Rob Zombie Influenced by Queen and Elton John?!?

Posted on Aug 19th 2010 2:30PM by Dave Jaffer
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Tim Mosenfelder, Getty Images

It probably wouldn't surprise anyone to know that growing up, Rob Zombie dug the imagery and music of the 1970s darker rock acts. What might surprise folks is that Zombie says he was just as influenced by some of the less sinister sounds that were popular during his formative years.

"It was the whole scene of the music when I was coming up [that influenced me]," he tells Spinner. "What formed my opinion when I was a kid was KISS, Alice Cooper, Elton John, Queen... everything was larger than life and everything was a show -- and that never left me. That may have left the world, somewhat, but that never left me."

Zombie says the idea of rock 'n' roll as spectacle died some time ago but that he's tried to bring back such allegedly outdated theatrics with his '90s band White Zombie and subsequent solo career.

"Fifteen years ago when White Zombie [existed], everyone was like, 'Why do you have pyro? Why do you have this? Why do you have that? No one likes that anymore, that's old news.' And I'm like, 'Well, the 15,000 kids that were just going apes--t, somehow they didn't give me the vibe that it was old news.'

"Me and my manager always talk about it because he's older than me and he's been around longer," Zombie continues. "It used to be called 'show business,' but they forget the 'show' now. They should just call it 'business business' because that's all they think about. And I'm still about the 'show' part."

In recent years, Zombie has become at least as famous for his stints as a director as his music. The horror film 'House of 1000 Corpses' and its sequel, 'The Devil's Rejects,' were both written and directed by Zombie. Their flair and retro charm -- Stephen King praised 'Rejects' for having "perfect '70s C-picture cheesy glow" -- made them both financial successes and propelled them to cult status.

Moreover, their success afforded Zombie a chance at the big time, where he re-launched the 'Halloween' franchise -- a movie so successful he was able to continue the legacy with a bone-chilling second installment. He also recently directed an episode of 'CSI: Miami' and helmed the animated exploitation/horror film 'The Haunted World of El Superbeasto,' based on his own comic book series.

While he's certainly passionate about filmmaking, anyone who expects Zombie to abandon music has another thing coming. According to the man himself, he has good reason to continue to do both.

"It's a great situation," he says. "Each [career] really feeds the two different sides of my personality. One side of my personality, I want to meticulously obsess over the film -- I don't want to be in front of people, I don't want it to be about me, I want it just to be about the film. I want to be locked away in a room with one other person editing for six months straight, and even not see daylight, and live like a hermit, practically.

"And then after a year and a half of that, the other side starts coming out where I feel like I'm going to go insane unless I can get onstage in front of 20,000 people and have things blowing up around me and just go crazy. I need both to feel normal. If I have all of one or all of the other -- my wife Sheri will know better that anyone -- I start losing it."