Zombie first rose to fame as a founding member of the heavy metal band White Zombie. The band independently released two studio albums, which failed to have commercial success but caught the attention of artists such as Kurt Cobain and Iggy Pop. The group signed with Geffen Records to release their third studio album; the project was a commercial success, selling over two million copies worldwide. Their fourth studio album had a similar success, with sales exceeding two million copies in the United States. Zombie began directing the band's music videos after the release of "More Human than Human" (1995). Zombie released his first solo recording in 1996, a collaboration with Alice Cooper titled "Hands of Death (Burn Baby Burn)". The song, recorded for "", went on to receive a Grammy award nomination for Best Metal Performance at the 39th Annual Grammy Awards. The following year, he contributed the original song "The Great American Nightmare" with Howard Stern to the soundtrack for the film "Private Parts" (1997).