I know, I'm all around a pretty shitty person. At this point, that fact shouldn't really come as a surprise to anybody. But I get it; it sucks when people die, as they often tend to do. I've been to funerals before, a lot of people cry, it sucks, it's sad, I got it. When Ronnie James Dio died after being so sick for such a long time, I felt genuinely crushed, as we all did. The reason for my grief, however, was directly connected to Dio's prominence in the heavy metal community and metal's very history. As a metalhead, I had perfectly good reason to mourn such a loss. Missing a man like Dio makes sense to me, because he was perfectly relevant to my culture, and did an immeasurable amount of great things for it.
What doesn't make sense to me, and try and keep up with me here, is why so many people in the metal community weeped into their beards, because they're not going to hear monumental rock anthems such as "My Girlfriend's Girlfriend" anymore...
Yeah, it sucks that Peter Steele is dead. Yes, there is a large enough network of music lovers out there that will properly mourn his unfortunate passing. I just don't think it should be my network. Does that make me such an asshole? Should metalheads hold a candlelight vigil on the anniversary of Kurt Cobain's death now, just because he wrote rock music too? It's not like I'm glad the guy is dead or anything. Far from it. My heart goes out to his friends, family, loved ones and fans. Fans, by the way, who I have yet to meet that don't look like they're in a Robert Smith look-alike contest. This is goth music written and produced to be enjoyed by goth kids. Or "Dark Waves" if you want be a fruit. Except to the dirty white hat wearing bro-dudes who don't know the difference, we're not really goths. At least I'm not. I just never saw any musical reason to consider him one of our guys, and as such, the burden shouldn't be placed on metal editors and bloggers to "Remember Peter Steele" for the 12th time this month, regardless of his short-lived thrash metal past in Carnivore. I guarantee when Slipknot's bassist Paul Gray overdosed, none of you gave a shit, and I think Slipknot hits way closer to home then this buckle-boot shuffling goth rock.
Anybody else I can offend today?
