An Ode to Pete

Up until now I’ve never really had a childhood icon pass away and I tend to not do a lot of the hero worship stuff that a lot of other musicians do. But Peter Steele from Type O Negative counts as an exception, because Type O, Life of Agony and that whole group of bands on RoadRunner was really my coming back into heavy metal when I was younger. It was Type O Negative’s black humor that taught me that one should never take oneself too seriously. And as an individual with a lower range vocally, Peter Steele also pointed out that using that low range to front a band was actually not only possible: but it was really cool.

Bloody Kisses and October Rust (which I will ever refer to as October Lust, due to the content of the songs) have been major influences on me and rank very highly on my list of amazing metal albums through time. While I listened to Carnivore and the earlier and later Type O Negative stuff, it was really those two albums that have stuck with me all these years. I was the right age to identify with the angst, to love the heaviness and to really appreciate the humor. Another thing that the band did which has influenced me a lot is they made it very clear to me very young that loving music other than metal was totally OK. The covers of The Beatles tracks and, particularly, “Summer Breeze” will live on in my mind as some of the coolest tribute work every done by any band.

So here’s to Peter Steele, his family and friends at the news of his death. The first song I thought of was “Red Water (Christmas Mourning)”. Now Peter is one of the ones missing from the table. And his huge presence, his sense of irony and humor and his incredible voice will be sorely missed.