Rob Zombie

Robert Bartleh Cummings (born January 12, 1965), better known by his stage name, Rob Zombie, is a Grammy-nominated American musician, film director, screenwriter and film producer.

He first attracted attention as the frontman of the band White Zombie, whose members included:

Rob - guitar, vocals
Sean Yseult - bass
Ena Kostabi - guitar (1985-1986)
Tim Jeffs - guitar (1986)
Tom Guay - guitar (1986-1988)
John Ricci - guitar (1988-1989)
Jay Noel Yuenger - guitar (1989-1998), always credited as "J."
Peter Landau - drums (1985-1986)
Ivan de Prume - drums (1986-1992)
Phil Buerstatte - drums (1992-1994)
John Tempesta - drums (1994-1998)

White Zombie (its name taken from a 1932 Bela Lugosi zombie flick White Zombie) was initially a Noise Rock band signed to an independent label. In this incarnation, they released two EPs and two albums, Soul-Crusher and Make Them Die Slowly. The latter album showed them moving away somewhat from their noise rock sound in favour of Heavy Metal.

Eventually, once The Nineties rolled around, the band signed with Geffen Records, recruited a new guitarist named Jay Noel Yuenger and re-fashioned themselves as a Industrial-influenced Groove Metal band that used lots of samples from old B-movies and trashy, surreal horror-movie aesthetics. This incarnation put out two well-received albums, La Sexorcisto: Devil Music, Vol. 1 and Astro Creep: 2000.

White Zombie disbanded in 1998, and Rob became a borderline solo artist. He still had a full band, though. Its members are:

John 5 - guitars (formerly of Marilyn Manson)
Piggy D - bass
Ginger Fish - drums (also formerly of Marilyn Manson)
Tommy Clufetos - drums (2005-2010)
John Tempesta - drums (1994-2003)
Blasko - bass (1997-2006)
Riggs - guitar (1997-2003)

He produced his most successful album, Hellbilly Deluxe, in 1998. He followed it up in 2001 with The Sinister Urge. Since then, Rob has divided his attention between a solo career and directing the sort of trashy, B-movie horror films that he loves so much. He recently attracted a lot of negative attention for his remake of Halloween and its sequel. Riggs and Tempesta, tired of waiting around while Rob worked on films, left the band and started Scum of the Earth, a band whose sound is most similar to Hellbilly Deluxe era Rob Zombie.

Discography:

White Zombie discography:

Soul-Crusher (1987)
Make Them Die Slowly (1989)
La Sexorcisto: Devil Music, Vol. 1 (1992)
Astro Creep: 2000 (1995)

Solo discography:

Hellbilly Deluxe: 13 Tales Of Cadaverous Cavorting Inside The Spookshow International (1998)
The Sinister Urge (2001)
Educated Horses (2006)
Hellbilly Deluxe 2: Noble Jackals, Penny Dreadfuls and the Systematic Dehumanization of Cool (2010)

Films directed:

House of 1000 Corpses (2003)
The Devil's Rejects (2005)
Grindhouse -- "trailer" for Werewolf Women of the SS
Halloween (2007)
The Haunted World of El Superbeasto (2009)
Halloween II (2009)

Rob Zombie provides examples of the following tropes:

As Himself: Rob Zombie was a playable character in Twisted Metal 4 (a game he did most of the music for).
Even Evil Has Standards: On Cannibal Holocaust in response to the real animals killed making the film; "As far as showing gore and showing rape or whatever I don’t have a problem with that but when real things get involved – I mean, I’ll show all sorts of violence but I’d never hack up a turtle on screen. That crosses the line."
Gender Blender Name: Sean Yseult. Deliberate on her part as she wanted to be known for her bass playing rather than her (quite good) looks.
Ominous Pipe Organ: On "Return of the Phantom Stranger".
Stage Names: Rob Zombie, Sean Yseult, J., and almost everyone in the Rob Zombie solo act band.