20 Ditch Digging, Witch Burning Years of "Dragula"

August 24, 2018 | by James Greene, Jr.

'Twas score ago, as dawn broke on this date, that Rob Zombie unleashed the logical introduction to his solo career — "Dragula," a song revolving around a relatively obscure "Munsters" reference and the incessant cryptid-like whine of a processed guitar. There's also waves of distorted heaving between which Zombie issues wild proclamations like a cyberpunk street prophet. He saves the best couplet for the finale:

"Dead I am the dog, hound of hell you cry / devil on your back, I can never die!"

Naturally (or maybe by design) "Dragula" is extremely reminiscent of White Zombie, the group Rob coldly disintegrated to live out his Alice Cooper fantasies, but it also lacks the outrageous potency White Zombie discovered on its most heralded albums. And yet we celebrate "Dragula," easily the best song Rob has recorded since simultaneously going Hollywood to direct bullshit schlock like House of 1,000 Corpses and Devil's Rejects. "Dragula," like the 1960s tv show it references, is big fun that shouldn't fail to make you chuckle as you consider what it means to "slam" in the back of Rob Zombie's "Dragula."

Is this a sex thing, Rob Zombie? "Burn through the witches" — is that code for your multiple consenting adult partners? When's the last time you "conquered the worm?"

If you have any doubt about the legacy of "Dragula," please remember that it is featured prominently in Academy Award-winning, genre-redefining film The Matrix. Nothing in that movie is a mistake. The Wachowskis understand dead I am the dog, even if we don't.