The song most often associated with Rob Zombie’s The Devil’s Rejects might be “Freebird,” but it’s the music of Terry Reid that serves as the musical voice of the film throughout. Zombie memorably used three of Reid’s songs to great effect in his sequel to House of 1000 Corpses, and in fact it was Reid’s music that was a source of inspiration on 3 from Hell years later.
We’re sad to learn this week that Terry Reid has passed away at the age of 75.
Rob Zombie used Reid’s songs “Brave Awakening,” “To Be Treated Rite,” and “Seed of Memory” in The Devil’s Rejects, all three plucked from Reid’s album Seed of Memory. Released in 1976, it was Reid’s fourth studio album, and Zombie has cited it as one of his personal favorites.
Zombie stated in a video for Google Play several years ago (watch it below), “My favorite album is Terry Reid’s Seed of Memory. Some people remember Terry Reid because there was always the rumor that he was supposed to be the original lead singer of Led Zeppelin back in the day, but he had his own solo career. You think to yourself, ‘Who could possibly replace Robert Plant,’ but when you hear Terry Reid, he’s just as phenomenal of a voice. It’s one of those sad cases where it’s just the most genius record ever made and not that many people know about it.”
Back in 2019 prior to the release of The Devil’s Rejects sequel 3 from Hell, Zombie explained to Bloody Disgusting how Terry Reid’s music helped to resurrect his trio of Firefly maniacs.
Zombie told us at the time, “Whenever I would listen to Terry Reid… there’s a lot of Terry Reid songs in The Devil’s Rejects, off his album Seed of Memory. But there’s a couple of songs that I didn’t use, and every time I would hear them, they sounded like songs that I should use.”
“I would hear the songs and I would so closely link his voice and that album with the characters that I would just start seeing images,” Zombie explained. “I started just coming up with these ideas how they could have survived and what could have happened. It was not like a full story arc or anything, it was just basic moments, and that’s what sort of got the ball rolling.”
Rob Zombie ended up using Terry Reid’s songs “The Frame” and “Faith to Arise” in 3 from Hell, even further linking the musician to Zombie’s career and most enduring film achievement.
You can learn more about Terry Reid – who did indeed turn down offers to join both Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple – by reading Variety’s obituary that dives deep into his music career.
Terry Reid is survived by his wife, Annette.