WHATEVER else one might say about Rob Zombie, no one
can accuse him of laziness. Though the dreadlocked and
tattooed singer has probably done more to rankle conservatives
than anyone this side of Marilyn Manson, he also embodies the
American work ethic like perhaps nobody else in rock and roll.
Indeed, over the years Zombie has broadened his cartoon-ghoul
vision to include such activities as designing theme parks,
directing films, and writing screenplays. Nonetheless, it's his
musical aesthetic — a mix of hardcore metal and campy horror
— that's earned Zombie his most devout following. The story
of Rob Zombie begins in 1985, when a scruffy 19-year-old
known as Robert Cummings left his family's home in Haverhill,
Mass., and moved to New York's Lower East Side. Soon after
arriving in Manhattan, Cummings met female bassist Sean Yseult
at the legendary East Village club, CBGB's. After moving into an
apartment together, the two decided to form a band whose music
would be based on their affection for trashy art, gory theater,
and B-movie gaudiness. Appropriating the title of an obscure
1932 Bela Lugosi film, the two dubbed themselves White Zombie,
and began plying their trade in New York's hardcore punk and
metal venues. By year's end, Cummings
(who by then had
christened himself Rob Zombie) and Yseult had signed a contract
with the small indie label Silent Explosion.

Utilizing a revolving door of drummers and guitarists, White Zombie
issued five independent releases throughout the late '80s. Meanwhile,
Zombie sharpened the group's horror-show aesthetic by overseeing
all aspects of the band's career, from album art to videos to T-shirts.
By the end of the decade, the group's cult fame and musical
proficiency had reached a level such that esteemed producer Bill
Laswell agreed to oversee its 1989 album, Make Them Die Slowly.
Executives at Geffen Records were impressed as well, and in 1990
the group signed a contract with the label. True to form, Zombie
insisted upon the right to issue final approval of all marketing
decisions related to the band.

Released in 1991, La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Vol.1 proved to be
one of the most controversial albums of the year. Though slow
getting out of the gate, the album eventually sold more than two
million copies, thanks in part to the enthusiastic patronage of Beavis
and Butthead. Televangelists reveled in attacking the album's satanic
lyrics, and Zombie helped fuel the flames by soliciting Charles
Manson's permission to sample the mass murder's voice. In spite of
the furor, a single from La Sexorcisto
( Thunder Kiss '65 ) earned
White Zombie a Grammy nomination, and the band's 350-show tour
in support of the album proved immensely successful.

Prior to recording the band's next album, Zombie moved to Los
Angeles in order to be closer to Geffen Records' headquarters.
Released in 1995, Astro-Creep: 2000 evidenced just how deeply
the singer had immersed himself in Hollywood-style extravagance.
A big-budget affair
(the album took three months to write, and
another three to record), Astro-Creep: 2000 sported an
ambitiousness that extended even to its cover, which featured full
panel illustrations
(penned by Zombie, of course) to accompany
each of its 11 songs. Further enhancing Zombie's growing reputation
as metal's foremost Renaissance man was his self-directed video for
the album's first single, More Human Than Human. Besides earning
Zombie an MTV Video Music Award for Best Hard Rock Video,
the MTV smash hit helped push Astro-Creep: 2000 to double
platinum sales.

Even as Astro-Creep: 2000 took the metal world by storm, Zombie
found time to indulge in several peripheral projects. First, he enlisted
the help of some of the music industry's hottest mixers to create a
remix album of Astro-Creep, titled Supersexy Swingin' Sounds.
Next, he recorded a duet with Alice Cooper titled The Hands of
Death for the soundtrack to the hit television series The X-Files,
Songs in the Key of X.
(The song later went head-to-head against
Zombie's I'm Your Boogieman, from The Crow: City of Angels
soundtrack, at the Grammy Awards ceremonies.) Zombie also got
to reciprocate the favor Beavis and Butt-head had extended to him
earlier, when at the request of the characters' creator Mike Judge,
he agreed to design the crucial hallucination scene for the feature
film Beavis and Butt-head Do America.

Indeed, for a time it appeared Zombie's extracurricular activities
might subsume his musical career. Impressed by the video the
singer had created for I'm Your Boogieman, the producers of
the Crow films commissioned Zombie to write the script for the
next installment in the series. Moreover, Zombie had barely
completed the project when he was contacted by shock jock
Howard Stern, who wanted to do a duet with the vocalist for his
upcoming film Private Parts. Zombie complied, and the resulting
song, The Great American Nightmare, subsequently became
something of a theme song for both the singer and Stern.

In the midst of these activities, Zombie began to contemplate
recording a solo effort. Though he initially envisioned an
EP, the project escalated, and on Aug. 25, 1998, a full-length
Rob Zombie solo album hit record stores. Titled Hellbilly
Deluxe
(and subtitled 13 Tales of Cadaverous Cavorting
Inside the Spookshow International), the album not only
garnered Zombie the best reviews of his career, it sold
more than 2 million copies. In typical workaholic fashion,
Zombie embarked on a year of touring behind the album,
first as part of Korn's Family Values extravaganza, and later
as a participant on the OZZfest '99 tour. Meanwhile, White
Zombie co-founder Sean Yseult formed her own band,
Famous Monsters.

These days, Zombie shows no signs of slowing down. In
addition to releasing a remix version of Hellbilly Deluxe

(titled American Made Music to Strip By), the singer recently
designed a horror maze, called The Thrilling, Chilling World
of Rob Zombie, as part of Universal Studios' annual
Halloween Horror Nights series. He's also at work on a film
— purportedly titled The Legend of the 13 Graves — on
which he'll act as writer and director. And as if that isn't enough,
Zombie also runs his own record label, Zombie-a-Go-Go, which
will soon release digitally remastered soundtracks and dialogue
from classic horror films.