White Zombie

Of course White Zombie is a cartoon. Rob Zombie, né 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