Author: Christian Adams
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What Is Sadcore? Explained
Sadcore is a controversial descriptor for an intensely personal, melancholic blend of blues, folk, and country music with the self-important aesthetics of art rock, and just a whisper of post-punk. “Demure indie folk” doesn’t roll off the tongue like “’90s hipster coffee shop music.” As a movement, sadcore is an artistic and ethical rejection of…
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30 Essential Rock Debut Albums | A Personal Ranking
This post will most likely set a record for quickest time from ideation to execution. I just finished a two-part series that covered the 250+ best rock debut albums of all time and decided to crystalize my top 30 because there’s a lot of flesh in the nooks and crannies. Like all BSM listicles, I’ve…
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We Don’t Even Get the Guy: AI and the Paradox of Dual-Use Technology
Part 3 of a three-part series on the influence of AI and digital technology in music and the rise of push-button monoculture in the arts. At the time of writing, there are dozens of dedicated commercial AI music generators available, along with hundreds of smaller, niche, or open-source applications. The industry is dominated by a…
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Best Rock Debut Albums (1980—2020)
Part 2 of a two-part series covering the best rock debut albums of all time. In the music business, first impressions are everything; but as we enter the modern rock era (1980 to 2020), the margin for error slowly disappeared. During the classic rock era, call it 1956 through 1979, record labels would routinely bankroll…
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Analog vs. Digital: It’s About the Process, Not the Sound
Part 2 of a three-part series on the influence of AI and digital technology in music and the rise of push-button monoculture in the arts. On 12 separate occasions over the last 14 years of posting on BSM, I have written something along the lines of “digital technology ruined rock music in the early 1990s.”…
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The Persistence of Wesley Willis
It’s been 23 years since Wesley Willis passed away, and I still think about him almost daily. Perhaps the hallmark of a solitary character, my internal dialog never stops. Every time I leave the house and pass the KFC on the corner, I repeat, “Rock over London. Rock on, Chicago. Kentucky Fried Chicken. We do…
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Best Rock Debut Albums from the ’50s, ’60s & ’70s
Part 1 of a two-part series covering the best rock debut albums of all time. First impressions are generally important in life and music. Rock bands always want to put their best foot forward, so to speak, if they should ever be so lucky to record and release a debut album. The problem is some…
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I Don’t Want to Hear It: An Aging Musician’s Take on Modern Music
Part 1 of a three-part series on the influence of AI and digital technology in music and the rise of push-button monoculture in the arts. The only sounds in my apartment right now are the Vornado fan on high, the buzz of the fridge, vague construction noise from five floors above, and my cat meowing…
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20 Van Halen Deep Cuts Only True Fans Know (2026 Update)
The David Lee Roth-era(s) of Van Halen spawned 7 albums and 98 songs, with roughly 25 songs receiving heavy radio airplay. Considering Van Halen’s influence and popularity, it’s hard to say anything they ever did—especially in the DLR era—could be “under-appreciated.” The six classic albums with Roth have sold 50+ million copies (worldwide). It’s safe…
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32 Essential Hard Rock Bands (According to Me)
Rock, in all its subgenre confusion, is my favorite kind of music and pretty much the only music I enjoy at home. Roughly half of my favorite bands are hard rock, and 8 of my 10 favorite albums fall within the hard rock genre or land somewhere in the vicinity of hard rock-adjacent, e.g., Never…
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What Is Hard Rock? (The Final Boss Definition)
To summarize, hard rock is rock and roll music played with distorted guitars, loud drums, aggressive vocals, and high-energy tempos. Many hard rock bands incorporate keyboards and synthesizers, but electric guitar remains the designated driver of the sound. In its purest form, hard rock is blues-based rock played louder and faster than generally presumed necessary.…
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32 Songs About Family
When I consider songs about family, I’m drawn to oddball perspectives and appalled by the populist feelgood drivel of “We Are Family” by Sister Sledge and “Daughters” by John Mayer. However, having a 14-year-old son is a daily reminder that some people didn’t grow up watching All in the Family and Different Strokes, so these…
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I’m Not Here for That: The Most Overrated Rock Bands of All Time
