Cries from the Quiet World: Rob Zombie "Hellbilly Deluxe: 13 Tales of Cadaverous Cavorting Inside the Spookshow International"

jueves, 6 de abril de 2023

Rob Zombie "Hellbilly Deluxe: 13 Tales of Cadaverous Cavorting Inside the Spookshow International"

Hellbilly Deluxe: 13 Tales of Cadaverous Cavorting Inside the Spookshow International is the debut solo studio album by American musician and filmmaker Rob Zombie. The album serves as his first release outside of the band White Zombie, with whom he released two multi-platinum studio albums. Hellbilly Deluxe was released on August 25, 1998, through Geffen Records. Musically, the project portrays Zombie's love for classic horror films with heavy metal and electronic music. The album's lyrics speak of murder, chaos, and supernatural forces. The majority of Hellbilly Deluxe was recorded in California, and was produced by both Zombie and Scott Humphrey; Zombie is credited as the sole writer on all of the songs.

Hellbilly Deluxe was released to a generally positive critical reception, with the album's production being praised. The album proved to be a commercial success, reaching the top five of the Billboard 200 and selling over three million copies in the United States. Hellbilly Deluxe outsold all of Zombie's releases with his former band, and established him as a successful solo artist. The project appeared on multiple charts worldwide, though failed to duplicate the success it had in North America. Since its release, the album has garnered the title of a "shock rock classic" by numerous publications.

The album was preceded by the release of Zombie's debut single, "Dragula". The song was a hit in the United States, and appeared on the singles chart in the United Kingdom. "Living Dead Girl" was released as the album's second single, and achieved a similar amount of success as its predecessor. The album's third and final single was "Superbeast", which failed to emulate the commercial performance of the album's first two singles. All three of the songs were used extensively in the media, appearing in various films and video games. "Dragula" is often referred to as Zombie's signature song, and remains his highest selling single worldwide. Hellbilly Deluxe is Zombie's most successful album to date.

Zombie first rose to fame as a founding member of the heavy metal band White Zombie. The band independently released two studio albums, which failed to have commercial success but caught the attention of artists such as Kurt Cobain and Iggy Pop. The group signed with Geffen Records to release their third studio album; the project was a commercial success, selling over two million copies worldwide. Their fourth studio album had a similar success, with sales exceeding two million copies in the United States. Zombie began directing the band's music videos after the release of "More Human than Human" (1995). Zombie released his first solo recording in 1996, a collaboration with Alice Cooper titled "Hands of Death (Burn Baby Burn)". The song, recorded for Songs in the Key of X: Music from and Inspired by the X-Files, went on to receive a Grammy award nomination for Best Metal Performance at the 39th Annual Grammy Awards. The following year, he contributed the original song "The Great American Nightmare" with Howard Stern to the soundtrack for the film Private Parts (1997).

White Zombie announced in 1998 that the band had officially broken up, and it was confirmed that Rob had begun working on a solo debut album. Though acting as a solo artist, Zombie worked to find a band to record and tour with; Mike Riggs was selected to play guitar, Blasko played bass guitar, and John Tempesta played the drums. Tempesta had been a member of White Zombie, while Rob was introduced to Riggs through a mutual friend. On finding the guitar player, Zombie claimed "Danny [Lohner] was just like, 'I know the perfect guy.' He gave me Riggs' phone number and I called him out of nowhere. I trusted Danny, so that was it. Riggs came out and he was great. We didn't have a bass player yet. Riggs and I hung out and talked and I told him everything I wanted to do." Work on the album began in August 1997, prior to the announcement of White Zombie's separation. The album took an estimated ten months to complete. The majority of the album was recorded at The Chop Shop in Hollywood, California. Zombie described the finished product as a "full-blown evil raging beast - a total Zombie extravaganza" and claimed that the album was "no small, self-indulgent album filled with whining about deep feelings."

