When he’s not making movies, he’s making albums, when he’s not doing that he’s directing music videos. In this week’s Savage Animal, Mikey MiGo takes a look at the videography of Rob Zombie.
I'll start by saying that I'm not against superhero movies or comic book movies or "graphic novels" for those who are kidding themselves. I have fond memories of the old Batmans, of course I love the newer Nolan Batmans, Spiderman were okay, the old Supermans were okay, Ironman was fun, and there have been a few others that I didn't have too many problems sitting through. My problem is that I think the superhero tap is drying out. I know there are PLENTY of comic book characters that haven't seen screen time yet. No thanks. There is a reason some characters are not a movie, cartoon, or television characters. I think I enjoy Superman more in print and Batman more on screen. I never read Iron Man at all and other than some X-Men and some Spawn my comic book knowledge is pretty small. And sadly, I'd be that I'm probably above average when it comes to what I know about this artistic hobby. It's just not my cup of tea. It's a niche' market. Because Batman, Ironman, and a couple superhero offshoots were popular it doesn't automatically mean anything with a mask or cape will succeed. Now we have Batman, Spiderman, Superman, Ironman, Green Hornet, Green Lantern, Thor, Captain America, Fantastic Four, Nick Fury, Kick Ass, The Hulk, like a dozen established X-Men characters, and stuff about Wonder Woman, Antman, The Flash, and a plethora of others. Enough is enough. There needs to be a two superhero movie a year limit agreed upon by Marvel, DC, and whoever else puts these things out there. Hell, a three movie limit would be cool with me too. That would still be a huge difference than the fourteen point nine billion superhero movies currently released or soon to be released. The problem is that all of these bad ones dilute the hell out of the market. Once someone sees a good one, they end up seeing like 3 bad ones and then they don't want to give a good one a chance. The awe and uniqueness of a really good A-List superhero is drained little by little with each C-Lister. The kids who really like it will go towards the comics and be fans for life, but I think this will do more harm than good come the next generation of comics. All of this stuff works in cycles, it'll get popular again, but the next downtime is going to be barren as hell for shops, companies, and artists. It's similar to how professional wrestling works. Or hell, we can put it in many terms. It would have been like seeing Michael Jordon, Magic, and Bird in commercials and then start seeing David Robinson and Clyde Drexler in commercials. Before you know it Kendall Gill is in a 7-11 commercial trying to sell beef jerky. If you enjoyed NBA basketball in the early 90's then that reference was hilarious. If you didn't get the joke then now you know exactly how everyone who didn't subscribe to Wizard World feels about all these superhero movies. I like Stan Lee as much as the next person, but do we have to give him so much money that he can afford the same technology as his characters?
Hellbilly Reject Blues I've always been a fan of Rob Zombie. I remember getting into White Zombie around the time I first got into ECW. So basically, I was a White Zombie fan while they existed for like five minutes. I enjoyed their singles, but I wasn't aware of them. Still this time frame allowed me to be able to follow the entire solo career of Rob Zombie. Hellbilly Deluxe is hands down one of the best metal albums of all time. It doesn't get nearly as much credit and acclaim as it should. Seriously, I'm going to man up and say it. It's better than ANY Metallica album ever made and trumps Ozzy's solo work to boot. So to say I'm a fan would be an understatement. Still, I'm not blind to the faults in his work. Some stuff just didn't work for me. I thought The Sinister Urge had some good songs, but not the impact of the first album. Educated Horses is easily his second best album. It doesn't sound like anything he has done before. It's got more of an older rustic feel to it. It's a great mellowed out metal album. I really thought it should have gotten more play and acclaim. And the last album, Hellbilly Deluxe 2 was not my cup of tea at all. I only gave it one or two listens, but it lacked the hook of his other work.
One aspect about Rob that I've always thought was cool was that he's a visual artist as well. He's been into film and production for a long time. I once read that he worked on "Peewee's Playhouse" when he was coming up. Then as he got into his own music projects he focused on the image of the band and directed just about every music video he has appeared in. I attempted to research and find a list somewhere of all the official Rob Zombie music videos, but apparently I forgot how to make google give me what I want. So I spent a while looking around and put together this list to best represent Rob Zombie's videography. There are a lot of live videos, animated videos, and random variations out there. I'm pretty sure I'm missing some videos, but I still wanted to take a look at the awesomeness that Mr. Zombie has given us over the years…
(1998 – "Hellbilly Deluxe") - How could you NOT love this music video? I remember seeing it late on MTV and I think on ECW. I know they played at least one of his first videos on there. It's pretty much everything that represents Rob Zombie in one super bad ass three minute and forty nine second music video. It uses a lot of crazy green screen cuts, lot of spooky stock footage and horror footage, hot chicks dancing, and Rob Zombie looking his creepiest. It's like Satan threw a rave, but still hates techno. Odds are if you don't like this song then you won't like any of Rob Zombie's music. Also if you don't you should consider ear transplants because your are tuned to lame. It's crazy to think that well over ten years after the video not many bands have tried to rip it off or go with a similar style. This is what music videos are all about. It's a shame more metal acts don't take these kind of chances.
