of The Least Worst of Type O Negative
(despite actually being a quote by André Gide
). The name "Phlogiston Verdigris" is actually a pseudonym referencing the two main colors evident on Type O album art and merchandise.
, rendered in the local New York dialect.
Slow Deep And Hard
has a song entitled "The Misinterpretation of Silence and its Disastrous Consequences", which is actually just 60 seconds of silence. First time listeners would usually think the record was over after the discordant ambient noises of the preceding track, "Glass Walls of Limbo", unaware that the song "Gravitational Constant" would begin playing after a minute's pause.
Both October Rust
and World Coming Down
have a "fake" first track, intended to make a first-time listener believe there was something wrong with their stereo. On the October Rust cd, the first track (titled "Bad Ground" on the sleeve) is 38 seconds of low humming which sounds like a partly unplugged speaker cable, or an ungrounded wire. On World Coming Down, the first track (titled "Skip It" on the sleeve) is 9 seconds of audio that sounds like the CD is skipping, followed by guitarist Kenny Hickey shouting "Sucker!"
.
Gothic metal
Gothic metal or goth metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music that combines the aggression of doom metal with the dark melancholy of gothic rock. The music of gothic metal is diverse with bands known to adopt the gothic approach to different styles of heavy metal music...
band from Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York City. The band also incorporated elements of doom metal
Doom metal
Doom metal is an extreme form of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other metal genres...
and thrash metal
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...
. Their dramatic lyrical emphasis on themes of romance
Romantic love
Romance is the pleasurable feeling of excitement and mystery associated with love.In the context of romantic love relationships, romance usually implies an expression of one's love, or one's deep emotional desires to connect with another person....
, depression
Depression (mood)
Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behaviour, feelings and physical well-being. Depressed people may feel sad, anxious, empty, hopeless, helpless, worthless, guilty, irritable, or restless...
, and death resulted in the nickname "The Drab Four" (in homage to The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' "Fab Four" moniker). The band went Platinum with 1993's Bloody Kisses
Bloody Kisses
Bloody Kisses is the third album by Brooklyn band Type O Negative. It marked significant stylistic growth for the band in terms of songwriting and production values, and it is also the last recording to feature Sal Abruscato on drums...
, and Gold with 1996's October Rust
October Rust
October Rust is the fourth album by Type O Negative. It was released in 1996, and has a more gothic rock feel than earlier albums. This is the first album to feature Johnny Kelly credited as the band's drummer, though in a 2007 interview with Dave Manack for dreadcentral.com keyboardist and...
, and gained an enormous following with seven studio albums, two best-of compilations, and concert DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
s.
On April 14, 2010, lead vocalist, bassist, and principal songwriter Peter Steele
Peter Steele
Peter Thomas Ratajczyk , better known by his stage name Peter Steele, was the lead singer, bassist, and composer for the gothic metal band Type O Negative...
died, reportedly from heart failure. No official statement from the band has been made about its future but members Kenny Hickey
Kenny Hickey
Kenneth Shaun Hickey is an American heavy metal musician. He was the guitarist for the gothic metal band Type O Negative. He is also the vocalist and guitarist for heavy metal band Seventh Void, and the touring guitarist for Danzig...
and Johnny Kelly
Johnny Kelly
Johnny Kelly is the former drummer for the gothic metal band Type O Negative from Brooklyn, New York. He is the current drummer for the bands Danzig, and A Pale Horse Named Death.He joined Type O Negative in 1994 to replace Sal Abruscato...
stated in a November 2010 interview with French music magazine Rock Hard that the band is no more. The band's official website continues to have periodic updates.
Origins (1980s–1991)
Type O Negative's members were originally in a band called Northern Lights formed in 1976 with Dennis Rizzo, Peter Steele, Josh Silver and John Campos. The band changed its name to Fallout around 1979 and began altering its musical format from classic rock covers to original gothic-style rock. Mr. Rizzo left in 1980 and was replaced by Louie Beato, who joined the remaining 3 Fallout members. The band released one EP in 1981, titled Batteries Not Included. It enjoyed modest success on college radio. Shortly thereafter, Silver left Fallout to form Original Sin, which combined the sounds of eighties hair metal and new waveNew Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
. Meanwhile, Steele went on to found the thrash metal band Carnivore
Carnivore (band)
Carnivore was an American crossover thrash band formed in Brooklyn, New York by Peter Steele , and was formed out of the ruins of the Brooklyn hard rock group Fallout in 1982.-History:...
. Carnivore spent much of the mid-eighties playing venues in and around the East Coast, including the now defunct CBGB
CBGB
CBGB was a music club at 315 Bowery at Bleecker Street in the borough of Manhattan in New York City.Founded by Hilly Kristal in 1973, it was originally intended to feature its namesake musical styles, but became a forum for American punk and New Wave bands like Ramones, Misfits, Television, the...
's on the Lower East Side
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, and the now defunct L’amours in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
Bay Ridge is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, USA. It is bounded by Sunset Park on the north, Seventh Avenue and Dyker Heights on the east, The Narrows Strait, which partially houses the Belt Parkway, on the west and 86th Street and Fort Hamilton on...
