Rob Zombie (born Robert Bartleh Cummings on January 12, 1965), also formally known as Rob Straker, is an American musician, film director, screenwriter and film producer. Zombie rose to fame as a founding member of the heavy metal band White Zombie. The name Rob Zombie comes from film director Bela Lugosi’s 1932 horror film White Zombie, from which he also took the band’s name.

Growing up, Zombie had a huge fascination with horror films and wanted to be like his childhood idols such as Alice Cooper, Steven Speilberg, and Stan Lee. Through music, Zombie cited that artists such as Kiss, Queen, and Elton John would all be influenced through his childhood and would claim that the first record he bought was an Alice Cooper album.

Through an interview with Loudwire, Zombie stated about his childhood:

I didn’t aspire to be anything. I was just a dopey kid. Basically everyone seemed amazing to me as a kid. I grew up in some nowhere town… anybody that even seemed remotely famous just seemed like they were on another planet.

Interestingly enough, before the success of White Zombie, Rob Zombie worked as a production assistant for the children’s hit television show Pee-wee’s Playhouse. Zombie would soon to meet bandmade and ex-girlfriend Sean Yseult after moving to New York and began attending Parsons School of Design. The two would soon begin to form the band White Zombie and would continue to work in the band together despite breaking up. After releasing a slew of EP’s and albums, Yseult and Zombie ended their relationship in 1991 and would begin dating Sheri Moon shortly afterwards, to which now the two would get married on October 21, 2002.

Zombie would soon see success thanks to the label Geffen Records catching attention towards White Zombie after the release of their fourth EP. Zombie’s band would soon sign to Geffen and would continue to release music under Geffen, seeing commercial success. Astro-Creep would see Zombie’s first major success on the Billboard 200, selling two million copies in the United States. In 1996, Cummings legally changed his name to Rob Zombie. White Zombie would soon break up in September 1998, with Zombie stating:

Sometimes a band just breaks up because the band has run its course and the best days are behind them. White Zombie went through a lot together and did tons of great stuff, but it was time to stop. The good times were over and we were all moving in different directions.“[47] A box-set for the group was released in 2008 featuring all of their released material

Before White Zombie’s departure, Zombie began to work on his debut studio album in 1997 and was working with numerous artists such as Charlie Clouser of Nine Inch Nails and John Tempesta, a former member of White Zombie. On August 25, 2998, Rob Zombie would release his debut studio album, Hellbilly Deluxe, to which it was a commercial success, debuting at #5 on the Billboard 200, selling 121,000 copies within the first week and would become one of Rob Zombie’s most notable albums of his solo career. The album was also influenced by classic horror films, sampling numerous horror films and quotes from Zombie’s favorite horror films. With songs such as “Dragula,” “Superbeast,” and “Living Dead Girl,” the world was ready to see Rob Zombie innovate the metal genre once again.

Since then, Rob Zombie would go on to start venturing into film making, alongside continuing to make solo music, which also saw commercial success in the film industry with hits such as The Devil’s Rejects and House of 1000 Corpses, including the new Halloween timeline. His second solo studio album The Sinister Urge would be released on November 13, 2001, continuing to expand on the horror and shock rock elements from his debut and would go on to collaborate with big named artists in the metal industry such as Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath. Like with Hellbilly Deluxe, The Sinister Urge would also become a commercial success, with its first week sales topping that of his previous album.

While working on The Devil’s Rejects, Zombie began working on his third studio album in 2005, with influence from Glam Rock artists such as Slade, T. Rex, and Gary Glitter. On March 28, 2006, Zombie would release Educated Horses. Despite seeing the same commercial success as his previous albums, the album received mixed reviews. The album also saw a further decline in sales for Rob Zombie, selling just over 500,00 copies in the United States and served as the final album to be released under Geffen Records. In 2007, Zombie opted to focus on his career as a film director, following the release of his third album. From there, fans were given no new information or anything on new music from Rob Zombie until 2009, where it was announced that he would be working on his fourth studio album after three years. Originally scheduled to be released on November 17, 2009, Zombie departed from Geffen Records and scored a new deal with Roadrunner Records. On February 2, 2010, after four years of silence, Zombie released the long-awaited Hellbilly 2, the sequel to his debut studio album. Zombie described the album to sound very similar in terms of the “vibe” and “attitude.” The album would go on to sell 49,000 copies in the first week, debuting at #8 on the Billboard 200, low compared to his other three studio albums.

In June 2012, Zombie began to record his fifth solo studio album, with Zombie announcing the then-untitled album in July 2012. Zombie would shortly part ways with Roadrunner and would then score a new deal with Zodiac Swan Records through Universal Music Group. On April 23, 2013, Zombie released Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor, to which it became one of Zombie’s lowest selling albums throughout his career.

On April 29, 2016, Rob Zombie would release his sixth studio album, The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser, after working on it since April 2014. Zombie described the album to be his “heaviest most fucked up musical monster to date.” This would be the last of the two albums to be released under Zodiac Swan Records, as he would also part ways with them shortly after.

Continuing to work on filming and venturing into other musical ventures, such as forming a new supergroup called the L.A. Rats in May 2021, in August 2017, Zombie announced through Instagram that he would begin working on his seventh studio album. Zombie’s guitarist John 5 described the album as Zombie’s Sgt. Pepper and would be his best record he has ever done. After four years of production hell, Zombie would then release The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy on March 12, 2021, while also scoring a new deal with Nuclear Blast.

From there, Zombie has continued to work more on his career as a film director while still making music on the side. He has since announced in May 2023 that he began working on his eighth studio album, to which he hopes to release by the summer of 2024.

The influence that Rob Zombie proved to the music and film industry lasted a cultural impact, gaining a cult following from fans praising him for the use of horror samples throughout his music and with his movies being out of the ordinary in the industry. Almost forty years into his career, it seems like Zombie is not stopping anytime soon with his career, as he will continue to shock the world with his heavy hitting music and over the top movies.

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