My introduction to White Zombie came by way of MTV. I saw the “More Human Than Human” video like forty times in the summer of ’95, and the song ended up being a staple in the gut of my 7th grade mixed tape collection. I used to rock out to it on the bus, in the cafeteria, at home in my room and in the car when my grandmother would drive me to the mall (True story. An even truer story is my grandmother taking me to see Batman Forever, buying me the Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) cassette and then letting me get halfway through “Bring Da Ruckus” on our ride home before ejecting the tape).
Astro-Creep: 2000 is a pretty sick record compiled of simple riffs, a thick-as-hell drum sound and a dense, psychotic landscape painted by one young-ish Rob Zombie at his musical peak. White Zombie is a product of the ‘90’s Hard Rock/Alternative/Metal/Pop fusion brand that also brought us NIN and Tool; bands that in my mind, no matter who you speak with, even if they don’t like this type of shit can say, “Yeah, that’s good.” For me this record was such a great progression from the dwindling grunge scene hitting rock radio at the time; a sleight of true badassery. “Electric Head: The Agony (Pt. 1) is a great opener, and from there the album drags you through a dark, dank, partially-illuminated alley at midnight, full of sinister clowns with five’o’clock shadows and switchblades. Overall, I’m more of fan of the second side of the record because there’s a bit more depth to it.
“El Phantasmo and the Chicken-Run Blast-O-Rama,” in my mind, encapsulates everything this band is in four minutes and fourteen seconds. “Blur the Technicolor” has a fantastic percussive buildup leading into this weird sort of goblin dance party sound. “Blood, Milk and Sky” is a creeping, knife-in-the-teeth, transcendental nightmare, and you should totally listen to it under the mystic powers of a black light.
As an extra nugget of rockage I’m also adding “Feed the Gods,” a b-side that appeared on the soundtrack to the movie Airheads, in the club scene when Chris Farley rips out that dude’s nipple ring. Listen to how off-time the high hats are during the verse(s), it’s weird.
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