"More Human than Human" is the first official single from the Astro-Creep: 2000 album by metal band White Zombie. The song can also be found on Rob Zombie's Past, Present & Future, the greatest hits album The Best of Rob Zombie, and a remix is included on Supersexy Swingin' Sounds.
Music and lyrics
White Zombie - More Human Than Human - Music video by White Zombie performing More Human Than Human. (C) 1995 Geffen Records.
The title and lyrics reference the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick, adapted in film as Blade Runner. The title was the slogan of the Tyrell Corporation, manufacturers of the very humaniform biological androids, or "replicants" 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 â€" and disposable â€" soldier (Rutger Hauer) finds him and is denied a reprieve from the programmed 4 year life span.
The moaning in the intro to the song was sampled from a post-apocalyptic porn movie called Café Flesh directed by Stephen Sayadian.
The song is also notable for featuring slide guitar.
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 nomination for Best Metal Performance in 1995. The song was named the 68th best hard rock song of all time by VH1.
The song was listed as number 4 on PopMatters' "The 10 Best Alternative Metal Singles of the 1990s" 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 footage of Rob, his brother, Michael Cummings (better known as Spider One of the band Powerman 5000), and a cousin at a young age. Part of the video was also shot in the halls of Framingham High School, Framingham, Massachusetts as well as on the streets of Hollywood Boulevard. It was the first video that had been completely directed by Rob alone. In 1995, he won the MTV Video Music Award for Hard Rock Video for this music video. At the time, it was Rob's favorite White Zombie music video.
Cover versions
A notable cover of the song is the Richard Cheese jazz version on his Tuxicity album released in 2002. An electronica band called Razed in Black covered the song featuring Thomas Thorn as a guest performer for the compilation album Signal to Noise: Reinforced Industrial Hits in 2001. Also, Metallica performed a live doodle of "More Human than Human" at Donington Park a few months after the release of Astro-Creep: 2000. The song was recorded by Shockwerks for the White Zombie tribute album Super-Charger Hell in 2000 and then again by Transient for The Electro-Industrial Tribute to Rob Zombie in 2002.
The song was remixed in 2004 by The X-Ecutioners on their album Revolutions, and was titled "(Even) More Human than Human."
The 2018 show Altered Carbon (episode 06 season 01) features a cover of the song by Sune Rose Wagner.
Appearances
- It is featured in several video games, films and TV shows, including: The Cable Guy, Can't Hardly Wait, The Marine, The Bigs, Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam, Millennium, Dirty Drivin' by Specular Interactive, Psych and Hindsight.
- It was featured in trailers for Turbulence, Soldier and Firestorm.
- A remix version appears in The Covenant.
- An instrumental version appears in the trailer for the Cars spin-off Planes.
- It is featured on a TV commercial for the first season of True Blood.
- Quick sound bite is featured in a trailer for the movie My Bloody Valentine 3D.
- It is featured in the level 'North Pole' of PlayStation game Twisted Metal III and in the 2012 reboot simply titled Twisted Metal.
- The Master recording of the song appears as a downloadable track for the Rock Band video game series.
- An instrumental version is featured in an early teaser trailer for the video game Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance.
Track listings
First single
- "More Human than Human (LP Version)" â€" 4:28
- "More Human than Human (The Jeddak of the Tharks Super-Mix)" â€" 4:17
- "Blood, Milk and Sky (Kerokerokeroppi and the Smooth Operator Mix)" â€" 4:20
Second single
- "More Human than Human" (LP Version) 4Â :28
- "More Human than Human" (The Jeddak Of The Tharks Super-Mix) â€" 4:17
- "Blood, Milk and Sky (Kerokerokeroppi and the Smooth Operator Mix)" â€" 4:20
Third single
- "More Human than Human (Clean Edit)" â€" 3:59
- "More Human than Human (LP Version)" â€" 4:29
Fourth single
- "More Human than Human (LP Version)" â€" 4:29
Charts
See also
- List of RPM Rock/Alternative number-one singles (Canada)