BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
Type O Negative is a band I never gave enough attention to. Back in high school I somehow got my hands on the Bloody Kisses album. I had no idea what it was. I just had a scratched up copy of this CD with no case. I’m fairly certain I could have stolen in. I just know I had it and I listened to it a lot. I don’t know why I never dove into the fully body of work that was Type O Negative.
Today I’m going to take in some of the biggest hits in the form of the music videos. I know that the late Peter Steele and company was a very visual band as well. From what I remember things were pretty “dark” and had a heavy “sexual content”. So that’s something to look forward to!
Track: "Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare-All)"
Album: ”Bloody Kisses”
Year: 1993
Director: Parris Mayhew
This video is creepy, intense, and a bit hokey. It’s black and white, except for Peter Steele’s green eyes. It’s a really tight show of the singing face. This is cut with shot of the band rocking out at a cool party space. I think I saw someone dressed like one of the dudes from Clockwork Orange. It’s all good and fun. It then breaks down where Steele sings into the neck of a woman. So he’s a vampire? It’s “goth”, but they don’t seem to take themselves too serious. If so, yikes. Regardless of intent, I like the execution. The use of the bold and simple black and whites really worked out and made for an interesting video.
Rating: 8.0
Track: “Christian Woman"
Album: Bloody Kisses
Year: 1993
Director: Jon Reiss
I know for a fact that I’ve heard this song. The video is really dramatic. The band rocks out in a cool rust colored spot as the narrative cuts in. It’s a story about a religious girl getting in bed only to be haunted by the ghost-like figure of Peter Steele. They then have sex. Seriously. That’s what happened. She eventually “wakes up” because the whole thing was a dream or fantasy or something. I’m surprised this video didn’t get more attention. It’s crazy. Watch it for yourself! I guess the version I got was the “censored” version because there is a 9 minute version that’s supposed to be quite explicit. Is it full on porn? Wowzers. As unexpected as the video turned out to be, it’s done REALLY well. The shots, the direction, the chances it takes, and the flow is awesome. Content aside, the craftsmanship of this video is really remarkable.
Rating: 9.0
Track: "My Girlfriend's Girlfriend"
Album: ”October Rust”
Year: 1996
Director: N/A
So far this is the “brightest” video of the bunch. The use of colors gives it an old 60’s vibe. The evil Peter Steele hangs out and gets it on with hot chicks dressed in retro garb. It’s the old love lorne story of girl meets girl, girls meet guy. Basically, it’s about a polygamous relationship. Peter Steele is the king in this video. He sits around just chilling out and watching as a group of women play Twister and have fun. I can’t hate the guy for this at all. He’s totally owning it, whatever the hell “it” is. The video is solid, by the way.
Rating: 7.5
Track: "Love You to Death"
Album: ”October Rust”
Year: 1996
Director: N/A
Steele sings under a tree with falling leaves as we cut to a story. The story features a red riding hood type of woman wandering through the forest. She stops, picks stuff up, and just kind of walks around. For some reason, cuts of this woman and Peter Steele getting frisky is included. I know it’s not surprising to most, but I really had no idea how “sexual” the video content was. I knew Steele was a freak, but I didn’t know the videos were THIS heavy on the perv. The video itself looks great through. We come to find out the woman is crazy. She misses her guy, Peter Steele, and is freaking out in a decayed location about it. It looks really good and it’s one of the better videos for sure.
Rating: 8.0
Track: "Cinnamon Girl"
Album: ”October Rust”
Year: 1996
Director: N/A
It’s a Neil Young song from the late 60’s. Typo O added the cover and rocked it. The video is made up of live footage. There seems to be a lot of energy at the shows and little moments captured, but it just didn’t work for me. The song and the energy of the video does not match up and it’s just kind of there and boring. This is a disappointment.
Rating: 6.5
Track: "Everything Dies"
Album: ”World Coming Down”
Year: 1999
Director: N/A
This is another dramatic video. The band rocks out in a brick area as there are cuts to a lot of randomness like the guys in suits, and weird close ups. The narrative included here is Peter Steele sitting at a dinner table with his family. The lyrics introduce the characters and then each one is followed by “and then he died.” I can’t help but laugh at it. The sentiment is real, but the words used are just weird and funny. The video looks good. It’s different than the others and is directed like a beast. It looks too good to not take seriously, but I just can’t.
Rating: 7.5
Track: "I Don't Wanna Be Me"
Album: ”Life Is Killing Me”
Year: 2003
Director: N/A
Dan Fogler! The dude from “Balls of Fury” is the main character of the narrative. He’s an normal dude who goes into a closet and gets excited. Before you know it, he’s dressed up in drag like Marilyn Monroe, and then as Michael Jackson, and then a rapper type, and then a Britney-like pop star, etc. It’s just basically the normal dude going nuts with costumes trying to escape their reality and who they are. Eventually at the end, the dude transforms himself into Peter Steele and rocks out. It’s a silly and fun video done to a hard rocking song. The fun cuts are mixed in with the band rocking out. It ends with the reveal that the dude can’t get out of the TV and Peter Steele is watching it with his dog. Okay!
Rating: 8.5
Track: "The Profit of Doom"
Album: ”Dead Again”
Year: 2007
Director: Mark Liddell
This video looks fun. I like the look of it. It has an old school feel to it, but I guess six years is “old school” these days. The and does their thing in a cool location, meanwhile a narrative is going on in the cut aways. The story appears to be the band trying to do their thing, but evil people interfere to stop them from being them. Then they come across a tyrant type who is being a jerk. I like the camera movement, the energy, the cuts, the hard lighting, and the locations. I just don’t know what I’m missing about the narrative other than “don’t be a jerk because these dudes will shoot you and roll you up in rug”. I mean, that IS a narrative.
Rating: 7.0
Track: "September Sun"
Album: ”Dead Again”
Year: 2007
Director: Ivan Colic, Josip Colic
This is another song I wouldn’t generally expect from my limited knowledge of the band. It’s pretty much an “epic ballad”. It reminds me of the late 80’s and early 90’s, but it’s still really well done. The video is interesting. On the surface it seems like a standard metal video of a band rocking out on a roof top as a love story goes on around them. The idea is cool though. Peter Steele’s inspiration was what it would be like if he were haunted in a bright light. So in the glowing light of the sun, we see a sad emotional story of loss and heart break. It seems to have a hopeful ending, but nothing is really settled. I like the concept a lot. If I hadn’t known the premise behind it I’d probably have rated it lower.
Rating: 7.5
What is YOUR favorite Type O Negative video?
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