Although Marylin Manson would single handedly spearhead the Mall Goth revolution of the mid 90s… it was Type O Negative that laid that initial seed a year earlier with Bloody Kisses. After the collapse of Brooklyn thrashers Carnivore in the late 80sPete Steele took a major left turn and formed Type O Negative who in ‘91 released a mess of an album called Slow, Deep & Hard. A poorly executed concept album about a failed relationship that kind of threw everything and the kitchen sink into itself stylistically. The songs were super long and It was parts metal, parts goth, parts punk & parts hardcore and I couldn’t tell if it or the lyrics were supposed to be taken seriously. The best way I could describe it is that Tool would would later on do exactly what this album tried to do but do it successfully.

2 years later came Bloody Kisses and while they still over indulged their own songs by 3-5 minutes this time they got it right and wrong in every way and voila! An Awesomely Awful Album was born! I was never certain if Pete Steele took himself or Type O seriously back then, but listening back to Black No. 1 now I can totally see that everything they did was tongue in cheek. Check out the lyrics to Black No. 1… they’re hilarious, at least to me!
“She’s got a date at midnight - with Nosferatu
oh baby, Lilly Munster - ain’t got nothing on you “
or
“Yeah you wanna go out ’cause it’s raining and blowing
you can’t go out ’cause your roots are showing
dye em black - dye em black “

Add Christian Women, a sludgy cover of Summer Breeze & of course We Hate Everyone and you have everything that was horrible, sad & forever sullied the notion of goth rock BUT was equally awesome and irresistible all at the same time.