On April 13 the lead singer of Type O Negative, Peter Steele, died from heart failure at 48 years old. His music was a combination of the morose Gothic and aggressive heavy metal – a mixture of two ardently sincere music styles that together equaled pure deadpan comedy. Steel went from a NYC garbage man to a rock god. Much was made of his dramatic appearance, he was an intimidating 6’7,” long black hair and had the vampirish good looks that now bring Robert Patterson to mind. And like Robert Patterson, women threw themselves at Steele. But while Patterson can go on and on about his uneasiness in his role as a sex symbol, Steele, who admitted similar insecurity, posed nude and erect for “Playgirl.” In appearances on Jerry Springer and Ricky Lake, Peter Steele was able to out-spectacle the spectacle of his fame in a way not many have been able to pull off….with pure humor and charm. In a recent interview, Steele spoke very candidly about the costs that come with hard living – how he he’d struggled with drugs and alcohol, how his family had staged an intervention that landed him in jail and how he’d never forgive them for the betrayal. He talked about what it was like weaning himself off drugs gradually, and how on the (now rare) mornings after a night of partying he’d wake up feeling ashamed, like some of his life had been taken from him. Finally, he discussed recently adopting Roman Catholicism as a way of coming to terms with death. Somewhat fittingly, this all coincides with another news story about a church in Oklahoma where the parishioners stopped going to mass because they saw what looked like a giant penis and balls in the distended stomach muscles of a painted Jesus icon. Another absurd story on top of a church-wide sex scandal that is day-by-day becoming more and more a spectacle. In some way this story reminds me of Steele’s career and personal struggles because it so poetically combines truth, tragedy and absurdity. Steele once said, “If they weren’t laughing with me, okay; if they want to laugh at me, it’s better than nothing.”

RIP Peter Steele. You were killin’ it.