I have always assumed the album “Astro-Creep: 2000” was named after the Misfits song “Astro Zombies.” I have always put these two things together anyway.
White Zombie is presumably named after 1932 horror film of the same name. This old film stared Bela Lugosi, and I know I have seen it, but my memory is a bit foggy, but it predates the iconic “Night of the Living Dead” by many years and has the more folklore like interpretation of voodoo zombies.
“More Human Than Human,” is a reference to “Blade Runner” the excellent 1982 science fiction film staring Harrison Ford where he is hired to track down and eliminate rouge androids who, are arguably, more human than humans.
Rob Zombie, if that is his real name, it is not, his real name is Rob Cummings, is clearly a fan of cinema, and likes to take inspiration from many sources for his music.
It was the year 2001, and I found myself in the passenger seat of my friend’s Lincoln as he drove us around town. One of the few cassette tapes he had on hand that we listened to until we wore it out, was White Zombie’s “Astro-Creep: 2000.” To this day it is the only album of White Zombie’s that I have any meaningful knowledge of. Although I did listen to Rob Zombie’s solo album “Hellbilly Deluxe” countless times, whilst stoned in another friend’s basement right around the same time, but that is another story altogether.
I distinctly remember the huge popularity of “More Human Than Human,” upon the release of “Astro-Creep: 2000,” and how people in my generation were still listening to that song frequently by 2001. It is a half way coincide that my friend and I happen to be listening to that album at that time in that Lincoln, but it was clear that “More Human Than Human” has staying power. However, as much I as I enjoyed “More Human Than Human,” and I still do, the song I hold uppermost for White Zombie is their third single from that same album, “Super Charger Heaven.”
“Super Charger Heaven,” had much less presence on any king of top list, but it was popular and very well liked for a time. As I remember it, it was the clear second-best song on “Astro-Creep: 2000,” well according to everybody else it was the second-best song, I actually liked it more than “More Human Than Human.”
As determined earlier, Rob Zombie is a big fan of cinema, especially horror, so much so, he now spends more time making horror films then music. The point is, something Zombie does, that I appreciate, is throwing in film clips into his songs and he does this in “Super Charger Heaven.”
“Look, I know the supernatural is something that isn’t supposed to happen, but it does happen.”
This comes from “The Haunting” 1963. I have not seen it.
“Insipientia corde suo, non es deus. Non est vita qui adorem, non es usque ad unum. Es excommunicatus, ex unione fidelium.”
This Latin translates to:
“Foolish of heart, thou art not a god. There is no life for those who do not adore, and to a man thou hast not. Thou art excommunicated from the union of the faithful.”
And comes from “To the Devil a Daughter” a 1976 Hammer film. Unfortunately, I have not seen this one either.
Then we get the best part:
“It is not heresy, and I will not recant!”
While this is a line from the same Hammer film, “To the Devil a Daughter,” what we hear in “Super Charger Heaven” it is famous actor Christopher Lee speaking. Christopher Lee was such an amazing man, and this would be one of the earlier examples of him lending his voice to a hard rock and metal music. More on that eventually.
As a fan of horror films and metal music, these sound clips do add an extra bit of charm to the song “Super Charger Heaven.” However, this alone is not what endears me so to “Super Charger Heaven,” we also got that killer opening.
We start with the ominous sounds and that first movie quote speaks, and then guitar. Electric guitar striking out in rapid slashes. The drums blast away at the same time rampaging through an intro like a thunder storm. That beat carries through the whole song, and at every bridge that rushing lead guitar leaps out and rocks out. At no point is there a guitar solo per say, which is uncharacteristic of most of the music I listen to, but instead there are many small moments when that great lead guitar pops in and wails. This is a good example of a heavy metal song that is balanced. Everything works together nicely, no one in the band it trying to outshine anyone else, they all play their parts perfectly and the result has a great flow to it. A runaway song of heavy sounds.
I have never completely understood the lyrics. I have tried to conjure together a coherent narrative or message, but I have been unable to so with “Super Charger Heaven.” Everything Rob Zombie says in “Super Charger Heaven” is cool. Every line sounds clever, but I cannot pin down what point, if any, is actually being communicated. Unlike other confusing lyrical tales, I am not convinced Rob Zombie is just sprouting gibberish, there is almost a demonic story being told, I just do not get the reference and/or am struggling to find the continuity of his original tale. None of that mattered to me when I was a young man though, because I always liked the chorus enough to not overthink the rest of it:
“Yeah Devil man Devil man calling,
Devil man running in my head Yeah.
Yeah Devil man Devil man calling,
Devil man running in my head Yeah.”
Now remember, this song came out in 1994 and I was listening to it between the years of 1995 through 2002. This is mostly pre-internet. I only had the knowledge of my own person to fall back on when it came to conjecture. “Devil Man” I knew what that was, but at the time, I had no way of knowing if Rob Zombie knew, and even less way of knowing if he was referring to it in his song.
In grade school, I was the guy in my group of friends who discovered anime. As a young man I really enjoyed the excitement of cartoon violence, and nothing delivered on that better than the “Devil Man” OVAs. So, I always suspected, but never knew for certain if Rob Zombie was intentionally referencing that anime.
Well, now that internet is at full power, we can confirm in the affirmative that Rob Zombie was referencing the ultra violent anime “Devil Man” when he wrote “Super Charger Heaven.”
It feels nice knowing that Mr. Zombie and I have some things in common, and that belief as a young man proved true about Devil Man. For years it felt like Zombie and I were in rare company, not a lot of people knew about Devil Man, at least not the complete story.
Something magical happened this year. In January Netflix sponsored, or produced, I forget which, “Devil Man Cry Baby.” This new telling of the old manga was so popular, that it was being declared the anime of the year, even though it was January when it came out. To the best of my knowledge this bold claim is still holding true. Everyone uses Netflix, so Devil Man had had a rebirth in popularity and the character and the story are now more popular than ever.
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| Devil Man Crybaby, The first animated version to tell the whole story. |
The ending is bleak.
It would be poor form to explain the whole story and ruining the twists for those who have not watched “Devil Man Crybaby” yet, so I will be vague. It is a very sad ending, terrible things happen, things that will make you cry. “Devil Man Crybaby” adapts the content to the current day perfectly and tells the story in full. For sixteens years I have been walking around with all this pain in my heart knowing how “Devil Man” ends, and reading and watching everyone’s reactions online now, was a very good time for me. It was amusing watching everyone else go through the motions, and it felt like I was making a connection with people. Sixteen years is a long time to keep spoilers to yourself, and an even longer time waiting for someone to experience it in a similar way.
Rob Zombie knew who Devil Man was way back in 1994, presumably earlier than that. I felt a connection to a fellow fan and it made me enjoy his music just a little bit more. But after the release of “Devil Man Crybaby” I look at Rob Zombie and the song “Super Charger Heaven” and I feel like, he knew. Zombie probably read the manga too, and I bet he knew the nihilistic ending as well. I wonder how many years he was walking around hurting before more the general public learned about it. And I wonder how much he is enjoying seeing everyone go through the motions after seeing “Devil Man Crybaby.”
It seems to me that life has been kind to Rob Zombie. His music remains popular and relevant, and I wonder if there will be a new wave of interest in White Zombie and “Super Charger Heaven” now that the Devil Man is more popular then every. I hope so. I have also really liked the Devil Man reference in “Super Charger Heaven.” I liked it before it was cool.
- King of Braves
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