 One
of my favorite bands for the past 15 years or so has been Type O
Negative. They were a death-goth-metal band from Brooklyn, N.Y. with
a sense of humor, way too much attitude which I loved and they made
great music. They stayed small, never went all corporate but
maintained a rabidly loyal fan-base of thousands.
There were five guys in the band.
Kenny Hickey, Josh Silver, Johnny Kelly and the Jolly Green Giant,
aka Pete Steele. Together they formed T.O.N. and
turned out some great hits like Black #1, Christian Women, Wolf Moon and
Everything Dies. They produced some fine albums like October Rust
and Bloody Kisses, those being the most well known.
Pete was a jokester and had faked his
death before on their website so it came as no surprise when I read
that he had died. Then I realized that this time, it was true.
Pete Steele died Wednesday, April
14th 2010 of heart failure. He was 48 years old, far too young to
die. The sad thing, well
there are many sad things about his death, was that after years of
drug and alcohol abuse and related health problems he had finally gotten his shit together over
the past few years, gotten clean, was feeling good and was working on music for a new CD, their
first since 2007's Dead Again.
The band and especially Pete, seemed
uncomfortable with fame. They usually played small venues and had
large fan base that they made themselves accessible to, considering
many of them their friends. They always had time to sign an
autograph or talk to any fan that stopped them on the street, in a
bar or after a show.
Their music touched me, made me feel
good when I felt bad and listening to it helped get me through some
bad years in the not too distant past. Listening to the thought
provoking lyrics written by Steele, who put all his emotion
problems, romantic loses and personal suffering into his writing,
made me feel like there was someone out there that felt like I did
and had the eloquence to put it down on paper, write some music and turn it into
something beautiful.
The music created by Type O is
haunting, sometimes entertaining and always a pleasure to listen to.
They have their own unique sound which will last forever thanks to
CD's. They also made a couple of DVD's for their fans enjoyment and
it truly showed just what a bunch of comedians these guys were/ are,
especially Pete who never took himself seriously, never cared what
others thought and was just himself at all costs.
Pete....you will be greatly missed by
many. Gone too soon, but like you wrote...Everything Dies. |
