Sublime: Music & Lyrics Touched Our Soul

There are many sounds of summer. To me, the music of Sublime will always remain the soundtrack to summer despite the year or the season. I first heard their music through the first girl I ever fell in love with. The year was 1996 and she introduced me to the mindblowing variety of styles that compromise Sublime's music. I fell in love with the band that summer and nothing has shaken the deep respect that I have for them since. It's my pleasure to introduce you to their music if you're a first time listener or welcome you to this site as a fellow fan sharing the love! Either way, I hope you learn something new while you visit!

Good music is good music and that should be enough for anybody.

Brad Nowell of Sublime

The band known as Sublime began in 1988 out of Long Beach, California. The trio of lead singer Brad Nowell, drummer Bud Gaugh and bassist (and guitarist) Eric Wilson laid down a blending of ska, punk and reggae that reflected their sunny Southern California environment. While Brad Nowell grew up soaked in music thanks to his parent's influence and began his first band, Hogan's Heroes, at age thirteen, he wouldn't found Sublime with Bud Gaugh and Eric Wilson until 1988. Brad met them while attending college at Cal State Long Beach, where Sublime became a popular band to play at parties and bars. Often they played gigs in exchange for free alcohol. Bud and Eric first met in 1979, going on to found the garage punk band known as The Juice Bros.

In 1989 Michael "Miguel" Happoldt created a new record label. The label was named Skunk Records, which has a double meaning among the underground crowd who frequented Sublime shows. It refers to Sublime's musical fusion of ska and punk genres, but it's also a tongue-in-cheek reference to the scent associated with certain strains of cannabis. Early on they sold their demo tapes at shows and local record stores. In a sense they built their own fanbase without support from a major record label with guerrilla marketing and a do-it-yourself mentality.

By the time 1991 rolled around, Sublime released their first studio produced album after two years in the making. Distributed on audio cassette tape, the album was titled Jah Won't Pay the Bills and featured ten tracks, five on each side. While this particular cassette is extremely rare, it's sought after by hardcore fans because it includes several tracks that differ from the versions released on the later albums 40 Oz. to Freedom and Second-hand Smoke. A difficult tape to come across these days, but if you are in search of it, E-bay will most likely be your best bet.

The band had decided to begin touring after the release of Jah Won't Pay the Bills, but unfortunately Bud revealed he was struggling with a drug problem. He checked into a drug rehabilitation facility to get help. They didn't want to break up their trio to tour or leave their friend behind to battle his addiction alone, so they focused on recording the music they'd created in the studio.

1992 brought forth their efforts in the form of an album that's made the band very popular over the years: 40 Oz. to Freedom! Twenty-three tracks of raw musical talent and artistic inspiration. While Gaugh got his treatment the band brought in Marshall Goodman and Kelly Vargas to do the drumming. Sublime may not have had much popularity outside the strong support they enjoyed in their native Southern California, but what they did have was drive and determination to get their music heard. No major labels offered to pick them up, so they hit the streets on their own. Brad sold sixty thousand copies out of the trunk of his car.

1994 brought forth another Skunk Records release, the album titled Robbin' the Hood. According to its cover it includes "13 self-produced 4-track home recordings." The decision to record an album on such a low budget wasn't actually due to monetary constraints, it's said to have been an artistic decision on part of Brad and the band. Accusations had begun to arise that they were only in the music business for the money, so Robbin' the Hood ended up being proof that they could still keep it real while producing a record that would delight fans for years to come. The album contains a total of twenty-two tracks, the last track having several "hidden tracks" that weren't re-released by a major label later on.

Despite the success he'd made for the band, Brad descended into a depression, frustrated by the lack of interest from major labels. He turned from alcohol and ganja to begin experimenting with heroin. He justified this by saying it would help his artistic expression. Afterall, if Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison and other rockstars had gotten huge attention, why shouldn't he? This decision would prove to have tragic results not only for Sublime, but also Brad Nowell himself and all those who loved him.

Shortly after this dark period began, Sublime got something of a break. Tazy Phyllipz, one of the people behind a Southern California radio show called Ska Parade (still on the air as SP Radio One, which you can visit by clicking that link) put together a compilation called Step On It: The Best of The Ska Parade Radio Show which included Sublime and several other third wave ska bands. A live version of Sublime's song Date Rape was featured and Phyllipz got so excited about the band that he took their album 40 Oz. to Freedom to KROQ, a radio station out of Los Angeles. He personally requested that Date Rape be added to their playlist. His push lead to airplay which sparked the interest of MCA Records who picked up 40 Oz. to Freedom for distribution nationwide under their Gasoline Alley imprint. The album entered the Billboard charts, even shooting up to #1 for the Pacific Region and holding that position for five weeks.