. The band's lyrics were harsh and very politically incorrect, dealing with race, religion, war, and misogyny
Misogyny
Misogyny is the hatred or dislike of women or girls. Philogyny, meaning fondness, love or admiration towards women, is the antonym of misogyny. The term misandry is the term for men that is parallel to misogyny...
, with a sound reminiscent of speed metal
Speed metal
Speed metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal music that originated in the late 1970s from NWOBHM and hardcore punk roots. It is described by Allmusic as "extremely fast, abrasive, and technically demanding" music....
mixed with hardcore
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
break-downs and three-chord
Chord (music)
A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...
punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
.
Following the release of their second album, Retaliation, Carnivore went on hiatus. Two years later, Steele recruited long-time friend, Sal Abruscato
Sal Abruscato
Sal Abruscato is a former drummer for Type O Negative. Currently playing in Life of Agony and Supermassiv. He is also the frontman for his own band called "A Pale Horse Named Death" which has released one album titled "And Hell Will Follow Me"...
, Type O Negative's original drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
. Soon after, Silver was convinced to join, with fellow childhood friend Kenny Hickey
Kenny Hickey
Kenneth Shaun Hickey is an American heavy metal musician. He was the guitarist for the gothic metal band Type O Negative. He is also the vocalist and guitarist for heavy metal band Seventh Void, and the touring guitarist for Danzig...
following suit. They originally named themselves "Repulsion" (not to be confused with the death metal band of the same name
Repulsion (band)
Repulsion is an early grindcore / death metal band from Flint, Michigan. They have been called the "most influential grindcore band of all time".-History:...
) and "Sub-Zero," but after an extensive search through the Yellow Pages
Yellow Pages
Yellow Pages refers to a telephone directory of businesses, organized by category, rather than alphabetically by business name and in which advertising is sold. As the name suggests, such directories were originally printed on yellow paper, as opposed to white pages for non-commercial listings...
for potential names, they realized "Subzero
Subzero (band)
Subzero was an American New York hardcore/metalcore band from New York. The band was started in 1989 by Richie Kennon of Breakdown and Jim Eaton of Up Front hooked up with Louis Dibella and Lawrence Susi whom had played together in various local bands...
"
had already been taken. Due to the band already having the "o" negative tattoo
Tattoo
A tattoo is made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. Tattoos on humans are a type of body modification, and tattoos on other animals are most commonly used for identification purposes...
s for subzero, they decided to name the band "Type O Negative." The band released a demo, which caught the ear of executives at Roadracer Records which later became Roadrunner Records
Roadrunner Records
Roadrunner Records is an American record label that concentrates primarily on heavy metal bands. It is currently a subsidiary of Warner Music Group.-History:...
, a prominent American label for metal and hard rock in the late eighties and early nineties. Roadrunner signed them to a five-album record deal, and in 1991 the band quickly released their debut, Slow Deep and Hard
Slow Deep and Hard
Slow, Deep and Hard is Type O Negative's debut album, released in 1991 on Roadrunner Records.-Overview:The album, originally titled None More Negative, launched the band's career...
.
Slow Deep and Hard and The Origin of the Feces (1991–1992)
Produced under the working titleWorking title
A working title, sometimes called a production title, is the temporary name of a product or project used during its development, usually used in filmmaking, television production, novel, video game, or music album.-Purpose:...
None More Negative, Type O's first album Slow Deep and Hard
Slow Deep and Hard
Slow, Deep and Hard is Type O Negative's debut album, released in 1991 on Roadrunner Records.-Overview:The album, originally titled None More Negative, launched the band's career...
incorporated dragging dirge
Dirge
A dirge is a somber song expressing mourning or grief, such as would be appropriate for performance at a funeral. A lament. The English word "dirge" is derived from the Latin Dirige, Domine, Deus meus, in conspectu tuo viam meam , the first words of the first antiphon in the Matins of the Office...
riff
RIFF
The Resource Interchange File Format is a generic file container format for storing data in tagged chunks. It is primarily used to store multimedia such as sound and video, though it may also be used to store any arbitrary data....
s, maniacal punk-metal outbursts, and droning industrial and gothic atmospheres. The songs were long, multi-part theatrical epics, with lyrical topics ranging from heartbreak
Heartbreak
Heartbreak may refer to:*Broken heart, the emotions felt after the end of a romance, or grief or disappointment*Battle of Heartbreak Ridge, a Korean War battle in 1951*Heartbreak Hill , several different locations...
to getting revenge on a cheating lover, and even contemplating suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
. Their first tour following the album's release was met with hostility, primarily by Dutch
Dutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...
political activists who failed to recognize Peter Steele's tongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek is a phrase used as a figure of speech to imply that a statement or other production is humorously intended and it should not be taken at face value. The facial expression typically indicates that one is joking or making a mental effort. In the past, it may also have indicated...
humor regarding certain social topics, which resulted in false accusations that the band's members were misogynists and Nazi sympathizers. This was perceived as ironic by the band, as Josh Silver is Jewish (they made light of the situation on the album Bloody Kisses
Bloody Kisses
Bloody Kisses is the third album by Brooklyn band Type O Negative. It marked significant stylistic growth for the band in terms of songwriting and production values, and it is also the last recording to feature Sal Abruscato on drums...
, with a song titled "We Hate Everyone").
