More Human Than Human
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"More Human than Human" is a song by the American heavy metal band White Zombie from their album '' Astro-Creep: 2000'' (1995). It was released as the first official single from the album and is also included on
Rob Zombie Robert Bartleh Cummings (born January 12, 1965), known professionally as Rob Zombie, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, filmmaker, and actor. His music and lyrics are notable for their horror and sci-fi themes, and his live show ...
's '' Past, Present & Future'', the
greatest hits album A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be creat ...
'' The Best of Rob Zombie'', and a remix is included on '' Supersexy Swingin' Sounds'' and ''
Revolutions In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elemen ...
''.


Music and lyrics

The title and lyrics reference the novel ''
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? ''Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'' (retrospectively titled ''Blade Runner: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'' in some later printings) is a 1968 dystopian science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick. It is set in a post- ...
'' by Philip K. Dick, adapted in film as ''
Blade Runner ''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott from a screenplay by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Di ...
''. The title was the slogan of the Tyrell Corporation, manufacturers of the very humaniform biological
androids An android is a humanoid robot or other artificial being, often made from a flesh-like material. Historically, androids existed only in the domain of science fiction and were frequently seen in film and television, but advances in robot techno ...
, or "
replicant A replicant is a fictional bioengineered humanoid featured in the 1982 film ''Blade Runner'' and the 2017 sequel ''Blade Runner 2049'' which is physically indistinguishable from an adult human and often possesses superhuman strength and intellig ...
s" that are the focal point of the story. "I want more life, fucker" (quoted in the lyrics) is one of the last things his creator hears when the replicant designed to be the perfect – and disposable – soldier (
Rutger Hauer Rutger Oelsen Hauer (; 23 January 1944 – 19 July 2019) was a Dutch actor, with a career that spanned over 170 roles across nearly 50 years, beginning in 1969. In 1999, he was named by the Dutch public as the Best Dutch Actor of the Century. H ...
) finds him and is denied a reprieve from the programmed four-year life span. The song features a repeated
slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that ...
figure, a technique typically associated with
blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
music. The moaning in the intro to the song was sampled from a post-apocalyptic porn movie called ''
Café Flesh ''Café Flesh'' is a 1982 post-apocalyptic cult film, cult Pornographic movie, pornographic science fiction film designed and directed by Stephen Sayadian (under the pseudonym "Rinse Dream") and co-written by Sayadian and Jerry Stahl (credited as ...
'' directed by
Stephen Sayadian Stephen Sayadian, also known as Rinse Dream, is a multimedia artist who was active in the 1980s and 1990s. He was the advertising creative director for Larry Flynt Publications and an art director and production designer for VHS box art covers a ...
.


Reception

"More Human than Human" quickly became the band's highest-charting and most recognizable single in the entirety of their career. The song earned them their second
Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...
nomination for
Best Metal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance is an award presented at the Grammy Awards to recording artists for works (songs or albums) containing quality performances in the heavy metal music genre. The Grammy Awards is an annual ceremony, where ...
in 1995. The song was named the 68th best hard rock song of all time by
VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...
. The song was listed on ''
PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...
''s "The 10 Best Alternative Metal Singles of the 1990s" list. "More Human than Human" was ranked at number 43 on ''
Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...
''s "The 95 Best Alternative Rock Songs of 1995" list.


Music video

The music video of "More Human than Human," the first video made for ''Astro-Creep: 2000'', features White Zombie playing the track in a room and short clips of old
home video Home video is recorded media sold or Video rental shop, rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD and Blu-ray. ...
footage of Rob, his brother, Michael Cummings (better known as Spider One of the band
Powerman 5000 Powerman 5000 (also known as PM5K) is an American rock music, rock band formed in 1991. The group has released eleven studio albums, gaining its highest level of commercial success with 1999's ''Tonight the Stars Revolt!'', which reached number ...
), and a cousin at a young age. Part of the video was also shot in the halls of Framingham High School,
Framingham, Massachusetts Framingham () is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. Incorporated in 1700, it is located in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County and the MetroWest subregion of the Greater Boston ...
, as well as on the streets of
Hollywood Boulevard Hollywood Boulevard is a major east–west street in Los Angeles, California. It runs through the Hollywood, East Hollywood, Little Armenia, Thai Town, and Los Feliz districts. Its western terminus is at Sunset Plaza Drive in the Hollyw ...
. It was the first video that had been completely directed by Rob alone. In 1995, he won the
MTV Video Music Award The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category) ...
for Hard Rock Video for this music video. At the time, it was Rob's favorite White Zombie music video.Miller, Gerri. "White Zombie Live & Backstage". '' Metal Edge Magazine''. March, 1996. cited October 30, 2008


Charts


See also

* List of ''RPM'' Rock/Alternative number-one singles (Canada)


References

{{Authority control White Zombie (band) songs 1995 singles 1995 songs Industrial rock songs Geffen Records singles Song recordings produced by Terry Date Alternative metal songs