Five ZOMBIE Songs from the 80s and 90s

Halloween is just around the corner! Autumn is in the air. Jack-o-lanterns are displayed on neighborhood porches. Spiders are weaving webs. It’s the time to celebrate all thinks creepy, crawly and spooky, and what induces more fear than zombies? These mindless hordes of the living dead are captivating indeed. They also make great subject matter for 80s and 90s rock. Here are five of those songs from the 80s and 90s with “zombie” in their titles.

“All You Zombies”, The Hooters (1982)

Written by band founders Rob Hyman and Eric Brazilian in just one night, “All You Zombies” was controversial upon its release due to its lyrics about Moses, Noah and other biblical imagery. However, according to them, there wasn’t any particular meaning behind it. All of the lyrics just came to them that night and they put them against a reggae rhythm, popular among New Wave bands at the time.

The chorus originally had the lyric, "all you people hide your faces, all you people in the street.” Later, they changed “people” to “zombies” randomly and impromptu. However, it subsequently reminded Hyman of a short story he read as a child called, “All You Zombies” by Robert A. Heinlein. Published in the March issue of “Fantasy and Science Fiction” in 1959, the bizarre story follows a man who goes back in time and impregnates a younger, female version of himself who had sexual reassignment. Thus, he becomes his own mother and father.

Yeah, weird right? And this was written in the 50s! According to Hyman, the lyric was derived completely independently of, and had no association with, Heinlein’s writing.

There’s a 2014 Australian film called “Predestination” starring Ethan Hawke based on the story. I’ve never heard of this movie but it’s definitely on my watch list now.

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• "All You Zombies" lyrics by The Hooters

  Holy Moses met the Pharoah

  Yeah, he tried to set him straight

  Looked him in the eye

  "Let my people go"

  Holy Moses on the mountain

  High above the golden calf

  Went to get the Ten Commandments

  Yeah, he's just gonna break 'em in half

  All you zombies hide your faces

  All you people in the street

  All you sittin' in high places

  The pieces gonna fall on you

  No one ever spoke to Noah

  They all laughed at him instead

  Workin' on his ark

  Workin' all by himself

  Only Noah saw it comin'

  Forty days and forty nights

  Took his sons and daughters with him

  Yeah, they were the Israelites

  All you zombies hide your faces

  All you people in the street

  All you sittin' in high places

  The rain's gonna fall on you

  Holy Father, what's the matter

  Where have all your children gone?

  Sittin' in the dark

  Livin' all by themselves

  You don't have to hide anymore

  All you zombies show your faces

  All you people in the street

  All you sittin' in high places

  The pieces gonna fall on you

  All you zombies show your faces

  (I saw you out there)

  All you people in the street

  (Let's see you)

  All you sittin in high places

  It's all gonna fall on you

  Songwriters: Rob Hyman, Eric M Bazilian.

“Zombie Eaters”, Faith No More (1989)

Written by band member Mike Patton, “Zombie Eaters” is the 5th track on Faith No More’s album, “The Real Thing”. The lyrics are reminiscent of a strange, toxic, codependent relationship. What makes this tune even stranger is that it’s presented from the perspective of a baby in relation to her mother. The neonate is dominating, cruel and importunate. Thus, the mother is a zombie, who must give constant attention and nurturing to the needs of the little “zombie eater”.

An excerpt from the lyrics:

So hug me and kiss me
Then wipe my butt and piss me
I hope you never leave
Cause who would hear me scream?

Pretty weird right? One can scarcely imagine what was going through Mike Patton’s head.

Now knowing the premise of the song, it reminds me of Baby Herman, the demanding, cigar smoking infant from “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”. If babies could talk and cogitate with the sophistication of adults, I think they might be quite a bit like Baby Herman.

• “Zombie Eaters” lyrics by Faith No More

  You're everything

  That's why I cling to you

  When I emerge

  My thoughts converge to you

  To you

  The world is so small

  Compared to you

  And everybody's wrong

  Compared to you

  To you

  I begin to see through your eyes

  All the former mysteries are no surprise

  So now, you listen

  Cause I'm omniscient

  Hey look at me lady

  I'm just a little baby

  You're lucky to have me

  I'm cute and sweet as candy

  As charming as a fable

  I'm innocent and disabled

  So hug me and kiss me

  Then wipe my butt and piss me

  I hope you never leave

  Cause who would hear me scream?

  Nobody understands

  Except the toys in my hands

  So now, you listen

  Cause I'm omniscient

  You might also like

  The Real Thing

  Faith No More

  Surprise! You’re Dead!

