Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses

intothewellsabyss
Aug 17, 2023
4 min read

𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐘𝐏𝐓𝐒 - 𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐁𝐔𝐌 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊 & 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋…

August 17, 1993 — Type O Negative released their third full-length studio Bloody Kisses via Roadrunner Records. (Listen)

The jewel case release features the two female models cheek to cheek.

While the European Digipak edition features the two female models kissing.

This version contains the track, Suspended In Dusk. The track order is also in a different order. This version also does not contain the songs; We Hate Everyone, Fay Wray Come Out and Play, Kill All the White People, Dark Side of the Womb, 3.0.I.F, or the album opener, Machine Screw.

A clean (censored) version of the album was also released on cassette in the UK and in Europe with an alternate cover, which was also used the the Christian Woman single.

It was the last recording with their original line-up as drummer Sal Abruscato left in late 1993 (He joined Life Of Agony).

The album includes one of their best known songs, Black No. 1, which earned the band a considerable cult following.

The album further established recurring motifs of the band's music, such as including cover songs recorded in the Gothic Metal style, sample-heavy soundscapes in between songs, and lyrics replete with dry, satirical humor.

Bloody Kisses is notable for being the first album released on Roadrunner Records to achieve gold and platinum certification (No, Slipknot we’re not the first band signed to Roadrunner to go platinum, regardless of what Mr. Taylor says).

Considered a standout album in the Gothic Metal genre, Bloody Kisses is "𝚜𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚡 𝚙𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍" with content concerning sexual symbolism and humor.

Bloody Kisses has a cover version of Seals & Crofts' song Summer Breeze. Originally, Type O Negative's version was going to be called Summer Girl with different lyrics, but they made a normal cover after Seals & Crofts found the lyrics to Summer Girl distasteful.

According to Decibel Magazine, Bloody Kisses "𝚏𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚍𝚘𝚘𝚖-𝚙𝚘𝚙 𝚎𝚙𝚒𝚌𝚜 (𝙱𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝙽𝚘. 𝟷, 𝙲𝚑𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝚆𝚘𝚖𝚊𝚗), 𝚜𝚊𝚛𝚌𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚌 𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚜𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚍𝚜 (𝙺𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝙰𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚆𝚑𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝙿𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎, 𝚆𝚎 𝙷𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝙴𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚘𝚗𝚎)" and "𝚋𝚒𝚣𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚎 𝚗𝚘𝚒𝚜𝚎 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚕𝚞𝚍𝚎𝚜 (𝙵𝚊𝚢 𝚆𝚛𝚊𝚢 𝙲𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝙾𝚞𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙿𝚕𝚊𝚢, 𝙳𝚊𝚛𝚔 𝚂𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚆𝚘𝚖𝚋, 𝟹.𝟶.𝙸.𝙵)".

Black No. 1 is "𝚊 𝚜𝚊𝚛𝚌𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚌 𝚘𝚍𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚘𝚝𝚑 𝚐𝚒𝚛𝚕𝚜 (𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚒𝚝𝚕𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚊 𝚑𝚊𝚒𝚛 𝚍𝚢𝚎 𝚝𝚘𝚗𝚎) 𝚋𝚊𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚘𝚗 𝚊 𝚗𝚊𝚛𝚌𝚒𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚌 𝚎𝚡-𝚐𝚒𝚛𝚕𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛 𝙿𝚎𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚂𝚝𝚎𝚎𝚕𝚎".

Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare-All) was the first single released from the album. The song was written by lead singer Peter Steele while driving a garbage truck.

During an interview with Revolver, he stated "𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚠𝚊𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚗 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚎 𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚞𝚖𝚙 𝟺𝟶 𝚌𝚞𝚋𝚒𝚌 𝚢𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚑𝚞𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝚠𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎 𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙷𝚊𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚝𝚘𝚗 𝙰𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚞𝚎 𝙼𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚃𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚜𝚏𝚎𝚛 𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚠𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚗 𝚖𝚢 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍. 𝙸‘𝚖 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚔𝚒𝚍𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚢𝚘𝚞."

As previously noted, the lyrics sarcastically detail a relationship with a woman involved with the Goth subculture, loosely based around a relationship Steele was once in, and throws many tongue-in-cheek references to Halloween, Nosferatu, and Lily Munster, as well as quick musical references to Vic Mizzy's The Addams Family Theme as well as Jack Marshall's The Munsters' Theme. It is arguably their best known song; although it never cracked the Billboard Hot 100, it was their best-selling single and the accompanying music video was a mainstay on MTV's Headbangers Ball. (Watch video)

Christian Woman was the second single released from their 1993 album Bloody Kisses. It is one of two songs (the other being Black No. 1) that people credit with propelling the band into the mainstream.

The song is inspired by a real woman with whom lead singer and song writer Peter Steele was once romantically involved. Steele told Revolver, "𝚂𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊 𝚁𝚘𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝙲𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚌, 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚊𝚜 𝙸 𝚊𝚖, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚘𝚏𝚏 𝚘𝚗 𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚞𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝚊 𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎 𝚋𝚒𝚝. 𝚂𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚊𝚜𝚔 𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚞𝚙 𝚊𝚜 𝚊 𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚍, 𝚠𝚎𝚕𝚕, 𝙸 𝚐𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚒𝚖𝚊𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚗 𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝. 𝚂𝚘, 𝙸 𝚐𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚜𝚊𝚢 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚊 𝚋𝚒𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚊 𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚒𝚗𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗."

A music video was also made for Christian Woman. It also received considerable airtime on MTV's Headbangers Ball. (Watch video)

Type O Negative released their cover of Summer Breeze as their third single from the album Bloody Kisses, altering their version to match their gothic metal style.

As previously mentioned, their version was originally to be titled Summer Girl, featuring new lyrics written by Peter Steele, but Seals & Crofts found the lyrical content distasteful, so the original lyrics were sung instead.

The song is featured in the opening of the 1997 horror film I Know What You Did Last Summer and is also included in the film's soundtrack.

Bloody Kisses received mostly positive reviews.

Steve Huey of AllMusic gave the album a 4.5 out of 5 and wrote that "𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚒𝚝 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚊 𝚏𝚞𝚗𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚕, 𝙱𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚍𝚢 𝙺𝚒𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚒𝚛𝚢 𝚖𝚎𝚕𝚘𝚍𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚜𝚖 𝚊𝚗𝚍 '𝟿𝟶𝚜-𝚂𝚝𝚢𝚕𝚎 𝚒𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚢 𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚍 𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚕𝚊𝚐𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙶𝚘𝚝𝚑 𝙼𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎".

Rock Hard gave the album a 10 out of 10 rating.

In 2005, Bloody Kisses was ranked No. 365 in Rock Hard's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.

Loudwire called Bloody Kisses the best album of 1993, in addition to ranking it at No. 42 on its Top 90 Hard Rock and Heavy Metal Albums of the 90s.

Rolling Stone placed Bloody Kisses at No. 53 on its Top 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time list, citing memorable songs such as Christian Woman, Bloody Kisses (A Death in the Family), their cover version of Summer Breeze, and Black No. 1. The latter was cited by the author J. D. Considine as the band's signature song.

Notice: Any reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells