Rob Zombie Biography and History :
As industrial music merged with metal and dance in the late '80s and early '90s, two problems kept it from mass popularity: It took itself far too seriously, and it lacked a front man, a figure with the charisma and vision to serve as its scowling, tattooed public face. Enter Rob Zombie, who with his group White Zombie showed that he'd never heard a Ministry riff he couldn't make groovier, never saw a low-budget horror movie he couldn't produce a big-budget video homage to, and could never be accused of taking himself too seriously.

After finding his musical epiphany with White Zombie's "More Human Than Human," an irresistible chunk of metal-industrial bubblegum that became a huge hit in 1995, Zombie disbanded the group and went solo for Hellbilly Deluxe. Further developing the stylistic elements of White Zombie at their peak -- thunderclap guitars, lyrics like Marvel comics strips on acid, beats that merge the terror of Ministry and KMFDM with the bouncier side of techno -- he bends the music's extremes into a carnival sideshow of pure, loud pop. "Dragula" is The Munsters meets "Dead Man's Curve" -- an ode to a monster roadster that races through every fun monster-movie cliche before pulling over for some good old-fashioned backseat sex: "Dig through the ditches/And burn through the witches/And slam in the back of my Dragula!" Not since Ozzy Osbourne and Alice Cooper had there been a metal god so lovable.

American Music is an insignificant remix disc, and The Sinister Urge stays the course but with fewer killers. The keeper is Past, Present & Future, whose 19 songs from Zombie's solo and group career prove his pop mastery. Every song is a zinger, and the bonus DVD of music videos -- most directed by Zombie -- puts his vision into its proper multimedia context. It's a circus, and Zombie is happy to serve as the ringmaster or -- in the case of "Living Dead Girl," his lovingly thorough rock homage to the classic 1919 silent film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari -- the mad scientist who does it all just to see a twinkle in his audience's eyes. (BEN SISARIO)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide  ... Source ...

White Zombie Biography :
Of course White Zombie is a cartoon. Rob Zombie, aka Rob Cummings, started as an illustrator and designer, and White Zombie began its undead life as another New York scumrock band with a fondness, not uncommon to their scene, for campy grindhouse sci-fi, horror, and comic book imagery. Except, over time, White Zombie emphasized the grindhouse more than the scum, and turned into one of the most visually entertaining bands of the '90s alt-rock belch.

Their early, gnarly days are out of print, but their 1992 major label debut is where most of the uncool heard about them anyway. La Sexorcisto split the difference between old school noise rock and major label metalism, throwing in odes to Russ Meyer ("Thunder Kiss '65") and producing nothing less than fully self-conscious carny-rock, far more than threatening.

Astro-Creep nailed the mad scientist formula perfectly, entered the Top 10, spawned the genius hit "More Human Than Human," which turns a line from Blade Runner into a mosh-worthy piece of industrial rock candy corn. Utterly without depth but with charming, rubber-mask glee to spare, Astro is a golden moment in junk-rock history.

In spite of Supersexy's misleading cover (trying to exploit the then-dying lounge-music revival), it's just a remix album, calling in folks like the Dust Brothers and P.M. Dawn (!?!!) to wring new life out of Astro-Creep's decaying tunes.

White Zombie rarely seemed more than a reflection of whatever piece of '50s nerd-kitsch Rob was obsessing over at the time anyway, so it was no surprise that Zombie retired the name and launched a solo career that sounded exactly like White Zombie. Hellbilly Deluxe is a triumph of pure formula, while American Made is another remix album, this one a little more industrial than Supersexy. The Sinister Urge tries to expand the sound a bit, with acoustic flourishes here and some crooning there ("House of 1000 Corpses," the theme to his attempt at an actual grindhouse movie). Past, Present and Future boils Zombie's career into one handy set. Unless you burn for his juvenilia, it's all the Zombie any Fangoria-obsessed head banger will ever need. (JOE GROSS)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide ... Source ...