Back in the States, Roadrunner Records
Roadrunner Records
Roadrunner Records is an American record label that concentrates primarily on heavy metal bands. It is currently a subsidiary of Warner Music Group.-History:...
held Type O Negative to a contractual obligation of recording a live album
Live album
A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...
with Isaac Hayes
Isaac Hayes
Isaac Lee Hayes, Jr. was an American songwriter, musician, singer and actor. Hayes was one of the creative influences behind the southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwriter and as a record producer, teaming with his partner David Porter during the...
producing. With the money they received from the label to facilitate the recording of the album at Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, Type O instead used it to buy cheap vodka
Vodka
Vodka , is a distilled beverage. It is composed primarily of water and ethanol with traces of impurities and flavorings. Vodka is made by the distillation of fermented substances such as grains, potatoes, or sometimes fruits....
, and re-recorded their debut in Silver's basement. They later dubbed in live noises, and improvised a fake "fight" between the band and the hostile "crowd." Entitled The Origin of the Feces
The Origin of the Feces
The Origin of the Feces is the second album by Brooklyn band Type O Negative, which was released in 1992. The album was produced to sound as if it had been recorded at a live show by adding crowd noises, banter with the fictitious audience, and even a song stopping because the venue supposedly had...
, a warning label
Warning label
A warning label is a label attached to an item, or contained in an item's instruction manual, warning the user about risks associated with the use of the item as intended by the manufacturer or seller. Most of them are intended to limit civil liability in lawsuits against the item's manufacturer...
was put on the album cover: "Not Live At Brighton Beach." The cover was also controversial, as it originally depicted a man's anus
Anus
The anus is an opening at the opposite end of an animal's digestive tract from the mouth. Its function is to control the expulsion of feces, unwanted semi-solid matter produced during digestion, which, depending on the type of animal, may be one or more of: matter which the animal cannot digest,...
(believed to be Steele) being spread by his hands, until later copies featured a different cover depicting skeletons. Roadrunner was not amused with the prank, but went ahead and released the album in 1992 anyway.
Rise to fame (1993–2001)
Type O Negative's true second album, Bloody KissesBloody Kisses
Bloody Kisses is the third album by Brooklyn band Type O Negative. It marked significant stylistic growth for the band in terms of songwriting and production values, and it is also the last recording to feature Sal Abruscato on drums...
, was released in 1993 to critical and listener acclaim, and eventually became the first record for Roadrunner to reach certified Platinum status in the US.
Bloody Kisses mostly addressed loneliness and heartbreak, with songs like "Too Late: Frozen," "Blood & Fire," and "Can't Lose You." The organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
-driven "Set Me On Fire" is vintage sixties garage rock
Garage rock
Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name...
, while "Summer Breeze" covered the 1972 Seals and Crofts
Seals and Crofts
Seals and Crofts is a band made up of Jim Seals and Dash Crofts . The soft rock duo was one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s. They are best known for their hits "Summer Breeze" and "Diamond Girl"...
hit. "Christian Woman" and "Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare-All)" became the most popular tracks, after having been edited down to radio-friendly lengths (the album versions were 8½ and 11 minutes long). In order to promote the album, Type O Negative embarked on a two-year world tour. Steele, who stood over 6' 8", had a signature action during concerts of playing a double bass slung over his shoulder with a large chain, instead of an electric bass (this also appears in the "Black No. 1" music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
). During this time, the band was featured on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
, VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
, and in Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
. In the midst of this media blitz, drummer Sal Abruscato
Sal Abruscato
Sal Abruscato is a former drummer for Type O Negative. Currently playing in Life of Agony and Supermassiv. He is also the frontman for his own band called "A Pale Horse Named Death" which has released one album titled "And Hell Will Follow Me"...
quit the band to join another Brooklyn quartet, Life of Agony
Life of Agony
-Formation and River Runs Red :The band was formed in the summer of 1989 by singer Keith Caputo, bassist Alan Robert and guitarist Joey Z. After playing with several drummers, they enlisted Type O Negative drummer Sal Abruscato before recording the debut album River Runs Red after they signed to...
. Johnny Kelly
Johnny Kelly
Johnny Kelly is the former drummer for the gothic metal band Type O Negative from Brooklyn, New York. He is the current drummer for the bands Danzig, and A Pale Horse Named Death.He joined Type O Negative in 1994 to replace Sal Abruscato...
, the band's drum technician, was therefore hired as a full-fledged member. Bloody Kisses was re-released a year after the original release in a limited-edition Digipak
Digipak
Digipak is a patented style of CD, DVD or BD packaging, and is a registered trademark of AGI World Ltd., an Atlas Holdings company.-Features:...
form, including eight of the musical tracks from the original (omitting the "filler" tracks) and the previously unreleased "Suspended In Dusk."
The unexpected success of Bloody Kisses brought on the pressure of recording a successor. The record label, suddenly capitalizing on the revenue being generated by Type O Negative, began pressuring Steele and company to write even more commercial-friendly songs. The band tried to strike a balance between the commercial and the creative, and the result was 1996's October Rust
October Rust
October Rust is the fourth album by Type O Negative. It was released in 1996, and has a more gothic rock feel than earlier albums. This is the first album to feature Johnny Kelly credited as the band's drummer, though in a 2007 interview with Dave Manack for dreadcentral.com keyboardist and...
