Posts tagged Peter Steele

This morning I got a text from my friend Adam that simply said, “Did you hear about Peter Steele?” I replied back to him and said no, then quickly went to Wiki to find out how he died.

Music is a large part of my life. It always has been. When I was 12 years old my birthday cake had the cover of Metallica’s Master of Puppets on it. I was turning 12 and my cake was filled with a cemetery of crosses. From that young of an age music has been a very large part of me. I use it as a crutch to get through the good times and the bad. I use it for just about every occasion. I remember the song that was being played on the radio when my first son was born (I’ve Had the Time of My Life from Dirty Dancing). I remember what song was being played the very first time I walked into a strip club (Kenny Wayne Sheppard’s Blue On Black). I remember the song I heard after mine and Liz’s grandmas died (Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here), and it’s reasons like that in particular that music is so much a part of me.

I also remember the first time in 1993 when I heard Type O Negative’s Christian Woman. There was this public access radio station that on Saturday night’s at midnight they had a 2 hour show of nothing but heavy metal music. At that time, that was my stuff. I was a little metal kid. I was 12 when I heard that as well. I bought the album the next time I made it to the store, and had to hide it from my mom because she never would have let me have something like that.

From that point on I was a Type O Negative mark. I bought every single album and VHS or DVD that they came out with. Even recently when I stopped buying music because it was free on the internet, I still bought their material. They deserved it, so I gave them my money. I saw them in concert every time I had the chance. I even had the privilege of meeting Peter Steele a couple of times after the concerts. I have pictures of me and him but sadly I couldn’t find them today so that I could post them.

Like I said, music has always been a crutch for me. Type O Negative was my go to for when things just weren’t going my way. When I’m down I should probably listen to some nice upbeat music to try and cheer me up, but that’s just not how I do things. I would rather listen to Peter Steele sing about the darker things in life… and death. Somehow I related to the things he said. Songs like ‘Bloody Kisses (A Death in the Family)’, ‘The Dream is Dead’, ‘Love You to Death’, and ‘Everyone I Love Is Dead’ made sense to me. As twisted as it is, those are the songs that I understood most. I’m not some emo or death metal kid that hates everything in the world or anything, but those songs just always spoke to me. They were so true and real. I’m not even a goth metal fan. I think that’s what kind of music Type O Negative is considered. I couldn’t even name another goth metal band I don’t think. But their music and Steele’s lyrics were so above everything else that it just made it so beautiful, even though it was so dark.

So today I’ve been pretty down. I found out the news while I was at work and my first reaction was to fire up YouTube and watch the video for ‘Love You to Death’. While I do believe that listening to his music is by far the best way to pay tribute, it really hit me then. In my generation there has been a few big rock stars to die. Certain ones have hit me really hard. I named my youngest son after Layne Staley and Kurt Cobain. Peter Steele’s death will go down as day’s just like when those guys died for me.

I’m glad I got to experience Type O Negative and Peter Steele. His music will be apart of me and my life until the end. I’m glad I own all of their albums and have each one of them autographed by Peter. I’m glad I got to meet him a couple different times. Like Steele said, “The Dream is Dead” but at least his words will live on forever.

R.I.P. Green Man

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’s gonna get ya, get ya, get…

Hey am I good enough
for you?
Hey am I good enough
for you?
Am I?
Am I?
Am I good enough
for you?