THE VIDEO Type O Negative, "Black No. 1," Bloody Kisses, Roadrunner, 1993
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SAMPLE LYRIC "Yeah you wanna go out / 'cause its raining and blowing / you can't go out / 'cause your roots are showin' / dye 'em black / well dye 'em black / black, black, black, black numbah wuh-uh-one"
ESCESSIVELY DETAILED DESCRIPTION The video begins with Peter Steele's spooky face emerging from pitch black. His face is only partially visible, I guess to make it look more like a skull or make him look more like a vampire or something, because right away he kind of makes a menacing "look at my teeth" face. His face fades away momentarily, then comes back to the right of the bottom half of an equally pallid (but more hot than spooky) woman's face. She's wearing a choker, which he pulls down to get uhh, more complete access to her already quite bare neck. In case you didn't get it before, vampires!
Peter keeps singing as his face fades in and out (it almost gives the impression that he keeps submerging himself in water), then we get to see a better lit version of him where you can actually see his eyes. As some real guitar comes in for the first time, we get a quick, almost strobe-lit (I think the effect is supposed to be more like lightning than a strobe, but basically it's uneven and flashy) view of Type O Negative playing in a big, parlor-looking room with florid, old-fashioned wallpaper that is chock full o' goth chicks. Just as quickly, we're back with Peter's scary face, then we see him playing his enormous standup bass beside a large, leafless tree which has a couple of weird-looking people sitting in the branches. This is also lit in the strobe/lightning style.
Then more Peter face, as he tries desperately to out-mug Glen Danzig in some kind of muscular dude scary face contest. We quickly see a better-lit shot of his entire face where the irises of his eyes are acid green (the only color we see in this entire video), then he's playing in front of the tree again. One of the people in it appears to be wearing long underwear and a top hat. Then the better-lit Peter face is singing again, and actually the way he's shot from beneath his face looks way more short and squat than it is, making Peter look pretty much just like Danzig. Then the people in the tree above him are shaking their arms. The one I couldn't see well before looks like a monkey or a dwarf or something.
Next we get a couple of quick shots inside the house again, and the rest of the band is rocking out. We quickly see their keyboard player, who gets mad, mad props for headbanging whilst playing what looks like a really old piano but sounds like a harpsichord, then after a couple of shots of Peter we see the drummer with a bunch of goth looking kids rocking out behind him. (Many, many apologies for the lack of a positive I.D. on the other band members -- I don't know as much as I'd like to about Type O Negative and their bios on the band's official website are for useless if one is trying to glean actual information and not simply learn that among Josh Silver's other hobbies he enjoys "avoiding bodily fluids" yet ironically also delights in "mailing feces to his enemies." I guess feces doesn't count as a fluid, still, doesn't mean one wouldn't want to avoid it as well).
As the song really kicks up into what I guess is the chorus (the structure of this song -- especially in the album version -- is so unusual that I'm kind of hesitant to declare what's what), we see a good shot of the band rocking out in the weird house while all the chicks and stuff wave their arms around. We see a great shot (not one of my all-time favorites, but close), of an absolutely gorgeous goth girl who's quite slim and petite and who's wearing a big black t-shirt do a slinky dance while gesturing dramatically with her arms (my description doesn't do it justice). Her dance is interspersed with shots of Peter making scary faces. He saves his real histrionics, however, for shouting, "black, black, black, black numbah wah-ah-one," which makes every vein on his face and neck spring to attention.
This is followed by a bunch of shots of Peter's face and even more of him rocking out by the tree (plus a nice one of Josh) then he fades away. As the harpsichord kicks up and he intones, "lov-ing you, looov-ing you" we see a clearer shot of him menacing the neck of a goth chick. She looks more passed out than simply passive, but we won't be touching that one. We zoom in on her face, then back out to see the keyboardist's hands playing a cobweb-covered piano (which for the zillionth time I think is playing the part of a harpsichord -- and if you're not sure what a harpsichord sounds like, just take a listen to the original theme from The Addams Family).
Peter caresses the girl's neck with his fingertips, then they fade to black and we espy him making an especially scary face as he screams, "it was like lovin' the dead." He keeps screaming like this as we get some more fun shots of him headbanging under the tree and the rest of the band rocking out in the house. Peter eventually pulls it together for some glamour shots as we get to the fingers snapping/harpsichord/is-it-just-me-or-is-this-the-theme-from-The Addams Family part of the song. Peter nods along, and after a couple more cobweb/piano keys shots we see him with his spooky green eyes once more before we're back in the chorus ("black, black, black, black numbah wuh-uh-one") and everyone rocking out in the room. Peter rolls his eyes back in his skull, and a man who looks seriously a large amount like either Uncle Fester or the Grandpa on The Munsters spins by right in front of the camera.
The video wraps up with shots of Peter nodding, the various band members tossing hair about, goth kids rocking out, and whatever's going on up in that tree. Peter keeps making faces that are scarier and scarier, and the video ends with an African-American woman's face. Unlike the girl from earlier, she's awake and almost smiling. She (at least I think it's her hand) lifts up a large knife, and after it passes in front of the camera we see Peter making a screamy mouth down in the corner. A giant hand comes in from the other side and, covering her face, tilts her head back. Oooh, creepy.
THE VERDICT I love this song. But a lot of what I love about is that I think it's really funny. It's so self-consciously goth that it's almost a parody of what's goth, lyrically referencing Lily Munster and Nosferatu, musically referencing The Addams Family, etc., etc. And just the fact that fancy title card or no, at the end of the day "Black No. 1" refers to the type of hair dye this girl uses. Is it a joke, or the most sincere love note ever? Tough to say. In the edited version seen in the video (which I much prefer), it seems much more sincere. The album's addition of the whole "Sacre bleu!" part plus upping the ante to "loving you was like !#$%ing the dead" is a bit much for me. It must be tongue in cheek, right? Maybe I just don't know enough about Type O Negative.
Does Peter Steele get the joke? It's tough to say. I don't know that much about the guy, except for uh, the obvious. If you don't know, he's packing a lot more than just a giant bass. Yeah. That. And in Playgirl no less. It is hard to take Mr. Spooky Face seriously when you've seen him like, rubbing his nipple and making a sexy face or posing amidst orchids (I've linked to the tamer pics -- you're on your own if you want to check out the real Steele, so to speak). How did he wind up in this situation? Either he takes himself very seriously and is probably a real tool (no pun intended) or he really doesn't and is generally a good guy. The latter is a possibility -- I mean, look at Glenn Danzig. He melted my heart when he appeared on Aqua Teen Hunger Force as himself (that's Episode 18, Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past from the Future to you laymen).
But say it is done a bit in jest -- what of the other people in the video? This video (like Biohazard's "Punishment") has always struck me as one where all of the extras are likely the band's fans, friends, and extended families. What do they think of all this? Goth has never exactly struck me as a subculture particularly inclined toward self-parody, but what do I know. So I guess it comes down to one thing: Does Peter Steele out-Danzig Glenn Danzig? Who would win in a fistfight? We'll have to wait till I turn my attention to "Mother" (a very similar video in many respects) to find out.