. Picking up where Bloody Kisses left off, this album continued to explore themes of sex and sensuality, explored in a humorous sense on the single "My Girlfriend's Girlfriend" and then taken much darker with "Love You To Death." This record also saw a cover of Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
's "Cinnamon Girl," as well as the fan favorite, semi-serene "Green Man." While not quite as successful as Bloody Kisses, the album was certified Gold in the US, and was the first Type O Negative album to enter the top half of the Billboard Top 200
Billboard charts
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...
, debuting at No. 42. It was also around this time that the band garnered some controversy. On The Howard Stern Show, Steele admitted having fantasies of murder-suicide
Murder-suicide
A murder–suicide is an act in which an individual kills one or more other persons before or at the same time as killing himself or herself. The combination of murder and suicide can take various forms, including:...
involving girlfriends, and confirmed claims that Kurt Cobain was his "hero" for "having the balls to shoot himself." He also appeared in Playgirl
Playgirl
Playgirl is a print quarterly adult magazine published in the United States that is marketed mainly to heterosexual women, but has also gained a considerable gay following...
, although he regretted the decision after finding out via Kenny Hickey's publishing contacts that "[only] 23% of the magazine's subscribers are female." Steele was reportedly "very disheartened" when he found out about the magazine's demographics, and made light of the situation on the track "I Like Goils" on a later album, to underline his purely straight stance on his sexuality.
With the completion of another successful world tour, writing for a fourth album began. In the period immediately following the release of October Rust, Steele experienced several deaths in his immediate family, and he began drinking heavily to mask the bereavement and pain. This epoch of self-loathing would eventually manifest itself in the next album, 1999's World Coming Down
World Coming Down
World Coming Down is the fifth album by Brooklyn band Type O Negative. Even though the band has often expressed dark themes through their music, the lyrical content of this album is markedly morbid.-Overview:...
(working titles included Prophets Of Doom and Aggroculture). The vibe of the album was a significant change from October Rust; this time the band revisited the more dooming sounds of Slow Deep & Hard. This time around, instead of sex and romance, lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
focused on death, drug addiction, depression
Depression (mood)
Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behaviour, feelings and physical well-being. Depressed people may feel sad, anxious, empty, hopeless, helpless, worthless, guilty, irritable, or restless...
, and suicide. Songs such as "Everyone I Love is Dead," "Everything Dies," "World Coming Down," and "All Hallows Eve" were not meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but rather true life reflections of Steele's mindset at the time. It was nowhere near as accessible as Bloody Kisses or October Rust, but despite its morbid subject matter, World Coming Down debuted at # 39 on the Billboard Top 200
Billboard charts
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...
charts.
A 'best of' album followed in 2000, entitled The Least Worst of Type O Negative
Least Worst Of
Least Worst Of is a compilation album from Type O Negative featuring some previously released material alongside a few new tracks and remixes. There are two versions of this album: edited and unedited...
. Although most songs appear on previous albums, many are unreleased remixes
RemixeS
RemixeS is a compilation of French singer Mylène Farmer's singles by various famous DJ's, including JXL, Felix Da Housecat and Paul Oakenfold.-Brackground, writing and release:...
or B-sides
B-Sides
B-Sides is an iTunes-exclusive album from the Coventry Trio The Enemy, consisting of ten songs that were B-sides to the single releases from their debut album We'll Live and Die in These Towns.-Track list:#Fear Killed the Youth of Our Nation...
on previously released singles. Along with these songs are some unreleased numbers from the World Coming Down sessions, the band's cover of "Black Sabbath" by Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
, and a cleaner version of "Hey Pete" (originally released on the mock live album The Origin of the Feces).
Life Is Killing Me and Dead Again (2002–2009)
Type O Negative's sixth studio album, Life Is Killing MeLife Is Killing Me
Life Is Killing Me is the sixth album by Type O Negative. The title was originally going to be The Dream Is Dead, but was supposedly changed because it suggested that the band may finally be ending their union.-Overview:...
(originally called The Dream Is Dead after the closing song), was released in 2003. For this album, the band picked up the pace of their sound from the dirgeful slowness of World Coming Down. Songs such as "Todd's Ship Gods," "(We Were) Electrocute," and "I Don't Wanna Be Me" convey the band's classic elements of melody, though the song lengths were much shorter on this outing, the longest being the 7 and a half minute "How Could She?", a list of female character names from television shows. A humorous cover of the song "Angry Inch" from the musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (musical)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a rock musical about a fictional rock and roll band fronted by an East German transgender singer. The text is by John Cameron Mitchell, and the music and lyrics are by Stephen Trask. The musical premiered in 1998 and has been performed throughout the world in hundreds...
, detailing a sex change operation gone terribly wrong, marks the band's return to its trademark humor that had been absent on their previous album.
After the release, Steele spent a brief time in prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
for battery and endured a stint in drug rehabilitation
Drug rehabilitation
Drug rehabilitation is a term for the processes of medical or psychotherapeutic treatment, for dependency on psychoactive substances such as alcohol, prescription drugs, and so-called street drugs such as cocaine, heroin or amphetamines...
