Seth Putnam, the 'GG Allin of grindcore', dies aged 43

Seth Putnam, founding member of grindcore band Anal Cunt, has reportedly died after suffering a heart attack. He was 43.

Grim Kim Kelly, who handled the publicity for the band's last album, posted a message confirming the singer's death: "Seth Putnam, one of the most infamous musicians that extreme metal has ever seen, the grindcore GG Allin, has passed away due to a heart attack."

Putnam had been a prominent force in various extreme metal groups, such as Executioner and Satan's Warriors, before forming Anal Cunt in Massachusetts in 1988. The band had a strong anti-conformity ethos, not just in their offensive choice of name but in songs such as Kill Women, Recycling Is Gay and Eazy E Got AIDS from Freddie Mercury.

In 2004, Putnam was hospitalised and went into a coma after reportedly overdosing on sleeping tablets.

An interviewer, citing the band's song You're in a Coma, asked him how the experience felt. "Actually, being in a coma was just as fuckin' stupid as I wrote it was," he said. "We did a show on 27 August in Albany and we played You're in a Coma for the first time ever live. I don't want people to think I'm a hypocrite. I don't want people to think that I can't make fun of myself."

In the message confirming Putnam's death, Kelly said: "I want to remind everyone that no matter how outrageous and controversial his musical career has been, Seth was still a human being with friends and family that loved him. I'm hoping that the internet will remember that.

This is a very sad and trying time for those that knew him, and the last thing they need to see is an outpouring of messageboard hate. The man lived and died by his own rules; if anything, respect him for that."