I HAD AN AWESOME TIME: R.I.P. Peter Steele

Last Wednesday when I was in San Francisco, I started to hear rumors that Peter Steele of Type O Negative (and Carnivore) fame had died. I initially rejected it as a stupid internet rumor and even made light of it in a Facebook update later that evening after seeing Faith No More at The Warfield: "can't believe Pete Steele just played "Christian Woman" with Faith No More. Amazing." [Don't even get me started on the fact that a few people believed that update to be true.] Alas, the next day the rumors would be substantiated and it turned out that Peter Steele had passed way from heart failure the prior evening.

I remember very clearly the first time I heard Type O. I saw a video for "Black No. 1" on Headbanger's Ball and was instantly hooked on the song. It was unlike any other type of metal I had heard before. There was a strange Addam's Family vibe going on to it that made it a bit goofy, but terribly catchy at the same time. Definitely a unique and great band.

After hearing of Steele's passing I started making a mental checklist of what Type O albums I would want to listen to when I got home. I have their greatest hits collection The Least Worst Of on my iPod as well as what turns out will be their final studio album, 2007's Dead Again, but I knew I'd want to hear some older material, so I started thinking of which ones I had in my CD collection. That is when it struck me that the albums I did own by them are all awesome. Bloody Kisses, October Rust and Life Is Killing Me are all fantastic from beginning to end. For whatever reason the fact that I owned four albums by Type O and thought that they all ruled had never really sunk in with me. Their last album Dead Again was so damn good and who knows what they would have come up with next. Thursday while I was in San Francisco I went to Amoeba Music (arguably the greatest record store in the world) and picked through their Type O Negative section and found another album from their catalog that I was missing, World Coming Down. I listened to that (loudly) yesterday and while I knew a couple of the songs from their greatest hits collection, I didn't realize that was yet another album in their catalog that was excellent from start to finish. I plan on picking up their debut Slow, Deep And Hard just as soon as I dig myself out from the pile of CD's I picked up last week in San Fran that I haven't listened to yet and the 40+ I have on my iPod that I haven't listened to yet either (so much music, not enough ears).

R.I.P. Pete. I'm sure you've brought Halloween to Heaven.

"Black No. 1"