[MUSIC] THE SAVAGE ANIMAL "The Videography of Rob Zombie"
03.09.11
BY MIKEY MIGO
I've always been a fan of Rob Zombie. I remember getting into White Zombie around the time I first got into ECW. So basically, I was a White Zombie fan while they existed for like five minutes. I enjoyed their singles, but I wasn't aware of them. Still this time frame allowed me to be able to follow the entire solo career of Rob Zombie.Hellbilly Deluxe is hands down one of the best metal albums of all time. It doesn't get nearly as much credit and acclaim as it should. Seriously, I'm going to man up and say it. It's better than ANY Metallica album ever made and trumps Ozzy's solo work to boot. So to say I'm a fan would be an understatement. Still, I'm not blind to the faults in his work. Some stuff just didn't work for me. I thought The Sinister Urge had some good songs, but not the impact of the first album. Educated Horses is easily his second best album. It doesn't sound like anything he has done before. It's got more of an older rustic feel to it. It's a great mellowed out metal album. I really thought it should have gotten more play and acclaim. And the last album, Hellbilly Deluxe 2 was not my cup of tea at all. I only gave it one or two listens, but it lacked the hook of his other work.
One aspect about Rob that I've always thought was cool was that he's a visual artist as well. He's been into film and production for a long time. I once read that he worked on "Peewee's Playhouse" when he was coming up. Then as he got into his own music projects he focused on the image of the band and directed just about every music video he has appeared in. I attempted to research and find a list somewhere of all the official Rob Zombie music videos, but apparently I forgot how to make google give me what I want. So I spent a while looking around and put together this list to best represent Rob Zombie's videography. There are a lot of live videos, animated videos, and random variations out there. I'm pretty sure I'm missing some videos, but I still wanted to take a look at the awesomeness that Mr. Zombie has given us over the years…
"Dragula"
(1998 – "Hellbilly Deluxe") - How could you NOT love this music video? I remember seeing it late on MTV and I think on ECW. I know they played at least one of his first videos on there. It's pretty much everything that represents Rob Zombie in one super bad ass three minute and forty nine second music video. It uses a lot of crazy green screen cuts, lot of spooky stock footage and horror footage, hot chicks dancing, and Rob Zombie looking his creepiest. It's like Satan threw a rave, but still hates techno. Odds are if you don't like this song then you won't like any of Rob Zombie's music. Also if you don't you should consider ear transplants because your are tuned to lame. It's crazy to think that well over ten years after the video not many bands have tried to rip it off or go with a similar style. This is what music videos are all about. It's a shame more metal acts don't take these kind of chances.
"Living Dead Girl"
(1999 – "Hellbilly Deluxe") - I won't lie, I almost forgot about this video. I think my mind kind of grouped the song into the same video as "Dragula" if that makes any sense. This video is really cool. It tells a story about a side show ring leader showing off his "living dead girl" to the villagers. It's shot in a manner of an old silent film. It's like if Tim Burton directed Nosferatu. And I mean that in a genuine complimentary manner. The direction here is sharp, well done, and it's just overall a fun video. The song got a lot of play, but the video gets sleeped on.
"Superbeast"
(1999 – "Hellbilly Deluxe") - I do remember this video. It's similar to the Dragula video in the sense of the flashes, screens, and cuts but the tone and visual style is a big different. It has more a futuristic and sci-fi exploitation B-movie style of feel to it. It's still bad ass, but not as impactful as that first "Dragula" video.
"Spookshow Baby"
(1999 – "Hellbilly Deluxe") - I'm actually a bit surprised on this one. I completely forgot about this song and video. I think I saw it a total of twice before now. It's gritty and grimey. It looks like a really cool horror movie set up. I think that comes to mind because it does kind of look and have a feel to it similar to Rob's "House of a 1000 Corpses".
"Feels So Numb"
(2001 – "The Sinister Urge") - This video didn't feel like a Rob Zombie video at all. The spinning crowd thing was in that Papa Roach video, the lit up background is like a million rap videos and like a dozen Korn videos, The Lenny Kravitz "American Woman" video flag, and about a dozen other overly anal nit-picks bother me. It's well done, but it doesn't just doesn't feel as inspired as the older ones. The elephant man stuff and the few short vaudeville spots didn't do enough to give it something consistent with Zombie's style. I hold the guy at a higher standard than this.
"Never Gonna Stop (The Red Red Kroovy)"
(2001 – "The Sinister Urge") - The opening of the video features a Rob Zombie dressed in his finest of "Clockwork Orange" attire. He then rocks it out in a weird retro 70's style disco club atmosphere. It has a lot of scope, but still manages to be as edgy as the first few videos. You can literally see the budget in this video right in front of you. Lots of time and thought went into the visuals in this video. It's less of the DIY feel of the older stuff, but it's still as much Rob Zombie as anything else he put out… he just has more to play with. Good stuff. And yeah, THIS version. Not the one made for "Rollerball" or for Edge's wrestling entrance. THIS one.
"Foxy Foxy"
(2006 – "Educated Horses") - I remember thinking "dudya-tee-eff" when I first saw this video. Slow motion horses? Rob Zombie in a jean jacket singing outside in a nice and bright field. It had that older "indie" vibe to it that Kid Rock uses when he wants to be sentimental. It has some hot chicks in it dancing a long in the crowd, but it's nothing too awesome. This one is a lot like "Feel So Numb" in the fact that it's well done, but doesn't feel inspired or at least inspired from the same Rob Zombie thumbprint. This one is possibly the biggest let down of the bunch though.
"American Witch"
(2006 – "Educated Horses") - In rock there I nothing wrong with a good ol' fashion high energy live video. This video is shot well and has some cool angles and fluid movement to it. It gives a sense of chaos and at the same time a glimpse to what was up with Rob Zombie in 2006. If maybe some more "spookier stuff" were cut in, or even some candid stuff would it be better. It's still solid stuff.
"Lords of Salem"
(2006 – "Educated Horses") - The video covers the Salem witch trials with some really awesome and trippy animation by David Hartman. There was an animation video made for American Witch as well, but this one is seemingly pushed more as an "official video". Never the less, it's pretty cool stuff. It's different and not something you'd see every day.
"Sick Bubblegum"
(2009 – "Hellbilly Deluxe 2") - This is my first time seeing this video. It's interesting. It's got a classic feel to it, but it's weird. It's really odd to see Rob Zombie with massive wardrobe changes and at times looking a little too "hip" for this own good. I do like the bare bones, just rock it out and cut it feel the video has, but there is something about it that feels too groomed or artificial. It's like Rob Zombie and his band snuck into a video shoot for The Strokes and tricked them into a different room with left over's from the videos wardrobe. And dammit, I still like it. The "spooky" part of Rob Zombie may be a thing of the past, but his music and personality is pretty hard not appreciate.
"Mars Needs Women" Watch on YouTube
(2010 – "Hellbilly Deluxe 2") - It's another live video, but it's like ten times better than the other one. It has more of a stage show presense, Rob is more decked out, John 5 is in bad ass mode, robots are shooting fire, crowds are huge, and the cuts and direction are good shit. I'm thinking and this is probably the best live video I've seen in a long time. It's raw energy, shot beautifully, and the editing during the breakdown is bad ass. I was a bit down on this album, but this video makes this song stand out way more to me and I kind of want to give it another listen. Great way to close this out…
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