. After Roadrunner Records released the 2006 compilation The Best of Type O Negative
The Best of Type O Negative
The Best of Type O Negative is an album from Roadrunner Records, featuring a collection of Type O Negative's music with the label. The album was released without Type O Negative's involvement , so it's unlikely that the record was officially recognized by the band themselves...
(allegedly without notifying the band), Type O split from the label upon a better offer from SPV Records
SPV GmbH
SPV GmbH is an independent German record label.Founded on January 1, 1984, it has slowly grown to be one of the largest independent distributors and record labels worldwide....
and released Dead Again
Dead Again (Type O Negative album)
Dead Again is the seventh and final studio album by Type O Negative, released through SPV/Steamhammer. This is the final Type O Negative studio album released before the death of frontman Peter Steele. The album sees the band using studio drums instead of a drum machine for the first time since...
in March 2007. A video for "The Profits of Doom" (spelled "Profit" in some instances) arrived in April, and the "September Sun" video was finished in November. Both videos saw frequent airplay on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
's Headbangers Ball
Headbangers Ball
Headbangers Ball is a music television program consisting of heavy metal music videos airing on MTV2, MTV Australia, MTV Two , MTV Adria , MTV Brand New, MTV Portugal, MTV Finland, MTV Arabia, MTV Norway, MTV Sweden, MTV Denmark, MTV Greece, MTV Türkiye, MTV...
in the weeks after each release. Dead Again saw a culmination of previous Type O styles, from the thrash
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...
-inspired title track to the blues rock style "An Ode To Locksmiths." Female vocalist Tara Vanflower
Tara Vanflower
Tara Vanflower is a vocalist whose music has been described as ambient, experimental, and darkwave.In October 1994 she became vocalist for Projekt Records darkwave outfit Lycia. She married fellow band member Mike VanPortfleet. After two albums, the couple left the band...
also appears on "Halloween In Heaven." The album debuted at # 27 in the US; the band's highest chart debut to date. They also continued to tour through October of that year, including a performance at the Rock am Ring
Rock am Ring
The Rock am Ring and Rock im Park festivals are two simultaneous rock music festivals held annually in Germany....
festival in Nürburgring, Germany.
Two special editions of Dead Again were announced in January 2008, for a February release. One is a two-disc package that includes live performances at Wacken Open Air
Wacken Open Air
Wacken Open Air is a summer open air heavy metal music festival. It takes place annually in the small town of Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany...
2007, with interviews and music videos, and the other is a 3LP vinyl
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
set, with a 12-page booklet and T-shirt.
In 2007 the band played at the biggest open-air festival in Europe (400.000 – 500.000 rock fans every year) – Przystanek Woodstock
Przystanek Woodstock
Przystanek Woodstock is an annual free rock music festival in Poland, inspired by and named for the Woodstock Festival, that has taken place since 1995...
in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
Death of Peter Steele (2010)
On April 14, 2010 frontman and bassist Peter SteelePeter Steele
Peter Thomas Ratajczyk , better known by his stage name Peter Steele, was the lead singer, bassist, and composer for the gothic metal band Type O Negative...
died, reportedly from heart failure. The following statement concerning Steele was released on the 15th of April on the band's official website:
In a November 2010 interview with Rock Hard
Rock Hard (magazine)
Rock Hard is a heavy metal magazine originally released in Germany. It was founded in 1983 by Holger Stratmann and is dedicated to all styles of rock and heavy metal. The magazine has independent offspring with the same name in France, Greece, Italy and Spain....
magazine, Johnny Kelly and Kenny Hickey confirmed that following Steele's death, the band is no more.
Roadrunner Records will release a box set of all the band's albums for Back To Black Friday 2011, a spinoff of Record Store Day, on November 25th 2011. Each vinyl cover will be textless and The Origin Of The Species will include its original cover art. The box set will also contain various bumper stickers related to the band. The box set claims to include all Roadrunner released material by the band, but it has not yet been indicated whether it includes any non-album tracks.
Soundtracks and covers
Type O songs have appeared in numerous motion picturesFilm
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, including "Blood and Fire (Out of the Ashes Remix)" on the 1995 Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat (film)
Mortal Kombat is a 1995 American action and adventure film directed by Paul Anderson. Based on the Mortal Kombat series of fighting games, the film was the first part of the Mortal Kombat film series...
movie soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
(also on the bonus CD of Life Is Killing Me), "Love You To Death" in Bride of Chucky
Bride of Chucky
Bride of Chucky is a 1998 American comedy horror film directed by Chinese director Ronny Yu. It is the fourth entry in the Child's Play series. The film stars Jennifer Tilly and Brad Dourif...
, "(We Were) Electrocute" in Freddy vs. Jason
Freddy vs. Jason
Freddy vs. Jason is a 2003 American slasher film directed by Ronny Yu. The film is a crossover between the A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th franchises...
, and "Summer Breeze
Summer Breeze (song)
"Summer Breeze" is the title of a song written and recorded by Seals and Crofts that has been covered by The Isley Brothers, Type O Negative, the Three Tenors, and several other artists.-Seals & Crofts version:...
" in I Know What You Did Last Summer
I Know What You Did Last Summer
I Know What You Did Last Summer is a 1997 American horror film. The film stars Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe and Freddie Prinze Jr. The screenplay was written by Kevin Williamson, writer of Scream, and very loosely based on Lois Duncan's popular novel of the same title...
