I wish I could find the Youtube video I saw a while back. It was a vintage interview with White Zombie, in the early days. Rob ends up talking about “Lead Singers Disease” – meaning, the singer gets too “big” for the band. In the video – he seems to scoff at the notion that would happen to White Zombie.
[Edit: Found it]
Watching the White Zombie videos – from the box set, consecutively……..it does kind of appear that way. I mean, by the time you get to (I’m Your) Boogieman, if I recall, is the rest of the band even in the video? Unless maybe it’s subliminal? It’s all Rob.
To me, it’s funny because from down here (in the pit, or better yet – in the back by the bar), it looks as though LSD is exactly what happened. Now, I’m going to disclaim – I know bands are like marriages. There’s sides to every story, and sometimes, you just fade apart. Being in a band means compromise. Each member has their own compromises to make in order for the “whole” to work.
I am of the opinion that White Zombie was always a much better band than Rob’s solo work – and I’ve spent the last two days listening to Hellbilly Deluxe to see if I can understand why. There are parts I think I understand now. White Zombie had songs, grooves and riffs. Rob Zombie (solo) has riffs, and establishes an almost disco/metal rhythm. I haven’t seen them live, but other than raw blasting low E (or D, or C, or whatever they’re tuned down to) chords it seems to me that it would be more or less….uh….boring to play? There is much more dynamic movement in the White Zombie stuff – although Rob’s vocal style seems less dynamic. WZ has more of a swing, or groove, while the RZ stuff is just…..crushing? Relentlessly crushing? I bought Hellbilly Deluxe probably in 2005? Listened to it once and put it away. I’ve been cruising and listening to it yesterday. All the songs have their interesting sample hooks, and (again) crushing guitar. Horror-themed lyrics that make me want to grow dredlocks and wear sunglasses all the time. But I digress.
Not super odd or anything, but I like Scum of the Earth better. So does my twelve year old daughter. SOTE, to me, is the best substitute to WZ that I can find. Their first album is killer, but the second I’m so-so on. Is it because I’m a guitar player that I like more dynamic songs?
Edit: 1/29/11 – I wrote this post well before Sean’s book “I’m in the Band” came out, and since it has, my thoughts were more or less confirmed. (Great book by the way.) For the end of White Zombie, it was mentioned in multiple interviews that more and more samples were brought in (ala Charlie Clouser) and less focus was on the live music . Though I didn’t say in my original post, with his solo career, it seemed like Rob Zombie wanted to be the Trent Reznor of low-brow metal. Put most simply, I guess I was right.
Edit: 5/15/16 – So now that I’ve read the (excellent) notes included with the really early recordings (remastered) from Numero Group, I’ll revise my stance on the whole L.S.D. thing. What I got from those notes is that White Zombie as a band was always a struggle. Even when they were super successful, it’s not like everybody was buddy-buddy. I read the liner and immediately thought to myself, “Well, the Ramones hated each other too, so I guess it makes sense”. Check out the set, the audio is EXCELLENT and the book is a great read – Numero Group. White Zombie was an amazing band, a band of its time. I doubt they could have made a third album without imploding in some way so I think it worked for the best.