Rob Zombie's TV Influence

05/21/1999 at 12:00 AM EDT

Heavy-metal hero Rob Zombie shed some light into how he created his ghoulish on-stage persona in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. Growing up as Rob Straker in Haverhill MA, he was not allowed by his parents to see movies like "A Clockwork Orange" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." At home he watched the boob tube. "I was totally obsessed with TV, to the point where it was unhealthy," he said. "It didn't matter what was on, I would watch it. If there was a storm and the power went out, I would sit there in a state of shock, just freaking out."