. As a result of Howard Stern
Howard Stern
Howard Allan Stern is an American radio personality, television host, author, and actor best known for his radio show, which was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2005. He gained wide recognition in the 1990s where he was labeled a "shock jock" for his outspoken and sometimes controversial style...
being a self-professed fan, Private Parts: The Album
Private Parts
Private Parts may refer to:*Intimate parts, such as the human sex organs*Private Parts , a 1993 autobiography by radio personality Howard Stern*Private Parts , a 1997 film based on Howard Stern's autobiography of the same name...
contains "Pictures of Matchstick Men
Pictures of Matchstick Men
"Pictures of Matchstick Men" is the first hit single by Status Quo, released in November 1967. It reached number seven in the British charts, number eight in Canada, and number twelve on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming their only hit single in the United States...
" with the band playing music and Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne is an English vocalist, whose musical career has spanned over 40 years. Osbourne rose to prominence as lead singer of the pioneering English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, whose radically different, intentionally dark, harder sound helped spawn the heavy metal...
on vocals. "Haunted" also appears on The Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American horror film pieced together from amateur footage. The film was produced by the Haxan Films production company. The film relates the story of three student filmmakers The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American horror film pieced together from amateur...
"soundtrack CD" (the album's concept was to contain songs from "a tape that was found in the woods with the students' gear"; the flaw with that plot point
Plot point
In television and film, a plot point is a significant event within a plot that digs into the action and spins it around in another direction. It can also be an object of significant importance, around which the plot revolves. It can be anything from an event to an item to the discovery of a...
is that the film takes place in 1994, but "Haunted" was released in 1996). In 1998, Arrow Videos made their own version of the 1922 classic horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
Nosferatu, by simply overdubbing the silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
with a soundtrack consisting entirely of Type O Negative tracks, taken from the first four albums. This version is now on DVD from DigiView Entertainment, a company that makes budget-priced DVDs. It also has an introduction by actor David Carradine
David Carradine
David Carradine was an American actor and martial artist, best known for his role as a warrior monk, Kwai Chang Caine, in the 1970s television series, Kung Fu, which later had a 1990s sequel series, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues...
.
In other media, the computer game Descent 2 features a shortened, instrumental version of the track "Haunted". Additionally, Descent 2: The Vertigo Series contains a full-length version of the instrumental; the compilation Duke Nukem: Music To Score By features "Cinnamon Girl (Extended Depression Mix)"; "Love You To Death" in the computer game Blood
Blood (computer game)
Blood is a PC game developed by 3D Realms and Monolith Productions and distributed by GT Interactive. Development was underway at 3D Realms in parallel with a number of other well-known titles. Following the success of Duke Nukem 3D, development progress was made public starting in June 1996 with...
; "Out of the Fire" from the Life is Killing Me bonus CD was a theme created for WWE
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
Superstar Kane, but was never used. Recently, the opening two seconds of "I Don't Wanna Be Me" were used as a frequent sample in Grand Theft Auto IV
Grand Theft Auto IV
Grand Theft Auto IV is a 2008 open world action video game published by Rockstar Games, and developed by British games developer Rockstar North. It has been released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 video game consoles, and for the Windows operating system...
, on the Liberty Rock Radio Station.
Numerous covers have also been performed. The Doors
The Doors
The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger...
' "Light My Fire
Light My Fire
"Light My Fire" is a song by The Doors which was recorded in August 1966 and released the first week of January 1967 on the Doors' debut album. Released as a single in April, it spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and one week on the Cash Box Top 100, nearly a year after...
" has been covered live numerous times, mostly during the 90s. Steele has described the song as "probably the greatest song ever written," before apologizing for having "destroyed it." Seals and Crofts
Seals and Crofts
Seals and Crofts is a band made up of Jim Seals and Dash Crofts . The soft rock duo was one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s. They are best known for their hits "Summer Breeze" and "Diamond Girl"...
' "Summer Breeze" appears on Bloody Kisses
Bloody Kisses
Bloody Kisses is the third album by Brooklyn band Type O Negative. It marked significant stylistic growth for the band in terms of songwriting and production values, and it is also the last recording to feature Sal Abruscato on drums...
, and Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
's "Cinnamon Girl
Cinnamon Girl (Neil Young song)
"Cinnamon Girl" is a song by Neil Young. It debuted on the 1969 album Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, which was also Young's first album with backing band Crazy Horse...
" appears on October Rust
October Rust
October Rust is the fourth album by Type O Negative. It was released in 1996, and has a more gothic rock feel than earlier albums. This is the first album to feature Johnny Kelly credited as the band's drummer, though in a 2007 interview with Dave Manack for dreadcentral.com keyboardist and...
. The tongue-in-cheek "Angry Inch" (from Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Hedwig and the Angry Inch may refer to:* Hedwig and the Angry Inch * Hedwig and the Angry Inch...
) also appears on Life Is Killing Me
Life Is Killing Me
Life Is Killing Me is the sixth album by Type O Negative. The title was originally going to be The Dream Is Dead, but was supposedly changed because it suggested that the band may finally be ending their union.-Overview:...
