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Led by imposing frontman Peter Steele, Type O Negative would bring goth metal to the masses
during the 90’s.
The band mixed themes of romance, drugs, depression, and death resulting in the name the "the Drab
Four” which was a nod to the Beatles “the fab four” moniker.
Type O Negative's keyboardist Josh Silver would reveal in the book The Oral History
of Metal how frontman Peter Steele’s frustrations as a teenager and young adult influenced his
song writing revealing: “Peter was big and considered himself kind of goofy.
He didn’t have girlfriends growing up.
A lot of Type O’s music was written from the perspective of someone who who couldn’t
get laidd.
We had songs like I know your fing someone else.
He was able to be very honest about how hurt he was during a lot of these periods.
I think it was part of what made us appealing.
We told the truth" he’d say.
Several years prior to the formation of Type O negative in 1989, Peter Steele was fronting
and playing bass in another band named Carnivore.
The band would take to the stage during live shows dressed as warriors in worn clothing
and attached spikes to hockey gear.
The band’s music explored some pretty dark themes with song titles including "Jesus Hiler",
"Race War", and "Thermonuclear Warrior," Steele was known for having a dark sense of
humor as Type O Negative drummer Sal Abruscato would tell Metal Hammer Magazine:“Peter
enjoyed messing with people,”.
“People though he was serious when he was joking and joking when he was serious.”
Carnivore would only last for two albums before the band split and Steele went on to form
a new band with longtime friend Josh Silver.
They would originally called themselves Subzero before finally landing on the name Type O
Negative.
Type O Negative’s first record 1991’s slow deep and hard would feature songs more
heavily influenced by doom, and thrash metal.
The following year the band released 1992’s The Origin Of Feces which was a faux live
record that featured a hostile live audience.
It wasn’t until 1993’s bloody kisses that the band’s goth metal sound took center
stage According to Abruscato “Peter loved the goth girls,.
We used to go to the bars where they all hung outto pick them up.
But he was really into that sound – The Sisters Of Mercy,, My Bloody Valentine.
That whole scene was attractive to him, so he made it his own” he'd say
The goth element wasn’t the only new thing brought to Type O Negative’s sound on bloody
kisses as according to the band's guitarist Kenny Hickey “Peter decided that melody
was really where it’s at,”which was a hard thing to do.
He went from screaming his head off and writing these furious, angry lyrics to focused
primarily on romance, love, sex, and death he'd say."
Not only did the album discuss themes of love, sex and death it also was used as an opportunity
to attack the band’s critics.
During the group’s previous tours across Europe in the early 90’s many in the media
slammed the band for being racists.
Songs such as “we hate everyone” and “kill all the white people” were used to dispel
those claims.
Also overlooked by the band’s critics was that Type O Negative's keyboardist Josh Silver
was Jewish.
Bloody kisses featured the band’s best known song Black No. 1 which was a mainstay of MTV’s
headbanger's ball.
The song sarcastic lyrics were loosely inspired by a relationship Steele
had with a goth And the singer would tell Revolver how he wrote the song while working
as a truck driver recalling "I was waiting in line for
three hours to dump 40 cubic yards of human waste at the Hamilton Avenue Marine Transfer
Station, and I wrote the song in my head.
I'm not kidding you" he'd say.
The second single released from the record Christian Woman which had a successful run
on US rock radio and along with the album’s first single pushed the record to go platinum
in the United States Abruscato would look back “The whole vampire
allure connected with people,” “It was around the time of that movie, Interview With
The Vampire and everything blew
up after that.
I remember there was a store in East Village that started selling all kinds
of ruffled shirts and velvet jackets and shit.
And the band soon started attracting a lot of female fans because of it” he'd say.
And as the band’s stock rose the tour to support the record became bigger and more
outrageous.
Abruscato would recall at one point, the band were booked to play
a club in New York that turned out to be a sex dungeon saying “It was this underground
BDSM place with all this torture equipment,”“There
were people dressed up and walking around on leashes.
We were going, ‘What the hell are we doing here?’
We were just four guys from Brooklyn, we weren’t living that lifestyle"
he'd say.
Surprisingly on the album was a cover of the Seals and Crofts soft rock song Summer Breeze.
Originally the band wanted to change the lyrics to the song and rename it Summer Girl, which
would have required permission from Seals and Crofts and the group found the lyrics
to summer girl distasteful.
Drummer Sal Abruscato would leave the band following the release of Bloody Kisses and
would be replaced by johnny kelley.
Following the success of Bloody Kisses, the band turned their attention to their follow
up record 1996’s October Rust.
Steele wanted to focus the band’s sound on appealing more to women.
And according to guitarist Kenny Hickey he would reveal to author Jon Wiederhorn “Peter
saw how many women he was getting after 1993’s bloody kisses and the song Black No. 1 so
he decided to design the band towards getting more chicks.
October Rust was intentionally sensual just to get the high heels in the door.
It was a pimp record.“
he'd record.
The album would be the first have new drummer Johnny Kelley credited on the album, despite
the fact that the drums are programmed.
The album was notable for featuring more ballads and being a departure from their doom and
goth metal sound while also featuring a cover of the Neil Young song Cinammon Girl.
The album cycle for October Rust would prove to be the beginning of the end for frontman
and bassist Peter Steele as he would admit reveal how 1997 represented the first time
he started using cocaine thanks to guitarist Kenny Hickey.
