The Best of Type O Negative - Part One - Peter Steele Naked
Jun 08 '05 (Updated Dec 23 '06)
The Bottom Line Just give it an honest chance and you too will be a Type O fan!
For more years than I care to divulge I’ve been a fan of Type O Negative. No, I take that back, not just a fan, a fanatic. Their music is often called metal or alternative metal but really, unless you listen to it can come up with your own definition of what it is - it’s pointless to slap a label on it. Make no mistake about it, their music is dark and somber but at the same time it’s extremely gripping and compelling. The group has gotten a lot of flack about their musical content but they’ve never changed it. That’s one of the many reasons that I have respect for them and outside of Henry Rollins there aren’t many artists that I can honestly say that about. This is no lie - for the past two weeks the only CD’s that I’ve played on my laptop are “October Rust” and “Bloody Kisses”. Now you tell me, do you think that you could listen to two CD’s over and over again? Chances are you couldn’t but that’s the beauty of Type O, no matter how many times you listen to it, it never gets old.
Pete, Josh, Kenny and Johnny put blood, sweat and tears into making music makes a statement. That statement is simple and best summed up on their tag line on the back of October Rust. “Functionless art is simply tolerated vandalism. We are the vandals.” You might not get the jocularity of that unless you know the humor of the band. They don’t consider themselves exceptional artists or even having a hell of a lot of talent but they have stayed true to their roots and to me, a fan, that’s all that matters. Their video “After Dark” is one of my favorites [next to Pantera’s Vulgar Video] and it never fails to put me in a good mood. Their discography is exceptional and there are only a few songs that I don’t “like” or can’t listen to. One thing that I really love about the group is the duality - that their music retains a certain flavor to it but none of it sounds the same. If that’s a hard concept to understand then I guess you’ll just have to check out their music and judge it for yourself. In a lot of ways the group is like Danzig; they had a few songs that caught on with the MTV crowd but a majority of it is reserved for the hard core fans. People like me ... people who think that they are talented musicians even when they themselves think that they are hacks.
So here they are .. the best of the worst or the worst of the best ... well, at least to me that is ...
Wolf Moon
One of their best cuts from “October Rust” but one that most people won’t get until they read the lyrics and even then, it will go over most peoples heads. This is sort of tricky - to try and talk about the contents of the song without tripping the oh-so-sensitive Epinions content filter. Let’s see, it’s about the celebration of the most sensitive time of month for a woman. The line “The 28th day, she’ll be bleeding again” should give away what the song is all about but like I said, most people just won’t get it. The first ten or twenty times that I listened to the song I liked it but I never really “got it” until I sat down with the lyrics and picked it apart. The content won’t appeal to most people but that’s Type O in a nutshell. They aren’t the kind of band that is going to appeal to the masses and that’s one of the main reasons I love them to death.
“Don’t spill a drop ... dear
Let me kiss the curse away
Yourself in my mouth
Will you leave me with your taste?”
Love You To Death
Another stellar track from “October Rust” and one that I simply adore. There are so many levels to the song that it sort of overwhelms you the first time you hear it. There are so many different things going on within the song that it really stands out as one of their all time best. There are a lot of different ways that you can interpret the song and I won’t be so bold as to fling my take on to the masses. The melody of the song is what really sucks you in - it’s definitely Type O Negative but it’s so rich in body and texture that it makes you feel like you are floating when you are listening to it. From the haunting piano intro to the throbbing bass [heh, I had to add that Pete] - there’s so much packed into this song that you can’t just listen to it once. I was a little let down when I got to see the video of it, I expected it to be a little more sexual in content but after Pete’s spread in Playboy, there wasn’t much left to the imagination [no comments from the peanut gallery Josh].
In her place, one hundred candles burning
As salty sweat drips from her breast
Her hips move and I can feel what they’re saying, swaying
They say the beast inside of me is gonna get ya, get ya again
Suspended In Dusk
Taken from the Christian Woman CD single, this is one of the darker songs from the group. It’s rich with aural delights and best when consumed in mass quantities, with the volume cranked and headphones on. I don’t know what’s better - Peter’s vocals or the guitar work, that’s truly a tough call. If you really listen to the lyrics it’s a sort of confession; for forsaking mortal life for that of a darker path. There’s more to it than that; love, lost love and death - all the key elements to a Type O song. This isn’t something that’s out in the mainstream and I might be wrong but I think this is one of the only releases that has this version of it. I really like it when they drag out the songs and aren’t afraid to let them drone on, this version goes on for about nine minutes ... it’s something that you really have to hear to appreciate it.
