So obviously I’ve been gone for a bit. It was an unplanned “winter break” due to not much more than lack of motivation. I am looking to get back to posting and I’ll kick it off with this. I’ll switch up my format some with more posts about songs and less about albums as a way to get me back into the groove. It might take a bit for me to break back through but I’ll get there, someday.

Today I’m going back to the swamp of the early 1990’s and tackling what would be something of a breakthrough, in a roundabout way, for a long-running cult act. White Zombie had been at it since 1985 and had built a good underground reputation for themselves, but they were ready to take the next steps to mainstream success. They landed a major label deal with Geffen Records and recorded the album La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume One in 1992. The break would not be immediate – White Zombie toured their assess off with every metal band known to man and received a good bit of support from MTV. Their inclusion on the mega hit show Beavis and Butthead would help launch them into stardom, and the album would eventually sell two million copies as the band went white hot through the mid 1990’s.

Black Sunshine was the second single from the record, following Thunder Kiss ’65. The first single did nothing on the charts but would later catch on through MTV, while Black Sunshine did very modestly chart at 39 on the Mainstream Rock Chart (US). The band’s surge would see Thunder Kiss work its way up to 26 on the same chart about a year after the album’s release.

The song opens with a few car sound effects and a monstrous bass line that both anchors the song and takes center stage. We’re treated to a spoken word intro from punk legend Iggy Pop, who also appears in the video. The intro sets the table for the song’s protagonist, a Ford Mustang named Black Sunshine.

Once everyone kicks in we have a song that’s both groovy and menacing. It’s one heavy ass riff that runs along with the bass while Rob Zombie’s trademark snarl delivers a thesaurus full of lyrics that are loosely related to each other or anything else, but paint a picture of “badass car go fast.” This isn’t a song with a plot or narrative, it’s a vibe machine where everything supports the headbanging good time. Iggy Pop shows up again to deliver a spoken outro.

Everything blends together perfectly to deliver a fantastic listening experience. There are no unnecessary interludes or embellishments – everything here fits to create atmosphere and propel the song along.

Black Sunshine became a star on MTV as White Zombie crawled out of the underground and toward the top of the metal heap. Heavy metal in the early ’90’s was the loosely-gathered “alt-metal” collective of acts like Danzig and Type O Negative, and Pantera was moving to become metal’s most significant band as the acts of a decade prior were out of season. White Zombie found themselves enjoying mainstream success after many years in the underground. This would only last a few years, as Rob Zombie decided to end the band and launch his successful solo career.

When people look back on the raspy growls and groovy rhythms of White Zombie, there are few better examples than Black Sunshine. Their rise to the mainstream after years of obscurity provided a great soundtrack for the weird times of the early 1990’s.