The longtime frontman for metal superstars White Zombie, Rob Zombie was born Robert Cummings on January 12, 1966, in Haverhill, MA, forming the group soon after moving to New York City circa 1985. He subsequently worked as a bike messenger, porn magazine art director, and production assistant for the classic children's TV series Pee-Wee's Playhouse, concurrently leading White Zombie through a series of cult-favorite indie releases; the success of their 1992 major-label debut, La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Vol. 1, not only launched Zombie to new prominence within the music industry, but also allowed him to try his hand at animation (most notably a hallucinatory sequence of the feature Beavis & Butt-Head Do America) and directing (he was slated to helm the third chapter of The Crow franchise, working from his own screenplay, but Miramax Films eventually pulled out of the deal).

In mid-1998 Zombie made his solo debut with the album Hellbilly Deluxe; when it sold more copies in its first week of release than any White Zombie record before it, he disbanded the group to forge ahead as a full-time solo act, issuing American Made Music to Strip By in the fall of 1999. Starting his own label, Zombie-a-Go-Go Records, he gave bands like the Ghastly Ones a home while creating demented mix CDs like Halloween Hootenanny. He delivered remixes to a number of soundtracks while recording a new song for the Mission Impossible: 2 soundtrack, and he rounded out his first major solo run with a Rob Zombie toy produced by Todd McFarlane.