Top 40 '90s albums, #26: Smog — Knock Knock

It wasn’t really until Bill Callahan started releasing music under his own name that I really took notice of his music: his baritone voice; his slow, considered alt-country sound; his thoughtful lyricism. It took me really until 2009’s Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle to take true notice of Bill Callahan, despite his earlier nom de plume, Smog, being right in my peripheral vision for nearly a decade. And even then, it took me a while to revisit his offerings as Smog, and — like I’ve said so many times in this list — I wish I’d done that earlier.

Of course, once again, I think I found Bill Callahan and Smog at the right time. There’s something beautiful about realizing that so many years later, because it’s now been some 16 or 17 years since I fell in love with Bill Callahan’s music. That’s a startling realization, because it still feels like I’m only really just becoming truly acquainted. Sometimes he’ll release an album and I’ll somehow not see anything about it. (I just picked up his latest, though, so I’m not behind the times this time around.)

It’s commonly held that there’s a tonal shift between Bill Callahan’s earlier music and later music, and that’s certainly true, but Knock Knock would fit nicely today, nearly 30 (!) years after its first release. Some music wears age better than other music, and Bill Callahan’s definitely aging like — I don’t know, something timeless. Wine spoils (I mean, not all the time, but sometimes. And not every wine is better aged.), so not that. It’s almost that it doesn’t really age — I could see Knock Knock being his latest release in 2026, and I’d delight in “Cold Blooded Old Times,” “Let’s Move to the Country,” and “Hit the Ground Running.” And when he slows things down with “I Could Drive Forever” and “Left Only With Love,” I wouldn’t hear somebody at the heart of that slowcore indie sound — I’d just hear Bill Callahan.