#100 - Type O Negative

These probably won't come this fast and furious, but I didn't want to make you wait too long for some actual music.  So, starting off at number 100...

Type O Negative is a good place to start for a couple of reasons.  First, I like a band with a sense of humor.  Type O Negative captures an understated, dark and low-grade (like 2nd) humor much of the time with a sludgy groove supporting lyrics like "Baby, Lily Munster ain't got nothing on you.", "God damn ye merry gentlemen." and "Jesus Christ looks like me!"  Second, there's a lot of layering of synthesized and found sounds, revealing an attention to detail that belies their apparent cavalier attitude.  Third, I love a creative cover of a great song, and Type O Negative has done plenty of them: "Hey Pete" (Joe), "Paranoid/Iron Man", "Summer Breeze", "Cinnamon Girl" and "Daytripper" to name a few they've recorded.

I'm including my favorite cover of theirs, Black Sabbath's debut and self-titled song from 1969.  Type O Negative makes it even spookier and heavier than the awesome original.  There are references in it to other Sabbath tunes.  See if you can hear "Fairies Wear Boots" and "After Forever" weaved in there.  I first heard this when it came out in 1994.  I was at U of M at the time and picked it up at Tower Records in Ann Arbor.  It was the first song I heard by them, and I loved it right away.