(1999 – "Hellbilly Deluxe") - I won't lie, I almost forgot about this video. I think my mind kind of grouped the song into the same video as "Dragula" if that makes any sense. This video is really cool. It tells a story about a side show ring leader showing off his "living dead girl" to the villagers. It's shot in a manner of an old silent film. It's like if Tim Burton directed Nosferatu. And I mean that in a genuine complimentary manner. The direction here is sharp, well done, and it's just overall a fun video. The song got a lot of play, but the video gets sleeped on.
(1999 – "Hellbilly Deluxe") - I do remember this video. It's similar to the Dragula video in the sense of the flashes, screens, and cuts but the tone and visual style is a big different. It has more a futuristic and sci-fi exploitation B-movie style of feel to it. It's still bad ass, but not as impactful as that first "Dragula" video.
(1999 – "Hellbilly Deluxe") - I'm actually a bit surprised on this one. I completely forgot about this song and video. I think I saw it a total of twice before now. It's gritty and grimey. It looks like a really cool horror movie set up. I think that comes to mind because it does kind of look and have a feel to it similar to Rob's "House of a 1000 Corpses".
(2001 – "The Sinister Urge") - This video didn't feel like a Rob Zombie video at all. The spinning crowd thing was in that Papa Roach video, the lit up background is like a million rap videos and like a dozen Korn videos, The Lenny Kravitz "American Woman" video flag, and about a dozen other overly anal nit-picks bother me. It's well done, but it doesn't just doesn't feel as inspired as the older ones. The elephant man stuff and the few short vaudeville spots didn't do enough to give it something consistent with Zombie's style. I hold the guy at a higher standard than this.
(2001 – "The Sinister Urge") - The opening of the video features a Rob Zombie dressed in his finest of "Clockwork Orange" attire. He then rocks it out in a weird retro 70's style disco club atmosphere. It has a lot of scope, but still manages to be as edgy as the first few videos. You can literally see the budget in this video right in front of you. Lots of time and thought went into the visuals in this video. It's less of the DIY feel of the older stuff, but it's still as much Rob Zombie as anything else he put out… he just has more to play with. Good stuff. And yeah, THIS version. Not the one made for "Rollerball" or for Edge's wrestling entrance. THIS one.
(2006 – "Educated Horses") - I remember thinking "dudya-tee-eff" when I first saw this video. Slow motion horses? Rob Zombie in a jean jacket singing outside in a nice and bright field. It had that older "indie" vibe to it that Kid Rock uses when he wants to be sentimental. It has some hot chicks in it dancing a long in the crowd, but it's nothing too awesome. This one is a lot like "Feel So Numb" in the fact that it's well done, but doesn't feel inspired or at least inspired from the same Rob Zombie thumbprint. This one is possibly the biggest let down of the bunch though.
(2006 – "Educated Horses") - In rock there I nothing wrong with a good ol' fashion high energy live video. This video is shot well and has some cool angles and fluid movement to it. It gives a sense of chaos and at the same time a glimpse to what was up with Rob Zombie in 2006. If maybe some more "spookier stuff" were cut in, or even some candid stuff would it be better. It's still solid stuff.
(2006 – "Educated Horses") - The video covers the Salem witch trials with some really awesome and trippy animation by David Hartman. There was an animation video made for American Witch as well, but this one is seemingly pushed more as an "official video". Never the less, it's pretty cool stuff. It's different and not something you'd see every day.
(2009 – "Hellbilly Deluxe 2") - This is my first time seeing this video. It's interesting. It's got a classic feel to it, but it's weird. It's really odd to see Rob Zombie with massive wardrobe changes and at times looking a little too "hip" for this own good. I do like the bare bones, just rock it out and cut it feel the video has, but there is something about it that feels too groomed or artificial. It's like Rob Zombie and his band snuck into a video shoot for The Strokes and tricked them into a different room with left over's from the videos wardrobe. And dammit, I still like it. The "spooky" part of Rob Zombie may be a thing of the past, but his music and personality is pretty hard not appreciate.