. World Coming Down
World Coming Down
World Coming Down is the fifth album by Brooklyn band Type O Negative. Even though the band has often expressed dark themes through their music, the lyrical content of this album is markedly morbid.-Overview:...
also included a Beatles medley
Medley (music)
In music, a medley is a piece composed from parts of existing pieces, usually three, played one after another, sometimes overlapping. They are common in popular music, and most medleys are songs rather than instrumental. A medley which is a remixed series is called a megamix, often done with tracks...
consisting of "Day Tripper
Day Tripper
"Day Tripper" is a song by The Beatles, released as a double A-side single with "We Can Work It Out". Both songs were recorded during the sessions for the Rubber Soul album...
," "If I Needed Someone
If I Needed Someone
"If I Needed Someone" is a song written by George Harrison. Versions by The Beatles and by The Hollies appeared simultaneously, both being released in the United Kingdom on 3 December 1965. The Hollies version appeared on a single. Most of the Hollies previous singles had been big top ten hits...
," and "I Want You (She's So Heavy)
I Want You (She's So Heavy)
"I Want You " is a song by The Beatles, from their album Abbey Road. It was written by John Lennon, although credited to Lennon–McCartney....
." Other covers include a rendition of Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
's "Paranoid
Paranoid (song)
"Paranoid" is a song by the British heavy metal band Black Sabbath, featured on their second album Paranoid . It is the first single from the album, while the B-side is the song "The Wizard". It reached number 4 on the UK Singles Chart and number 61 on the Billboard Hot 100...
" and "N.I.B."; Status Quo's "Pictures of Matchstick Men
Pictures of Matchstick Men
"Pictures of Matchstick Men" is the first hit single by Status Quo, released in November 1967. It reached number seven in the British charts, number eight in Canada, and number twelve on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming their only hit single in the United States...
" with Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne is an English vocalist, whose musical career has spanned over 40 years. Osbourne rose to prominence as lead singer of the pioneering English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, whose radically different, intentionally dark, harder sound helped spawn the heavy metal...
, two versions of "Black Sabbath" (one with the original lyrics and one rewritten by Peter Steele to be from Satan's perspective), Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
's "Hey Joe
Hey Joe
"Hey Joe" is an American popular song from the 1960s that has become a rock standard and as such, has been performed in a multitude of musical styles by hundreds of different artists since it was first written. "Hey Joe" tells the story of a man who is on the run and planning to head to Mexico...
" (rewritten as "Hey Pete"); The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' "Back in the U.S.S.R.", Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...
's "Highway Star" and Creedence Clearwater Revival
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Creedence Clearwater Revival was an American rock band that gained popularity in the late 1960s and early 1970s with a number of successful singles drawn from various albums....
's "Bad Moon Rising
Bad Moon Rising (song)
"Bad Moon Rising" is a song written by John Fogerty and performed by Creedence Clearwater Revival. It was the lead single from their album Green River and was released in April 1969, four months before the album. The song reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and #1 on the UK Singles...
". A medley of Santana
Santana (band)
Santana is a rock band based around guitarist Carlos Santana and founded in the late 1960s. It first came to public attention after their performing the song "Soul Sacrifice" at the Woodstock Festival in 1969, when their Latin rock provided a contrast to other acts on the bill...
's "Evil Ways," "Oye Como Va," and "Black Magic Woman" are also available on the CD accompanying the DVD Symphony for the Devil. The 2007 tour song set started with a cover of "Magical Mystery Tour
Magical Mystery Tour (song)
"Magical Mystery Tour" is a song by The Beatles, the opening track and theme song for the album, double EP and TV film of the same name. Unlike the theme songs for their other film projects, it was not released as a single.-Composition:...
" from The Beatles.
"In the Flesh", originally written by Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
from their album "The Wall," is another song that Type O Negative covered, as they used it as the opening song for their 1999 World Tour. Their version can be seen on the live DVD, "Symphony for the Devil." Also on the same DVD, in "Too Late: Frozen", the intro began with Jethro Tull's "Aqualung".
Liner notes
The band employs several gimmicks in their liner notesLiner notes
Liner notes are the writings found in booklets which come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for vinyl records and cassettes.-Origin:...
. A fictional individual named "Phlogiston Verdigris" has been mentioned in at least two different contexts. He is mentioned as the conductor of the "Brooklyn Philharmonic
Brooklyn Philharmonic
The Brooklyn Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, commonly known as the Brooklyn Philharmonic, is an American orchestra based in the borough of Brooklyn, in New York City...
Orchestra" in the notes for Bloody Kisses
Bloody Kisses
Bloody Kisses is the third album by Brooklyn band Type O Negative. It marked significant stylistic growth for the band in terms of songwriting and production values, and it is also the last recording to feature Sal Abruscato on drums...
, and attributed the quote "Better to be hated for who you are than loved for who you are not" on the back of The Least Worst of Type O Negative
Least Worst Of
Least Worst Of is a compilation album from Type O Negative featuring some previously released material alongside a few new tracks and remixes. There are two versions of this album: edited and unedited...
(despite actually being a quote by André Gide
André Gide
André Paul Guillaume Gide was a French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in literature in 1947. Gide's career ranged from its beginnings in the symbolist movement, to the advent of anticolonialism between the two World Wars.Known for his fiction as well as his autobiographical works, Gide...
). The name "Phlogiston Verdigris" is actually a pseudonym referencing the two main colors evident on Type O album art and merchandise.