  Faith No More

  Epic

  Faith No More

  Hey look at me lady

  I'm just a little baby

  If I smile, then you smile

  Then I'll get mad for awhile

  I melt in your mouth

  And in your hands whenever I can

  But I really do nothing

  Except kicking and fussing

  I like to make a mess

  I laugh at your distress

  I sit all day in my crib

  Absorbing all you give

  I'm helpless

  I'm flawless

  I'm a machine

  Give me, I need my toys...

  Keep me hot

  Keep me strong

  Keep me ever long

  Keep me hot

  Keep me strong

  Keep me ever long

  Keep me hot

  Keep me strong

  Keep me ever long

  Keep me hot

  Keep me strong

  Keep me ever long

  So now, you listen

  Cause I'm omniscient

  Songwriter: Mike Patton.

“Zombie Zoo”, Tom Petty (1989)

While its fun to think of the song title as a conservation park for hordes of the living dead, the Zombie Zoo was actually an underground “death rock” club in the 1980s. Death rock (not to be confused with “death metal”) is a subgenre of punk rock integrating elements of goth and retro horror. Think of it as punk rock meets “Monster Mash”.

The 12th track on the album “Full Moon Fever”, the song is about a freaky young girl with questionable upbringing dancing at the Zombie Zoo club until sunrise. The tune is descriptive of the girl, who has white lipstick and a shaved head. Listen closely to the lyrics and you can form an image of the girl in your mind: Kind of a poor, punk rock Wednesday Adams with negligent parents.

The story goes that Tom Petty and Roy Orbison had a late dinner after recording. Their restaurant was near the Zombie Zoo where they observed the interesting characters coming in and out and wrote a song about one of them.

• "Zombie Zoo" lyrics by Tom Petty

  All down the street, they're standing in line

  With white lipstick and one thing on their minds

  Hey little freak with the lunch pail purse

  Underneath the paint, you're just a little girl

  Dancin' at the Zombie Zoo

  Dancin' at the Zombie Zoo

  Painted in a corner and all you wanna do

  Is dance down at the Zombie Zoo

  Cute little dropout, how come you pack a rod?

  Is your mother in a clinic? Has your father got no job?

  Sometimes you're so impulsive, you shaved off all your hair

  You look like Boris Karloff and you don't even care

  You're dancin' at the Zombie Zoo

  Dancin' at the Zombie Zoo

  Painted in a corner and all you wanna do

  Is dance down at the Zombie Zoo

  She disappears at sunrise

  I wonder where she goes until the night

  Comes fallin' down again

  You show up with your friends, half-alive

  Dancin' at the Zombie Zoo

  Dancin' at the Zombie Zoo

  Well, you can make a big impression or go through life unseen

  You might wind up restricted and over seventeen

  It's so hard to be careful, so easy to be led

  Somewhere beyond the pavement, you'll find the living dead

  Dancin' at the Zombie Zoo

  Dancin' at the Zombie Zoo

  Painted in a corner and all she wants to do

  Is dance down at the Zombie Zoo

  She disappears at sunrise

  I wonder where she goes until the night

  Comes fallin' down again

  You show up with your friends, half-alive

  Dancin' at the Zombie Zoo

  Dancin' at the Zombie Zoo

  Painted in a corner and all she wants to do

  Is dance down at the Zombie Zoo

  Dance down at the Zombie Zoo

  Get down at the Zombie Zoo

  Written by Tom Petty.

“Zombie Stomp”, Ozzie Ozbourne 1991

The “Zombie Stomp” can be traced back as a surf garage rock song by The Del-Aires in the early 60s where it asks listeners to dance. However, the modern phrase is often referred to in colloquial slang as the act of using high doses of various drugs to get into a catatonic, zombie like state. Given that “Zombie Stomp” is an Ozzy Osbourne track on his “No More Tears” album which also includes songs titled, “Desire”, “S.I.N.”, “Hellraiser” and “Party with the Animals”, you can probably easily surmise what this tune is all about.

But wait! We aren’t done with slang analysis yet. It turns out that there are a few more idiosyncratic meanings for this phrase. “Zombie stomp” could also mean roughing someone up severely. It’s also said to be a phrase for military people stomping their feces down the drain while taking a shower to save time. Although, I was in the military and never heard of this so it could be unfounded. Zombie Stomp is also the name of a marijuana strain.

With this, one could fabricate quite a story: Once upon a time, Ozzy and some soldiers went on a zombie stomp, which included smoking some zombie stomp, where they zombie stomped some fools at the tavern and had to zombie stomp the next day to make muster on time.