It's another live video, but it's like ten times better than the other one. It has more of a stage show presense, Rob is more decked out, John 5 is in bad ass mode, robots are shooting fire, crowds are huge, and the cuts and direction are good shit. I'm thinking and this is probably the best live video I've seen in a long time. It's raw energy, shot beautifully, and the editing during the breakdown is bad ass. I was a bit down on this album, but this video makes this song stand out way more to me and I kind of want to give it another listen. Great way to close this out…
This doesn't mean we want more Scary Movie sequels….
I know a lot of people aren't keen on the idea of another Scream movie, but I'm pretty open to it. It's clearly one of the best horror franchises of the 90's, but didn't have the iconic weight to it as a Freddy or Jason. I'm honestly just glad they're not trying to "reboot" it so to speak. If they carry on with more movies but without Sidney, Gale, or Dewey then so be it. At least they'll get to pass the torch so to speak. I think it's almost a guarantee that the originals will die, at least I hope so. That's cool with me because I'm always about some closure with long term characters. The new cast seems cool enough. I've seen Emma Roberts pop up more and more. She has a strong enough personality to easily carry this franchise for another trilogy. We also have Hayden Panettiere, who I'm also a fan of. I'm happy to see her get a bigger project after the unjust cancellation of Heroes. Then add on Rory Culkin, Adam Brody, Alison Brie, Anthony Anderson, and lots of other familiar faces. Anna Paquin and Kristen Bell are listed as well, but I have a feeling they'll have a Drew Barrymore/Jada Pinkett Smith first big death scene. All in all, it seems like it's done right. The fact that the killer always changed makes it easy to swallow the series being reintroduced. With a Freddy and Jason there are always comparsions to the original. What are you going to compare in Scream movies? It's not so much about the killer, but the situation and the whole mystery "who-dun-it" teen horror movie that made it work. There has always been something charming about the tongue-in-cheek about the Scream movies. As long as they keep that tradition I have no complaints. I really have no big desire to see this movie. I anticipate it, but I doubt it's going to be a movie I'll see in theaters. Stranger things have happened.
I am a big fan of "How I Met Your Mother". The cast is remarkable and it has to be one of the most consistently good sitcoms on TV. While other more critically pandered shows get all the love, I wouldn't hesitate to put it in my own personal "Top 5 Currently on TV". Most of the cast has seen success elsewhere. Alyson Hannigan rocked in the American Pie movies and on Buffy. Neil Patrick Harris has Doogie and Harold and Kumar. Jason Segal has Sarah Marshall, I Love You Man, and tons of awesomeness to his credit. The two who don't get as much love is Codie Smulders and Josh Radnor. I've seen her in stuff like "The Slammin' Salmon", but other than one episode of "Six Feet Under" I can't think of any other role I've seen Josh Radnor in. In this small indie project, Radnor not only wrote it, not only directed it, not only acted in it, but rocked the hell out of it. The movie is about trying to find your way in life and centers around a few different intertwining characters and stories. Radnor plays a guy who comes to the rescue of a kid abandoned in the subway. He ends up pretty much keeping the kid without any legal backing. He ends up bonding with the kid and dealing with issues. Meanwhile we have the lovely Malin Akerman playing his best friend. She has Alopecia and deals with image issues and wanting to be loved. His cousin, the always enjoyable Zoe Kazan, and her boyfriend, the underrated Pablo Schrieber, deal with their own shit. He wants to move and pursue his dreams, but she is very hesitant. Kate Mara plays a fledging singer and the love interest of Radnor. This is one of those movies that it's hard to really get into the plot of. Nothing too crazy happens. There are no explosions or big Hollywood stars in it. It's a movie about human nature and that's something that's always going to appeal to me. I've read some comparisons to "Garden State", but I think that's a bad comparison. I think it's mainly because Braff came from a comedy show to write, direct, and act in an indie flick. Granted, that's what Radnor did… it's not the same. It's a completely different world. This is a bit less self indulgent than "Garden State". I liked that movie as much as the next guy, but I think there is more relatable substance in this movie. Radnor does great though. He got the right people for the right roles, told a good story, and got to show off who Josh Radnor is. I'm always going to tune in for "Ted Mosley", but now I'm going to be on a look out for Josh Radnor. If he keeps this up he's going do some really awesome things. B+
That's all for this week. This was a fun week for me. I sometimes forget how much I enjoy certain artists work. I don't listen to Rob Zombie nearly as much as I should. Next week I'm pretty unsure as to what the discussion will be. I'll try to make it fun and interesting for a change. Until next time… Have a Great Week!
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