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Mtv Opinion
MTV Headbanger's Ball; Chaos AD: Rock in the 90's
MTV books; copyright 1997
If you're in search of a different kind of power, Type O Negative are the strangest of the strange. Essentially, they are the dark and dangerous offspring of frontman Peter Steele, a towering giant with granite-like features and jet black hair. Throughout his career, Steele has welcomed controversy with open arms, becoming a master of self-publicity in the process. After inauspicious beginnings, he has developed Type O Negative into one of America's most compelling new rock bands.
Peter Steele was born "somewhere in Northern Europe" in 1962. Like Rob Zombie, he quickly developed an abiding passion for horror films and monsters. Steele considered himself fortunate to have five impressionable sisters, an obvious target for his trickery and practical jokes. Living in America in the eighties, his sisters could finally relax as he transferred his attention to hardcore, playing in bands like Fallout and, more significantly, Carnivore.
It was during this time that Steele acquired the reputation as a racist and a sexist, with songs like "Male Supremacy" citied as particularly offensive. In fact, Steele's only concern was to manipulate the media into portraying him as some kind of American anti-hero, thereby guaranteeing stacks of publicity. It was a ploy he developed further with his next project, Type O Negative. Steele assembled the band in Brooklyn during 1990, and set about causing as much indignation as possible.
The first album, 1991's Slow, Deep, and Hard, and 1992's live EP Origin of the Feces were deliberatly engineered to cause offense. Few could plumb their way through Steele's stoney-faced exterior to find the true irony beneath. The frontman's massive build and dry sense of humor simply scared most people away.
"It's amusing when people are confronted with something outside the norm," he told the press. "I like to make heads spin, and I do it really well."
The third album, Bloody Kisses, did just that. Eschewing the easy option of recording another hardcore album, Steele produced a magnificent rock opus, replete with a gothic veneer and a subtly sense of melody. Lyrically, it dealt dangerously with sex and religion, upsetting many, but enthralling far more. With the likes of "Christian Woman" and "Blood and Fire", Steele spun out songs into long, graceful epics. The religious overtones and classical allusions only deepened the album's mystery. It was a bold and polished product from a band better known for sheer bludgeon.
After a slow start, the album, released by Roadrunner, began to sell in massive quantities, and a tour with Nine Inch Nails and Pantera followed. All of a sudden, America could not get enough of this intoxicating, curious new band. In 1995, the once-reviled Steele was offered $2,000 to pose nude for the U.S. edition of Playgirl magazine. He complied, and spent the money on new equipment for the band.
On September 2, 1996, the group followed up Bloody Kisses with a new album, October Rust. This glorious dark and decadent record had all the makings of a natural successor to Bloody Kisses. This time, the goal was sonic saturation - as much sonic information as possible. "Each time you listen to the album, you're gonna hear something else," promised Steele.
Type O Negative have finally reaped the rewards of their frontman's carefully engineered publicity campaign. With the band's ever-enlarging fan base baying for more, October Rust is prooving to be a spinner of more than just heads!