Remember, this blog post is under copyright so don’t even think about stealing that tale…

…Okay, let’s stick with The Del-Aires wholesome interpretation of the term.

• "Zombie Stomp" lyrics by Ozzy Osbourne

  I don't need no doctor

  But I need something to kill the pain

  Don't know what I'm after

  But the pressure's driving me insane

  Searching for a different ride

  Had a funny feeling I can't hide

  Hey, hey, do the Zombie Stomp

  Why can't they just let me be

  Alone without the misery?

  Hey, hey, do the Zombie, Zombie Stomp

  Hey, hey, do the Zombie Stomp

  Hey, hey, do the Zombie Stomp

  Flirting with disaster

  Morning after killing me again

  Hiding from the laughter

  And the demons dancing 'round my brain

  Always dancing on thin ice

  I guess I'll have to pay the price

  Hey, hey, do the Zombie Stomp

  Thinking how it could have been

  If I had never let them in

  Hey, hey, do the Zombie, Zombie Stomp

  Hey, hey, do the Zombie Stomp

  Hey, hey, do the Zombie Stomp

  Hey, hey, do the Zombie Stomp

  Hey, hey, do the Zombie Stomp

  Take me to the doctor

  'Cause I feel it coming on again

  Don't know where I'm going

  'Cause I guess I don't know where I've been

  Looking for a different ride

  Always dancing on thin ice

  Hey, hey, do the Zombie Stomp

  Thinking how it could have been

  If I had never let them in

  Hey, hey, do the Zombie, Zombie Stomp

  Hey, hey, do the Zombie Stomp

  Hey, hey, do the Zombie Stomp

  Hey, hey, do the Zombie Stomp

  Hey, hey, do the Zombie Stomp

  Writer(s): Zakk Wylde, John Osbourne, Randolph Frank Castillo

“Zombie”, The Cranberries (1994)

"Zombie" as written by The Cranberries lead singer Dolores O'Riordan as a protest song memorializing the 1993 Warrington bombings and the subsequent deaths of young boys Johnathan Ball and Tim Parry, who were victims of the attack. The boys were shopping for Mother's Day cards. The IRA bombing in England was one of over 10,000 attacks over a 30-year period of violence known in Ireland and Britain as “The Troubles”.

O'Riordan said that she wrote the song to cope with her identity as an Irish woman who didn’t support the violence of the IRA. In 1994, she told Vox magazine:

"The IRA are not me. I'm not the IRA. The Cranberries are not the IRA. My family are not. ... When it says in the song, 'It's not me, it's not my family,' that's what I'm saying. It's not Ireland".

While I really like all of the songs on this list, I believe this one is truly a masterpiece of 90s alt rock. Now that you have the context, give it another listen, read the lyrics below and tell me what you think. When I hear it, I reminisce on my travels to Ireland and feel grateful the Troubles are over.

• "Zombie" lyrics by The Cranberries

  Another head hangs lowly

  Child is slowly taken

  And the violence caused such silence

  Who are we mistaken

  But you see it's not me

  It's not my family

  In your head, in your head

  They are fighting

  With their tanks and their bombs

  And their bombs and their guns

  In your head, in your head

  They are cryin'

  In your head, in your head

  Zombie, zombie, zombie, hey, hey

  What's in your head, in your head

  Zombie, zombie, zombie, hey, hey, hey, oh

  Dou, dou, dou, dou

  Dou, dou, dou, dou

  Dou, dou, dou, dou

  Dou, dou, dou, dou

  Another mother's breakin'

  Heart is taking over

  When the violence causes silence

  We must be mistaken

  It's the same old theme

  Since nineteen-sixteen

  In your head, in your head

  They're still fightin'

  With their tanks and their bombs

  And their bombs and their guns

  In your head, in your head

  They are dyin'

  In your head, in your head

  Zombie, zombie, zombie, hey, hey

  What's in your head, in your head

  Zombie, zombie, zombie, hey, hey, hey

  Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

  Hey, oh, ya, ya-a

  Writer: Dolores Mary O'Riordan

As I finish this list, it occurs to me that none of the tunes are about actual zombies. Rather, they highlight how important zombies have become in our culture for use in symbolism and metaphor. Are there any zombie songs from the 80s and 90s that I missed? Let me know in the comments below. With that, I leave you with this quote:

“Dear girls. We like you for your brains, not your body. Sincerely, Zombies.”

— Anonymous