Rob Zombie has both a very successful musical career with his band and previous group White Zombie, as well as a filmmaker career. In an interview with Consequence Of Sound, Zombie says both metal and horror films are treated like a dirty little secret despite the fact that both have seen some pretty major successes over the years.
“I can speak on it from both points of view actually, since I’ve dealt with it on two levels. It’s completely true. In the film world, horror movies were always treated like the dirty little secret. It didn’t matter that some of these studios exist merely by the fact that they started making horror movies.
“Universal with ‘Frankenstein‘ and ‘Dracula‘ — these were the key films that built that studio into what it is. New Line with the ‘Nightmare on Elm Street‘ franchise — that was the big moneymaker that created that studio. Lionsgate back in the day when they were doing ‘Devil’s Rejects‘ and ‘Hostile‘ and ‘Saw‘ — these are the films that were the moneymakers, that were making cash hand over fist for them.”
Zombie then goes on to compare making metal and horror to making pornography in terms of the respect they receive in the mainstream.
“Same thing with music. The biggest insult of how hard rock music [is treated] can always be seen with the Grammys. They tried to rectify it every once while, but it’s like you could have a record that sells 10 million copies and they’ll present you the award off-camera. It’s like you don’t mean anything. And then they have some record like best instrumental polka album and they’ll present it on camera even though it sold nothing.
“…Both [metal and horror] are treated like they’re just one step above pornography. And for that reason they’ll always be there, because the fans don’t think of it that way. The fans are there forever. Look how big Iron Maiden is, for example. If you ask the average person on the street, ‘Who’s Iron Maiden?’ they’d go, ‘I don’t fucking know.’ But they’re monstrously huge — and they always will be, just like horror movies will always be.”
Sure, we could go on and on about how metal and horror aren't respected, but they're sure as hell not these little niche secrets either. Both have extremely large cult followings to the point where I'd argue that mainstream success doesn't even matter anymore. Of course the average person wouldn't know who Iron Maiden is (they actually might), but I'm sure if that person leveled some artist that isn't on the TV and radio 24/7 at me, I wouldn't know who they are either.
Plus it also comes down to the level of metal artist. Maybe Rob Zombie isn't treated like a rock star, but Metallica are doing just fine playing the thrash hits.
