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This track comes from Sublime’s self-titled, third album. Sadly, the album marked both a beginning and an end for this band from Long Beach, California. They had issued two previous albums, but the release of Sublime marked their first on a major label. They had built a strong following in California and were positioned for broader success. Shortly after Sublime was completed and just before its release, lead singer and guitarist Bradley Nowell overdosed on heroin. Despite their new-found glory, the remaining band members decided that there was no Sublime without Nowell. Without the benefit of concert promotion, Sublime went platinum five times and included a number one hit song among the many tracks that received heavy radio rotation.
Sublime's recordings will forever remind me of business school. Outside of the classroom, I spent a number of hours cruising and wakeboarding the rivers around St. Louis with three of my closest classmates. I'm fairly certain the boat only had four discs onboard throughout our couple years in school - two from Sublime and one each from the Greyboy Allstars and The Fugees. The river was a place to escape cost accounting and organizational behavior, and a place for the type of repetitive listening that burns lyrics into the brain. For me, Sublime's albums fall into that class of music where you not only know every word, you know every grunt, note, sound effect, and drum kick.
Beyond my familiarity with their music, Sublime's blend of reggae, hip hop, ska and punk is right up my alley. And while their world couldn't have been further from mine, there's a bizarre thing that sometimes happens with familiar music that also speaks to the struggle of an underclass. It can make you feel like you are somehow part of the struggle, too. There are many who have belted out the Bob Marley lines below with the passion of a freedom fighter...
Until the color of a man's skin
Is of no more significance than the color of his eyes
Me say war
That until the basic human rights are equally
Guaranteed to all, without regard to race
Dis a war
I know I have. You don't just sing the music. You act like it speaks to you plight - even when you don't have one. But I don't feel like a fraud. I desire a colorblind world and identify with the sentiment if not the struggle itself.
Sublime's music is no different. But their fight is not about race. It's about class. Pawn Shop is a prime example. When they point out the sadness of buying another person's misery, you sing those lines as if you just sold your guitar to feed your baby...
what has been sold, not strickly made of stone
just remember that it's flesh and bone
This track comes from Sublime’s self-titled, third album. Sadly, the album marked both a beginning and an end for this band from Long Beach, California. They had issued two previous albums, but the release of Sublime marked their first on a major label. They had built a strong following in California and were positioned for broader success. Shortly after Sublime was completed and just before its release, lead singer and guitarist Bradley Nowell overdosed on heroin. Despite their new-found glory, the remaining band members decided that there was no Sublime without Nowell. Without the benefit of concert promotion, Sublime went platinum five times and included a number one hit song among the many tracks that received heavy radio rotation.
Sublime's recordings will forever remind me of business school. Outside of the classroom, I spent a number of hours cruising and wakeboarding the rivers around St. Louis with three of my closest classmates. I'm fairly certain the boat only had four discs onboard throughout our couple years in school - two from Sublime and one each from the Greyboy Allstars and The Fugees. The river was a place to escape cost accounting and organizational behavior, and a place for the type of repetitive listening that burns lyrics into the brain. For me, Sublime's albums fall into that class of music where you not only know every word, you know every grunt, note, sound effect, and drum kick.
Beyond my familiarity with their music, Sublime's blend of reggae, hip hop, ska and punk is right up my alley. And while their world couldn't have been further from mine, there's a bizarre thing that sometimes happens with familiar music that also speaks to the struggle of an underclass. It can make you feel like you are somehow part of the struggle, too. There are many who have belted out the Bob Marley lines below with the passion of a freedom fighter...
Until the color of a man's skin
Is of no more significance than the color of his eyes
Me say war
That until the basic human rights are equally
Guaranteed to all, without regard to race
Dis a war
I know I have. You don't just sing the music. You act like it speaks to you plight - even when you don't have one. But I don't feel like a fraud. I desire a colorblind world and identify with the sentiment if not the struggle itself.
Sublime's music is no different. But their fight is not about race. It's about class. Pawn Shop is a prime example. When they point out the sadness of buying another person's misery, you sing those lines as if you just sold your guitar to feed your baby...
what has been sold, not strickly made of stone
just remember that it's flesh and bone
There have been a number of posthumous releases by the band - a decision that requires navigating a series of questions. Is it solely a way to satisfy fans with additional recorded material? Is it a way for survivors' to cash in on unrealized success? Does the material live up to the standard that the group or artist achieved prior to death? Similar questions have haunted the estates of Tupac Shakur and, more recently, Michael Jackson. I suppose each instance is different. In the case of Sublime, there were surviving members of the band. In some respects that makes it similar to the ongoing debate the surviving Beatles (and the representatives of those deceased) have engaged in regarding their catalog. After years of being fairly conservative with their assets, The Beatles have their own video game and are now famously available via iTunes (feel free to click on the ad to your right). Paul, Ringo and Yoko's recent choices were really a question of distribution, but 15 years ago they decided to release The Beatles Anthology - a mix of previously unreleased tracks and alternate versions of familiar tunes. The Sublime survivors made the decision to release new songs and variations on previously released ones, as well. Rather than question their decision, I'll just give them a pass. They were so close to a much deserved and heightened level of popularity and prosperity that it is hard to fault them for cashing in where and when they could. I feel their pain.
Ps. In my research, I read that the surviving members eventually did attempt to reunite Sublime with a new front man. The 2009 reunion was cut short by the successful suit of Nowell's estate. Maybe sometimes it is best to remember things how they were. I wish I had.
Ps. In my research, I read that the surviving members eventually did attempt to reunite Sublime with a new front man. The 2009 reunion was cut short by the successful suit of Nowell's estate. Maybe sometimes it is best to remember things how they were. I wish I had.
Quite simply, they had a profound impact on the music scene during the 90's. Bradley was a genius and Bud and E formed a formidable rhythm/percussion section. One of the best bands of all time.
ReplyDelete"I don't feel no pain/I ain't got no time/To listen to conflicting points of view..."