A reader says: "[Here's] a well-written piece on death metal (in particular, the use and history of the "Cookie Monster voice") — in the Wall Street Journal. They even got ahold of Frank Oz, the originator of Cookie Monster, who says that the appropriation of Cookie Monster's distinctive vocals by death metal artists is "a whole new thing to me .. I've never heard of it."
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." (During our conversation, Mr. Oz demonstrated the Cookie Monster voice. The sudden force was startling and the volume so loud, I had to pull the phone from my ear.)
