"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 Rob Zombie (born Robert Bartleh Cummings; January 12, 1965) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, filmmaker, and voice actor. His music and lyrics are notable for their horror and sci-fi themes, and his live shows have be ...

'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 crea ...

The Best of Rob Zombie ''The Best of Rob Zombie'' is a greatest hits album by Rob Zombie, released in 2006 through Geffen Records. It was certified Gold by the RIAA. Track listing See also *Rob Zombie discography The discography of American vocalist, film direc ...

'', and a remix is included on ''

Supersexy Swingin' Sounds ''Supersexy Swingin' Sounds'' is a remix album by White Zombie. It was released through Geffen Records in 1996 and was the band's final release. The album consists of remixes of tracks from their previous release, '' Astro Creep 2000'', except " ...

'' and ''

Revolutions In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

''.

Music and lyrics

The title and lyrics reference the novel ''

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? ''Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'' (retroactively retitled ''Blade Runner: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'' in some later printings) is a dystopian science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick, first published in 1968. Th ...

'' by Philip K. Dick, adapted in film as ''

Blade Runner ''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick' ...

''. 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 were completely within the domain of science fiction and 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 intel ...

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. In 1999, he was named by the Dutch public as the Best Dutch Actor of the Century. Hauer's career began in 1969 with the title role in the Dutch television series ' ...

) finds him and is denied a reprieve from the programmed 4 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 tha ...

figure, a technique typically associated with

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

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 multi-talented artist who was active in the 1980s and 1990s. He was the advertising creative director for Larry Flynt Publications and an acclaimed art director & production designer responsible f ...

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), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

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 of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Commun ...

. 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, fi ...

''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: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

''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 prerecorded media sold or 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, Blu-ray and streaming me ...

footage of Rob, his brother, Michael Cummings (better known as

Spider One Michael David Cummings (born August 25, 1968), better known as Spider One, is an American singer, Producer, and Director. He is the founder and only consistent member of the rock band Powerman 5000. He is the younger sibling of singer and filmm ...

of the band

Powerman 5000 Powerman 5000 (also known as PM5K) is an American rock band formed in 1991. The group has released ten albums, gaining its highest level of commercial success with 1999's ''Tonight the Stars Revolt!'', which reached number 29 on the ''Billboar ...

), 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 of Massachusetts in the United States. Incorporated in 1700, it is located in Middlesex County and the MetroWest subregion of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. The city proper covers with a popu ...

, as well as on the streets of

Hollywood Boulevard Hollywood Boulevard is a major east–west street in Los Angeles, California. It begins in the east at Sunset Boulevard in the Los Feliz district and proceeds to the west as a major thoroughfare through Little Armenia and Thai Town, Hollywoo ...

. 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 honour 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

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