I posted on Facebook last November that I was going to take an English course on Zombies. My friends were quite interested in the subject matter of this course and thus asked me to give them updates on the class and what is going on during it. I obliged, and after one of my updates, a former colleague of mine commented and linked a video for a song he had just finished producing the audio for:
After watching this video, I started to think about how the idea of the zombie has influenced musical culture within my lifetime. The obvious starting point is with Michael Jackson. In 1982, Michael Jackson released his iconic album "Thriller." The title song off the track, which was released as a single in 1984, was my first contact with Zombies in music culture.
The music video is full of zombies, but if you look at the lyrics to the song itself, there's only one reference to zombies, which are the lyrics "The dead start to walk in their masquerade." Most of the song is dedicated to all sorts of creepy crawlies that occur in the night to scare you. It is not solely devoted to zombies, and only through the video do we now equate that song to being about zombies. For example, a quote from the song, which is strangely omitted from the video, states "There ain't no second chance against the thing with forty eyes." Obviously, this is not a zombie reference, and I do not believe the song was written to be a reference to zombies. Still, this has a long lasting impression on the entanglement of Zombies and music culture. You can see that even in Hindi culture.
During the same time, the metal scene also seemed to embrace zombie culture. The best example of this being Eddie.
Eddie is the mascot for Iron Maiden and definitely has the requisites of a zombie. He is a dead, decaying entity that is alive. however, Iron Maiden did not incorporate him into their music. Again, the icon of the Zombie is being used as a visual tool to create interest in a brand instead of using the zombie as a cultural statement. This is a trend that will continue to be prevalent in Zombie music culture, with only a few exceptions.
One of those exceptions being: In 1994, The Cranberries released a song called "Zombie."
In this song, they are using the term zombie to speak about the IRA wars and how the fighting between the two factions is leading to zombies without a thought about humankind. Instead of looking at people as people, everyone is becoming a zombie for war and destruction. It's a type of distraction from reality. This song became a hit in America, but the context was really lost about its true intention. It is still one of the most complex looks at the term zombie in music culture.
During the early 90s we had another band that hit the mainstream which was also zombie related, and that would be White Zombie. The name was taken from the classic 1932 film of the same name. Rob Zombie took the name and rode it, once again, to become a brand. Hence, we have such gems as this from his 1998 solo album:
Rob Zombie took this niche and made it profitable. The idea of the zombie was used as a marketable tool. It became campy. Any in depth meaning of the zombie was lost to a multitude of alternate pop recreation. The power of the zombie figure is lost to a pop culture phenomenon.
With the explosion of the internet also came the explosion of obscure bands given a more national audience. Many of them use the concept of zombie to cater to the same campy comedic niche that Rob Zombie tapped into. This band, Creature Feature, would be a good example of that.
Again, it's a band using the concept of a zombie as a pop culture icon. Along with this band:
In the end, what I have realized about zombie culture and popular music is that for the most part, the idea of the zombie is used for comedic, shock, or nostalgic value. Only rarely is the zombie used in a progressive, thought provoking nature. I don't know if that's a bad thing or not, but it's interesting nonetheless.
If you know of some interesting uses of zombies in music culture during the last thirty years that I have missed, please comment and include them and the impact of them. I am really interested in seeing more references.
I never really though of zombie influence music that much until this blog post. Its interesting because once you start looking at the different references to zombie you can also conclude that zombie has more that one type of definition or meaning. Its really interesting to see it in the music scene!
I also never really thought of how many connections can be made between zombies and music (apart from the obvious Thriller). I think that since zombies are so unknown they are very inviting. They also don't really come with many rules so bands or songs writers can do what they want with them.
Interesting post. Just thought I would take you up on your call toward the end there for any other musical zombie references, though one of them pre-dates the past thirty years. The first is the British 60s psychedelic pop outfit, the zombies. Though the songs they are known for ("A Rose for Emily," "Time of the Season," "The Way I Feel Inside") have nothing whatsoever to do with zombies, and their sound is really much more akin to a spaced out version of the Beach Boys rather than a gang of undead musicians, their name seemed to merit inclusion on the list and also extends the historicizing aims of the original post. Secondly, as a former punk fanatic, it seems that we've got to give a shout out to that little known subgenre started by a little band from new jersey known as...the misfits. Horror punk! This small outgrowth of the punk movement includes better known acts such as the misfits (arguably the founders of the genre) and other affiliated danzig projects (samhain, danzig), along with lesser-known acts such as the murderdolls, the horrorpop, and the creepshow, from canada. Though none of these groups nor the genre itself deals exclusively with zombies, many of them do deal almost exclusively with horror movie content, and thus naturally fall back on the zombie with some regularity. Finally, the song "Big Trouble" by the philly-based Man Man uses heavy zombie imagery throughout the song to describe the way one partner feels toward the other in a rather strange relationship. (No, he doesn't want to eat their face; rather, he describes himself as "falling to pieces" all over their feet). Here's a link to the song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idEhHiBckPw
I really enjoyed this post and was surprised by all the examples of Zombie culture in music. For example, I have heard thriller and watched the music video many times but never connected it with zombie culture. After watching it again and taking note of some of the lyrics though, it is undeniable that their is an association. I think the example of music just continues to show the Zombie Proliferation that we talked about in regards to the study guide. No matter if you are a fan of zombie culture or not, everyone must recognize that it is starting to become extremely prevelant in society. Whether it is in literature, film, or in your example of music, we can continue to see the exponetial growth that this genre is creating.
Nice one, you've got a pretty solid list here. Perhaps my example will speak to the uncanny amount of zombie references in popular culture. Our culture is so replete with zombies that sometimes I don't even realize that they are in some of my favorite songs:
London calling to the imitation zone
Forget it, brother, you can go it alone
London calling to the zombies of death
Quit holding out and draw another breath.
-London Calling, The Clash
I'm not going to venture out and draw any conclusions from one of the best songs of all time, but I can try to give a general outline.
The song references a late 70's London with a culture that was in decline. Police brutality, nuclear problems, rampant drug use, and debt are all referenced. The general notion almost leads to an apocalyptic view of London. I think the zombie name check is referencing the cultural drop outs, that the song both laments, and calls attention to.
Great concept for a post! I agree that there doesn't seem to be much in the way of "thought provoking" zombie references in music, which is too bad because there are so many ways it could be used beyond the obvious. Though its not something I've fully investigated and now i'm intrigued. And certain musical genres seem to be more compatible with the zombie phenomena than others. I would have a hard time accepting Taylor Swift singing a ballad about the undead. I've been wanting to make a references to Flatbush Zombies, but I wasn't clever enough to come up with a complete post and the lyrics are wildly inappropriate, so a casual mention here seems like the best bet. They combine metaphorical zombie references with shock value. The most relevant song being "Face Off," which mentions zombies, death, and the ever classic olde english. One line, "where there is no hate, and you don't need flesh," has always stuck. It seems almost too obvious. Zombies, not much discrimination there. Everyone pretty much feels the same about them, regardless of race. I can't imagine any one would pay much attention to the skin color of an approaching zombie..