- orange – Once the basis for a popular chemical theory, "phlogiston" is defined by WiktionaryWiktionaryWiktionary is a multilingual, web-based project to create a free content dictionary, available in 158 languages...
as "the hypothetical fiery principle formerly assumed to be a necessary constituent of combustible bodies and to be given up by them in burning." - green – On the other hand, "verdigrisVerdigrisVerdigris is the common name for a green pigment obtained through the application of acetic acid to copper plates or the natural patina formed when copper, brass or bronze is weathered and exposed to air or seawater over a period of time. It is usually a basic copper carbonate, but near the sea...
" is defined by WiktionaryWiktionaryWiktionary is a multilingual, web-based project to create a free content dictionary, available in 158 languages...
as "a blue-green powder, copper acetate, that forms as a patina on copperCopperCopper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
, brassBrassBrass is an alloy of copper and zinc; the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties.In comparison, bronze is principally an alloy of copper and tin...
or bronzeBronzeBronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
that has weathered; also used as a paint pigment." The chemical makeup of verdigris is (Cu(C2H3O2)2. 2Cu(OH)2) Copper II acetate di-copper II hydroxide.
The Bensonhoist Lesbian Choir
The Bensonhoist Lesbian Choir is credited with backup vocals on all Type O Negative releases. In reality the "choir" is simply the other members of Type O Negative performing harmonized or synchronized backup vocals. The name "Bensonhoist" comes from the neighborhood of Bensonhurst, BrooklynBensonhurst, Brooklyn
Bensonhurst is a neighborhood located in the southwestern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn.-Geography:Sometimes erroneously thought to include all or parts of such neighborhoods as Bath Beach, Dyker Heights, and Borough Park, or to be defined by the streets where the concentration of...
, rendered in the local New York dialect.
Audio gags
The band also plays audio practical jokes on first-time listeners of some of their CDs.Slow Deep And Hard
Slow Deep and Hard
Slow, Deep and Hard is Type O Negative's debut album, released in 1991 on Roadrunner Records.-Overview:The album, originally titled None More Negative, launched the band's career...
has a song entitled "The Misinterpretation of Silence and its Disastrous Consequences", which is actually just 60 seconds of silence. First time listeners would usually think the record was over after the discordant ambient noises of the preceding track, "Glass Walls of Limbo", unaware that the song "Gravitational Constant" would begin playing after a minute's pause.
Both October Rust
October Rust
October Rust is the fourth album by Type O Negative. It was released in 1996, and has a more gothic rock feel than earlier albums. This is the first album to feature Johnny Kelly credited as the band's drummer, though in a 2007 interview with Dave Manack for dreadcentral.com keyboardist and...
and World Coming Down
World Coming Down
World Coming Down is the fifth album by Brooklyn band Type O Negative. Even though the band has often expressed dark themes through their music, the lyrical content of this album is markedly morbid.-Overview:...
have a "fake" first track, intended to make a first-time listener believe there was something wrong with their stereo. On the October Rust cd, the first track (titled "Bad Ground" on the sleeve) is 38 seconds of low humming which sounds like a partly unplugged speaker cable, or an ungrounded wire. On World Coming Down, the first track (titled "Skip It" on the sleeve) is 9 seconds of audio that sounds like the CD is skipping, followed by guitarist Kenny Hickey shouting "Sucker!"
Discography
For a complete discography, see Type O Negative discographyType O Negative discography
Type O Negative was a gothic metal band from Brooklyn, New York. To date, they have released seven studio albums, fourteen singles, and numerous other releases.-Studio albums:-Compilation albums:-Bootlegs:...
.
- Slow, Deep and Hard (1991)
- The Origin of the FecesThe Origin of the FecesThe Origin of the Feces is the second album by Brooklyn band Type O Negative, which was released in 1992. The album was produced to sound as if it had been recorded at a live show by adding crowd noises, banter with the fictitious audience, and even a song stopping because the venue supposedly had...
(1992) - Bloody KissesBloody KissesBloody Kisses is the third album by Brooklyn band Type O Negative. It marked significant stylistic growth for the band in terms of songwriting and production values, and it is also the last recording to feature Sal Abruscato on drums...
(1993) - October RustOctober RustOctober Rust is the fourth album by Type O Negative. It was released in 1996, and has a more gothic rock feel than earlier albums. This is the first album to feature Johnny Kelly credited as the band's drummer, though in a 2007 interview with Dave Manack for dreadcentral.com keyboardist and...
(1996) - World Coming DownWorld Coming DownWorld Coming Down is the fifth album by Brooklyn band Type O Negative. Even though the band has often expressed dark themes through their music, the lyrical content of this album is markedly morbid.-Overview:...
(1999) - Life Is Killing MeLife Is Killing MeLife Is Killing Me is the sixth album by Type O Negative. The title was originally going to be The Dream Is Dead, but was supposedly changed because it suggested that the band may finally be ending their union.-Overview:...
(2003) - Dead AgainDead Again (Type O Negative album)Dead Again is the seventh and final studio album by Type O Negative, released through SPV/Steamhammer. This is the final Type O Negative studio album released before the death of frontman Peter Steele. The album sees the band using studio drums instead of a drum machine for the first time since...
(2007)