Drummer Johnny Kelley would reveal in the book louder than hell band would come offstage
and Kelley and Steele would head backstage to get their fix.
It would be these demons along with his depression that he would battle for the next decade and
a half of his life.
Former drummer Sal Abruscato would reveal in the same book how Steel’s personality
while sweet at times was also his downfall saying "Peter was a very sweet, very funny
guy, but he was also very fragile,” “And that vulnerability allowed some demons to
come in.”
And October Rust would be successful going gold, but it failed to match the success of
Bloody Kisses.
In 1999 the band would release what was arguably their darkest record to date called World
Coming Down which was largely inspired by Steeles battle with mental illness, family
deaths and drug abuse.
Songs like "Everyone I Love Is Dead" and "Everything Dies" dealt with the difficulties of seeing
those close to him die, while white slavery dealt with his drug addiction while another
track "Who Will Save the Sane’ dealt with mental illness.
The album would close with a medley of Beatles songs as well.
Life Is Killing Me would be the band’s sixth studio album and it would be released several
years later and it would prove to be the group's final record released on label Roadrunner.
The album once again dealt with mental illness, the death of Steele’s parents and he'd be
more forthcoming about his problems with the law and relationships he’s had.
He would reveal in the Oral History of Metal: I was in Brooklyn’s kings county hospital
suffering from drug induced psychosis and it was actually my own family that got me
put away.
Which kinda made me wish i was part of the manson family.
I had typical paranoia.
I thought there were cameras in the light switches and showerheads.
Steee would also admit to spending time in jail for a month at rikers island with 23
charges against him, one of which included attempted murder.
Steel would attempt to kill an ex-’s husband while he was under the influence of drugs.
Fast forward now to May 13, 2005, the rock and metal community was shocked at the news
that Type O Negative frontman and bassist Peter Steele had dead.
While no official announcement was made by the band, the band’s website posted a tombstone
that read Peter Steele, 1962-2005’.
With the caption: ‘Free At Last’.
For a man who had his fair share of demons, it seemed like a fitting tribute.
In the run up to the photo being posted on the band’s website, there seemed to be some
foreshadowing as the band’s 2004 fall tour had been cancelled.
It was first reported that the tour was cancelled due to Steele suffering health issues
Also adding ot the hysteria around tis time was that the band's recently released album
2003's “Life is Kiling Me’ featured some songs appropriately titled “The Dream is
Dead and “I Don’t Wanna Be Me.”and people wondered is this as this an extension of Steele’s
sense of humor or how he actually felt and thought.
It would turn out the whole tombstone episode was meant to be the band was now free from
their contract with roadrunner record.
Steele would tell Loudersound how the 2004 tour was cancelled not due to health problems,
but due to internal issues within the band.
It would turn out that the tombstone prank would have some pretty dire consequences.
Steele would admit in the same book that he was required to see a judge from time to time
and the judge also happened to be a Type O Negative fan who would send the cops to Steele's
house after reading about his death in 2005 online.
Following Type O Negative leaving Roadrunner records they would sign to SPV Records and
they would release their first and only album under the label, which was 2007’s Dead Again
which would debut at No. 27 on the billboard charts which was the band’s highest charging
record to date.
When the news came 3 years later in April of 2010 that Peter Steele was dead, some people
of course had a hard time believing it.
After all this was a guy who tried to take his own life, he overdosed and as I talked
about previously supposedly died 5 years earlier.
He wasl ike the Keith Richards of metal, nothing seemed to kill him, but the news on April
14th was in fact real.
The frontman would pass away at the age of 48 due to aortic aneurysm after spending a
few days in bed with the flu.
Just days prior to Steele passing away he seemed excited to work on the band’s follow
up album and he was proud about finally being clean and sober and excited about moving to
a place near Staten Island.
His bandmates, guitarist Kenny Hickey and drummer Johnny Kelly were working on their
metal side project Seventh Void when they received the sad news.
While Steele was said to be clean in the run up to his death he did live with an irregular
heartbeat for a lot of his life, something which he took medication for.
But of course not helping things was that he was frequently abusing drugs.
The band’s keyboardist would reflect back telling Loudwire . “Who knows if he died
from all the drugs over the years or something else,” “He was diagnosed with the condition
years and years ago, but if you take care of yourself and do the right stuff it’s
something you can live with for quite a while.
There are plenty of 90-year-olds running around with it" he'd say.
Hickey would add his perspective to Loudwire how Steele’s family history likely had something
to do with his eventual fate saying , “He always said that he felt the flutter in his
heart, even when he was a kid, so he might have been born with it for all we know.
He’s had four or five males in his family that have died from heart disease before 50,
so it could have been congenital.
Who knows?
There is a price you pay for being so big, too" he'd say
Hickey would also go on to reveal how Peter’s obsessive behavior prevented the frontman
from just enjoying things in moderations saying “If Peter did something that he enjoyed,
that was pleasurable for him, he went all the way with it.
It was just another extension of his obsessive behavior.
Women, food, alcohol, he had to have massive quantities.
He dreaded running out of anything.
He’s the only guy I know who could do two eight balls and eat 60 dollars of Chinese
food.”
Following his death, Type O Negative would split up opting not to replace the singer.
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