Still, the band wasn't considered to have truly broken out even in 1995. By this time Brad faced an immense struggle against heroin and other drugs. He reportedly spent $4,000 (yes, four thousand dollars!) a month on heroin by the time the band entered the recording studio to lay down their self-titled album in February of 1996. They worked with Paul Leary of the band Butthole Surfers in Willie Nelson's Pedernales Studio in Austin, Texas. Leary himself worried the mere production of the album would end up being the exploitation of a genuine junkie - Brad Nowell. In the end, Brad had to be flown back home to California.

This is the year Brad checked himself into rehab because the band had gotten signed to MCA and his son Jakob had been born. He stayed clean for a short while and married Jakob's mother, Troy Dendekker, before taking off for a five-day tour of California cities that would prepare the band for their upcoming European tour. In Europe the band would be promoting their major label debut album, Sublime.

On May 25th, 1996 Bud Gaugh found Brad Nowell's body in the Ocean View Motel room they were sharing in San Francisco. Brad had finally gone too far with the heroin and overdosed himself. This destroyed the band and broke the hearts of Brad's friends, family and fans worldwide. In fact, Brad's death almost prevented the release of the self-titled debut album because the record company executives balked at its original title: "Killin' It"

On July 30th, 1996 Sublime the album was finally released, a bittersweet victory for the band and fans alike. By the following year, it'd worked its way into the Billboard's Top 20 chart and the classic single Sublime may well be best known for, What I Got, went on to become the Modern Rock chart's number one song! Other popular radio hits included Wrong Way, Doin' Time and Santeria. The album went on to sell over five million copies, proof the magic of Sublime really was meant for a wider audience.

By 1997, MTV began airing the videos from 40 Oz. to Freedom in heavy rotation. Fans finally got to see the music videos for Santeria, What I Got, Wrong Way and Badfish. These videos included the extra treat of live footage of Brad and the band performing live shot before his death. We also got to see Sublime's mascot the celebrated Dalmatian dog known as Lou Dog!

Despite Brad's passing, perhaps even in order to honor his memory, Sublime continued to release further albums of older material. What I Got (EP) and the CD album Second-hand Smoke both came out in 1997. Stand by Your Van came out on CD in 1998 along with CD Sublime Acoustic: Bradley Nowell & Friends. In 1999, the highly anticipated Greatest Hits album came our way but we wouldn't see another Sublime album until 2002 when MCA released 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: The Best of Sublime. 2005 brought forth Gold, a double CD compilation album which offered a whopping forty four tracks.

In 2006, Geffen Records picked up the Sublime mantel, releasing a boxset called Everything Under the Sun. This massive compilation includes not only great Sublime hits, but also songs that until then had only been heard as bootlegs. Prior to the release of this boxset, Sublime Archive, a popular bootleg website received a takedown notice from Universal Music demanding that they remove all MP3's they offered for download. Of course, this ended up being because those bootlegs were released in the boxset which has three full CD's, each containing twenty tracks and one DVD of Sublime music videos and live footage.

While I enjoy many different styles and types of music, Sublime remains a pure favorite for me. Not only do their songs sound great to dance to or just jam out along with, they've also got lyrics that often relate real life stories. While the music's content may not appeal to everyone it's more than catchy pop tunes - there's real substance here, emotion so thick you can sink your teeth into it.

If you've not heard Sublime's music for yourself, I definitely recommend giving them a listen because out of all the people I've conned into sampling them none have expressed any regret. If you're a fan like me then you may be looking for quality Sublime merchandise. I've tried to bring together the good stuff right here for you because it's the same stuff I'd buy myself.

In closing, I'd like to dedicate this page to my personal inspiration Bradley James Nowell. He made a way for himself doing what he believed in and though he struggled to achieve his dreams, he kept going until the end. I may not have followed directly in his footsteps but I wish we all had a touch of that genuine inspiration and perseverence in our lives. Thank you for all you gave us, Bradley, your death can never be justified but your work will always be admired.