Here’s your daily reminder that opinions about music are essentially worthless, and anything I have to say about the most overrated rock bands of all time is not going to change your life or your mind. I’m here for entertainment purposes only. However, it’s fair to say that I’ve put a lot of thought into…
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Calling Bullsh*t: 25 Overrated Rock Albums
As a rule, Black Sunshine Media is a good karma website, meaning, I don’t write negative stuff unless it’s exclusively within the context (or boundaries) of whatever I’m writing about. For example, in Top Rock Guitarists of All Time (According to Me), I mention some overrated players and brief reasons for my opinion, but the…
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Hated vs. Overrated in Rock Music: Definitions & Distinctions
If you’ve read anything on BSM, you know that I have more than a few strong opinions about rock music. However, if this is your first time reading my work, the distinction between “hated” and “overrated” might get lost in the narrative. Most reader comments are rebuttals to my lack of appreciation for this, that,…
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Top Rock Music Producers of the 1990s and 2000s
[Grandpa enters the room and slumps into an easy chair. He slowly pivots his head toward the camera, lowering his gaze.] You see, I have a love/hate relationship with rock music from the 1990s to present, and likewise, a vague sense of ambivalence for the top rock music producers of the digital era. The problem…
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25 Songs About Sex
Seventy percent of rock music is fundamentally and/or tangentially about sex. The other 30 percent of rock music is about guys who can’t seem to get any sex. The phrase “rocking and rolling” originally described the movement of a ship on the ocean as a sexual analogy. Likewise, the subtext of “boy meets girl” is…
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Top 60 Rock Keyboardists (According to Me)
I’ve been reluctant to publish this post about rock keyboard players—or keyboardists—because technically and theoretically, I’m not a pianist or keyboardist. If somebody asks, yes, I can play keyboards, but I’m no Edgar Winter. However, piano was the first instrument I learned to play, before drums or guitar. Keyboard Heroes Unlike guitar and drums, I…
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Albums You Must Hear Before You Die…Or Not (1999–2000)
It’s been a 10-year slog through the list of 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (edited by Robert Dimery), and I’m just now getting around to 1999–2000. The total album count is 1,083 albums, for those of you keeping track at home. The list of must-hear albums gets exceedingly thin around the turn…
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150+ Yacht Rock and/or Pool Party Songs to Set the Tone
Do you have a boat with a sound system that needs a rock-oriented playlist for your next soireé at sea? Are you planning an adult pool party but don’t have time to curate a soundtrack? Having some friends over tonight to guzzle some cocktails and talk shit about each other? You’ve come to the right…
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Yacht Rock Explained: The Story of Adult-Oriented Rock aka Smooth Music
Yacht rock is a playfully mocking term for an ample range of glossy, intelligent jazz rock, pop rock, soft rock, and occasionally hard rock that permeated FM radio airwaves from the mid 1970s to mid 1980s. Also associated with adult alternative rock (not to be confused with album-oriented rock) or the “West Coast Sound,” the…
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Top 50 Progressive Rock Guitarists (According to Me)
I don’t consider myself a progressive rock guitarist, but prog is an important part of my skill set. The verse section of “The Spirit of Radio” by Rush was the first lick I learned to play by ear. Yessongs (1973) was the first live album I ever owned. I legit studied classical guitar for two…
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Top 30 Alternative Rock Guitarists (According to Me)
Alternative rock is mostly guitar-centric, so it’s no surprise that the genre is loaded with talent. I’ve got my favorites because I basically grew up during the hey-days of alternative (1983–1999), and the closely related genres of new wave and post-punk. There’s a lot of crossover between genres but, like everything else, after writing so…
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Top Progressive Rock Albums of All Time (According to Me)
Progressive rock emerged in the late 1960s when rock musicians were empowered to move away from the singles format and into the album era, and likewise, allowed to explore conceptual and instrumental boundaries. This artistic and commercial freedom resulted in a tsunami of progressive rock albums during its peak between 1971–1976, when hundreds, maybe thousands,…
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Top 50+ Alternative Rock Albums (According to Me)
Like many comparable types of rock music, alternative rock music went through phases or waves of emergence, peak saturation, and ultimate decline. Our task is to parse and evaluate the best albums from the period, which isn’t easy. It begs a bigger question: What is alternative rock? Modern rock bands are still making what we…