C is for Cookie
Gotta love this illustration, which originally accompanied Jim Fusilli’s terrific article on death metal vocals in the February 1, 2006 edition of the Wall Street Journal. It’s worth revisiting Fusilli’s piece almost two years later for Monte Conner’s honest-yet-cynical appraisal of the sales potential of death metal (”I stopped signing death-metal bands [to Roadrunner Records] in ‘93 or ‘94…The glory days have long ago passed.”) — even Cookie Monster is altering his diet these days. But the biggest revelation comes when Fusilli tracks down the voice of Cookie Monster (and Miss Piggy), Frank Oz, who discusses the rigors of the Cookie Monster voice in almost exactly the same terms Angela Gossow uses to describe her vocals for Arch Enemy:
Mr. Oz agrees that making Cookie Monster sounds is an arduous occupation. “I never trained for it and I blew my pipes out,” he told me. “It’s completely unnatural, an explosion of force that comes from the belly through the throat. I would do a day of it and my normal voice would be a half an octave lower.”
Sounds like it’s time for Frank Oz to pay a visit to Melissa Cross, or:
Check out this step-by-step guide on How to Do Harsh Death Metal Vocals [via Musical Warfare]
January 25th, 2008 at 10:48 am
”I stopped signing death-metal bands [to Roadrunner Records] in ‘93 or ‘94…” which is about the last time they put out anything worth mentioning.
January 25th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
I like Fusilli Jerry’s piece better.
February 12th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Monte Conner is a fucking idiot. He is responsible for ruining a label i grew up with. This douche doesn’t even realize if it wasn’t for suffocation.deicide,and obituary there would be no fucking roadrunner. These bands Put this now shit ass label on the map. Go fuck yourself monte. Have fun in hot topic hell when the bubble bursts. hope def jam swallows you whole.