For centuries, understand immortality
Yet, I did not ask to be made.
I will never again know your sun upon my face.
Or the comfort of a grave
I am not alive, I am not dead, this is hell on earth.
How can I possibly explain this eternal youth
And I can do nothing but sit by as my loves grow old and wither
And with each of them, take a fragment of my heart
Then prolong this eternal time on earth
It is Octobers perpetual agony, it is the shadow realm
Type O isn’t shy about their sexuality and Be My Druidess is a prime example of it. It’s the perfect blend of music and vocals but the lyrics are what make this something that brings that devilish grin out every single time. Like a true master of romance, Pete saves up the money shot for the last line of the song and ladies, if you ever had a fantasy about Mr. Steel and you never heard this song ... you might just trip over your tongue when you hear him utter the words, “I’ll do anything ... to make you cum” ... and he doesn’t just say it once, oh no, he says it several times in that deep growl of a voice that make me turn to Jell-O every time I hear it.
“Around the pyre, circle of thirteen
Throughout the woods, ecstatic screams
I look deeply into your eyes
I smell your hair caress your thighs
Now we’ll make love by fire light
A blaze so high, it lights the night
Long fingernails dig in my skin
Yourself so wet, invites me in
Our lust increased, feeds desire
As we combust, yeah we on fire
I feel you shake so deep inside
Scream my name and squeeze me tight”
Summer Breeze
This is one of the few cover versions of songs that the group has done and man, did they do it. When I first heard the song I was sort of mixed about it - I liked it but it wasn’t something that I would listen to over and over again. When I got my hands on the CD single of the song things changed. It’s not that the single is any better than what you get on the parent CD - but you do get to experience a more erotic side of the song. Normally I don’t get into cover songs because most of them suck but this is definitely an exception. If you’ve never heard the Type O version of this classic you truly don’t know what you are missing. Cinnamon Girl is another cover song that I didn’t really like at first but after listening to it about a hundred times it really grew on me - beside that, hearing Pete utter the words “my baby loves to dance” never fails to make me break out in an evil grin. It’s almost as infectious as when he lets out that little sexual growl in the middle of “My Girlfriend’s Girlfriend”. This is another great song to check out - and my oh my, porn stars and Pete Steele sure do go well together. I am going to have to dig out that Playgirl issue with Pete if I keep thinking about it ...
If you listen to the tracks on Bloody Kisses and read the lyrics then listen to the music on Life Is Killing Me you’ll be able to see how much the group has “grown” - not that they needed to expend on their core concept or add anything to their music but they have matured a little over the years. The same could be said for “The Origin of Feces” or “Best of The Worst” - when you listen to their earlier stuff you can see where they started and what they’ve added to their music. I’ll never say that they are the perfect group or the best that ever was but there is something about the music that gets to me and no matter how many times I listen to a CD or single or watch the video [and all the bootlegs] I never get tired of the music.
More than anything else, there is an element of darkness to the music. Blood, sex, magic, death and forbidden love ... all mixed in with a “God Complex”. It’s a real shame that a lot of people peg the members as bad seeds or devil worshippers - I won’t say that they are angels but I’ve never seen them carving up chickens or butchering pigs. Yes, they are a little messy at Thanksgiving with the turkey but that’s about the extent of it. If you’ve never checked out the group because you thought they were too extreme or hard core then you really are missing out on some great music. Even if you don’t like a couple of songs I can almost guarantee that if you checkout a CD - any CD from them - that you’ll find at least two or three songs that you really genuinely like. In fact, I’ll even go so far as to say if you hate the CD, I’ll buy it off of you. Yeah, that’s right - that’s how confidant I am that you’ll like what you hear. So there you go .. a money back guarantee. I’d like to see fans of other groups saying that - because they know that their groups can’t hold water compared to the finest export of Brooklyn ... my boys in Type O Negative!
Peter Steele isn’t dead .. he’s chained up in my basement …
As always, thanks for the read!
~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~
© 2005 Freak369
Singles
Black No. 1, Summer Breeze, Love You To Death, Christian Woman, My Girlfriend's Girlfriend, Everything Dies, Cinnamon Girl
CD's
October Rust, Bloody Kisses, Life Is Killing Me, World Coming Down, Slow, Deep And Hard, The Least Worst of Type O Negative, Life Is Killing Me – Import Version
Video
Type O Negative: After Dark
Symphony For The Devil
Editorial
Blood. Sex. Fire. Lust & Immortality
The Best of Type O: Peter Steele Naked
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