Type O Negative was a gothic/doom metal band from Brooklyn, New York City.
Their lyrical emphasis on themes of romance, depression, and death resulted in the nickname
"The Drab Four".
The band went Platinum with 1993's Bloody Kisses, and Gold with 1996's October Rust,
and gained a fanbase through seven studio albums, two best-of compilations, and concert
DVDs.
On April 14, 2010, lead vocalist, bassist, and principal songwriter Peter Steele died,
reportedly from heart failure.
Members Kenny Hickey and Johnny Kelly stated in a November 2010 interview with French music
magazine Rock Hard that the band would not continue.
History Origins
Former Carnivore frontman Steele, along with childhood friends Sal Abruscato, Josh Silver
and Kenny Hickey, formed Type O Negative and signed to Roadrunner Records.
Shortly after signing in 1991 the band released their debut, Slow, Deep and Hard.
Slow Deep and Hard and The Origin of the Feces Type O's first album Slow Deep and Hard incorporated
dragging dirge riffs, 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.
Back in the States, Type O began creating a new album that was supposed to be live.
The subsequent 1992 album was entitled The Origin of the Feces and a warning label was
put on the album cover: "Not Live At Brighton Beach".
Bloody Kisses and October Rust Type O Negative's third album, Bloody Kisses,
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" became the most popular tracks, after having been
edited down to radio-friendly lengths.
In order to promote the album, Type O Negative embarked on a two-year world tour.
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 and the previously
unreleased "Suspended in Dusk".
Type O's October Rust picked 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.
World Coming Down and The Least Worst of Type O Negative
With the completion of another successful world tour, writing for a fourth album began.
In the period immediately following the release of October Rust, resulted in 1999's World
Coming Down.World Coming Down debuted at No. 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 of
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".
Life Is Killing Me and Dead Again Type O Negative's sixth studio album, Life
Is Killing Me, 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.
The album includes a humorous cover of the song "Angry Inch" from the musical Hedwig
and the Angry Inch, detailing a sex change operation gone terribly wrong.
Type O then left Roadrunner for SPV Records and released Dead Again.
Dead Again debuted at No. 27 in the United States; 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.
Peter Steele's death and the end of Type O Negative
On April 14, 2010, frontman and bassist Peter Steele died, reportedly from heart failure.
The following statement concerning Steele was released April 15 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, Type O Negative
had definitely split-up.
Roadrunner Records released a box set of all the band's albums for Back to Black Friday
2011, a spinoff of Record Store Day, on November 25, 2011.
Each vinyl cover has no text and The Origin of the Feces uses its original cover art.
The box set also contains various bumper stickers related to the band.
Soundtracks and covers Type O songs have appeared in numerous motion
pictures, including "Blood and Fire" on the 1995 Mortal Kombat movie soundtrack, "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".
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"; "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.
Most recently, the 2012 video game The Darkness II features Type O Negative's Black Number
1 in its multiplayer lobby, played at random amongst other songs.
Type O Negative performed and recorded numerous covers.
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" appears on Life is Killing Me.
World Coming Down includes a Beatles medley consisting of "Day Tripper", "If I Needed
Someone", and "I Want You".
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",
Jimi Hendrix's "Hey Joe"; 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".
Personnel Former members
Peter Steele – vocals, bass guitar Kenny Hickey – guitar, vocals
Josh Silver – keyboards, effects, backing vocals
Sal Abruscato – drums, percussions Johnny Kelly – drums, percussions
Discography For a complete discography, see Type O Negative
discography.
Slow, Deep and Hard The Origin of the Feces
Bloody Kisses October Rust
World Coming Down Life Is Killing Me
Dead Again References
External links Official website
SPV USA main page Type O Negative interview