Zombie was responsible for writing all of the album's songs, while he initially worked with Nine Inch Nails member Charlie Clouser to produce the album. Zombie and Clouser opted for a more "electronic" sound for the record, using various music software while working on the project. Clouser claimed "It was me and him with a computer, trying to figure out a direction we wanted to go in. We had a pretty good idea of the kind of elements that would be included and an overall concept of the segues between songs and the musical interludes. We even started coming up with the core riffs for the album." Early into the process of recording the album, Clouser became unable to work on the album due to other obligations; however, he recommended that Zombie work with Scott Humphrey for the remainder of the album. Humphrey had previously worked with artists such as Metallica prior to producing the album. Due to his departure, the only song on the album produced by Clouser is "Superbeast". Zombie stated that making the album was "weird", and he didn't believe it would do well, as "most debut solo records don't."

Tommy Lee of Mötley Crüe fame played drums on "Meet the Creeper" and "The Ballad of Resurrection Joe and Rosa Whore". Due to various personal and legal struggles, Lee was living in the studio for a time during the recording of the album. Humphrey was a good friend of Lee's, and had previously worked with his band prior to the production of Hellbilly Deluxe. Zombie later asked Lee to appear on the album, with Lee agreeing to do so. On the collaboration, Lee stated "I went to his house after I got out of jail to stay for a while, and I think I was there about a day or two and they were working on the record downstairs and Scott and Rob were like, 'Dude, Tommy's upstairs, we should ask him to play.' And they asked me to play and I was like, 'I would love to play right now. I could really use ... you know, just kind of check out, really do some music' and I ended up playing like four tracks or so on the record." Lee is credited as the drummer for "Meet the Creeper" and "The Ballad of Resurrection Joe and Rosa Whore". "Meet the Creeper" was originally referred to as "Creature Core" prior to the release of the album. Danny Lohner provided additional guitar recordings for "Meet the Creeper". Zombie recorded a song titled "Wish It Away" for the album, though it was not included on the final product.

The project was compared to releases from White Zombie by AllMusic, who wrote that the album was "complete with thunderous industrial rhythms, drilling metal guitars, and B-movie obsessions." Entertainment Weekly noted the common usage of horror elements in the lyrics, stating Zombie had "concocted a veritable blood feast of hair-raising guitars, spine-tingling drum loops, and a cast of ghoulish characters who could be refugees from an old William Castle horror flick." Tower Records said that Hellbilly Deluxe "continue[d] to explore Zombie's fascination with psychotic noise, pummeling grooves, campy samples, and all things horrific." Legends Magazine stated that all of the songs on the album "follow the same formula of anger, sex, death, monster, demon, zombie, satanic, drug abuse kinda raw drive a tractor over your neighbor's skull kinda hate the world so I'll burn it all down music."

The album opens with "Call of the Zombie", a short introduction that features Sheri Moon Zombie reading a nursery rhyme of sorts that speaks of children hiding under their beds "for fear that the devil would chop off their heads." The ending features sound clips from the film Madhouse (1974). The introduction leads into "Superbeast". "Dragula" is the third song on the album, and is named after the vehicle DRAG-U-LA from the television series The Munsters (1964–66). The song lyrically speaks of "a Sunday drive with the Devil", according to USgamer. The song's opening line, "superstition, fear, and jealousy", is taken from the British horror film The City of the Dead (1960). It is mostly a mid-tempo song that features elements of industrial metal and alternative metal music. "Living Dead Girl" is named after the French film La Morte Vivante (1982), which roughly translates to "the living dead girl." The song opens with a musical intro taken from a trailer for the exploitation-horror film The Last House on the Left (1972). The songs intro features the line "Who is this irresistible creature who has an insatiable love for the dead?", sampled from the Italian horror film Lady Frankenstein (1971). "Living Dead Girl" has been interpreted as lyrically speaking about necrophilia. It features elements of industrial metal and has been described as "seductive and mesmerizing."

The album continues with the instrumental track "Perversion 99", a "creepy" interlude that features an "eerie exotic theme." "Demonoid Phenomenon" has been described as the "heaviest" song on the record, and makes much use of the electronic elements used for the project. The track features the lines "Don't lie to yourself, it gave you pleasure" and "You enjoyed that dead girl's body" from the horror film Daughters of Darkness (1971). "Spookshow Baby" features Zombie almost whispering the song's verses, before screaming the chorus lyrics "She's a killah! / She's a thrillah! / Spookshow baby!" The chorus to the song has been described as a "metal blitzkrieg". The song leads into "How to Make a Monster", another interlude featured on the album. The song has an "intentionally low volume and lo-fi" production, and is laced with sounds of monsters and creatures. Following "How to Make a Monster" is the song "Meet the Creeper". The track was described as a "freight train going out of control with the muted string/dropped d sound combined with more of the industrial beats." The line "The devil is in all of you!" is taken from the film Mark of the Devil (1970), while "There are more maniacs loose than one thinks" is from Daughters of Darkness (1971).

"The Ballad of Resurrection Joe and Rosa Whore" has been described as "experimental", featuring elements of techno music along with metal. "What Lurks on Channel X?" is yet another interlude, which much like the previous track makes use of techno elements; the song's samples have been described as the "forefront" of the track. The line "thirteen acres of hell" is taken from The Last House on the Left (1972). "Ladies and gentleman, I would like to make the following statement", along with the lines "the young generation, that sick generation" and "impressionable young people, brutal honesty will be shown on this screen" are all taken from The Undertaker and His Pals (1966). "Return of the Phantom Stranger" was described as "more atmospheric than most, building up tension and a sense of foreboding." Zombie's vocals on the song were compared to those of Marilyn Manson. "Return of the Phantom Stranger" features the quote "she lays there, waiting for the sacrifice" from the film The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973). Hellbilly Deluxe closes with the final song, "The Beginning of the End". The song is an instrumental track, described as "spastic" and is said to "suggest even more bizarre things are yet to come." The track features the sound of industrial machine factory like noise layered over the music.

Zombie first announced the album's August 25 release date in July 1998. Prior to the release of the album, numerous songs were performed by Zombie during tours throughout North America. He signed with Geffen Records to release the album; the label had previously released White Zombie's final two studio albums. The album's title is derived from Dwight Yoakam's country music album Hillbilly Deluxe (1987). The album featured a Parental Advisory label, affixed by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to identify explicit content. The album's cover art features an image of Zombie with an "x" engraved on his forehead, as well as skulls and crossbones on the side and a pentagram. Basil Gogos painted the album's artwork after being approached by Zombie. On the painting, Gogos said "Rob sent me a photograph and he described himself to me visually. He suggested some colors I could use, which was unusual for me; I like to pick my own colors. But it was helpful." Hellbilly Deluxe was officially released on compact disc (CD), LP record, Compact Cassette, and for digital download on August 25, 1998.

The album's booklet is twenty-four pages long, consisting of song lyrics and comics drawn by Zombie. Gene Colan and Dan Brereton, of Marvel Comics, contributed numerous drawings for the booklet. The booklet contains numerous images of ghosts, goblins, monsters, and other creatures. Numerous references to Lucifer and Satan are made throughout the pages, along with images of Sheri Moon and other near-nude women. Zombie had a replica of the robot from the film The Phantom Creeps (1939) created for the booklet. The replica was created by Wayne Toth, and stood ten feet tall. The creation is featured on the back of the album, as well as the single cover for "Dragula". Zombie would continue to use it for numerous live performances and appearances, including the music video for his single "Dead City Radio and the New Gods of Supertown" (2013). Zombie said of the booklet, "It's a welcome relief from the less-is-more school of thought [...] I grew up in the heyday of cool record packaging. I would stare at the record for hours. Now, you open a record and you get nothing. I always feel cheated." The disc itself is either white or yellow depending on the version, and features images of various monsters and ghouls also designed by Zombie.

The album was met with controversy upon its release when retail chain Walmart refused to carry the album unless an edited version was made. Though initially hesitant, Zombie complied with the request as "for some of these kids, it was the only place they can buy records. At the end of the day, it's these kids who are getting fucked." The edited version of the album removes the skull and crossbones, pentagram, and "x" from the album artwork; multiple pages are removed from the booklet, as are the album's lyrics. The title of "The Ballad of Resurrection Joe and Rosa Whore" was shortened to simply "The Ballad of Resurrection Joe". Seven years after the release of the album, Zombie released a deluxe edition of Hellbilly Deluxe featuring a bonus DVD. The DVD included a music video for all thirteen of the album's songs, with Zombie being credited as the director for all of them. The project was officially released on November 22, 2005.

Track listing

All lyrics written by Rob Zombie; all music composed by Rob Zombie & Scott Humphrey.