On a monthly basis, the Houston Press will deep-dive an album that dropped on that particular month in the ’90s. Some were well-received. Others not. Some have held up. Others, far from it. Some marked an artist’s critical or commercial peak. Others simply set the table for more greatness to come. Regardless, they all helped constitute a decade that ranks among the most influential in music history.
This is “The Way it Was.”
The artist: Sublime
The album: Sublime
The release date: July 30, 1996
The backstory: Bradley Nowell, by 1996, was seemingly on top of the world. He was newly married, and he and his new bride were parents to an infant son born the prior year. He was the frontman of a band (Sublime) that had built up a rabid and dedicated following in its native Southern California. The band, with influences ranging from punk rock to hip-hop to reggae, was poised to go from independent and local darlings to full-fledged, commercial rock stars. Their third (and best) proper studio album, Killin’ It, was due to drop that summer.
Behind Nowell’s personal and musical success, however, was a crippling heroin addiction. Like fellow ’90s rockers – Layne Staley of Alice in Chains and Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, to name a couple – Nowell made no secret of this personal struggle via his band’s music. Friends and family privately confided that Nowell needed help, that perhaps the road warrior ways of a burgeoning rock star were no place for him. Tragically, they were right. Nowell died of a heroin overdose in May 1996 while Sublime was on tour in Northern California.
The band’s final proper studio album dropped two months later.
The impact: Given the passage of time and the band’s lasting legacy, some may recall Sublime (renamed from Killin’ It, after Nowell’s passing) as an instant success, fans and the music-buying public paying homage to a great talent gone far too soon. This isn’t entirely accurate.
Recorded mostly at Willie Nelson’s Pedernales Studio in Austin, Sublime captured a band really finding its stride. The band had released two studio albums previous to Sublime – 40oz. to Freedom in 1992, Robbin’ the Hood two years later – and both hinted at a band that was on its way but not quite there yet.
That all changed with Sublime, one of the better rock albums of 1996 and one that is far more introspective than may appear. Sublime, with its beachy, reggae, happy go lucky vibes, sounds like a band with not a care in the world. But sample the lyrics and you find tales of broken youth (“Wrong Way”), social strife (“April 29, 1992”), drug addiction (“Garden Grove”) and toxic relationships (“Doin’ Time”). Even the album’s two biggest songs – “What I Got” and “Santeria” – aren’t exactly uplifting listens, at least lyrically.
So, while Sublime wasn’t the instant success some may recall, the band’s final studio album has since become a classic. Sublime at one point spent more than 200 weeks on the Billboard Albums chart and has since sold more than seven million copies. It also spawned a couple of songs (more on them in a bit) that live on to this day.
The legacy: When it comes to Sublime’s legacy, you take the good with the considerably less so. On one hand, Nowell’s untimely passing – coupled with one of the most influential and infectious albums of the mid-’90s – has made Sublime a musical staple, even nearly 30 years on. The band, particularly in today’s ’90s renaissance, is any many ways even more relevant than in the mid-’90s. This is a good thing.
And then you have Sublime with Rome. Started as essentially a cover band tribute by Sublime members Eric Wilson and Bud Gaugh, Sublime with Rome (Nowell’s replacement was Rome Ramirez) initially attempted to tour and record under the Sublime moniker, before Nowell’s estate sued the new group and a compromise was agreed upon. The band recorded four albums, varying in quality from fine to not very good and toured quite a bit until Sublime with Rome announced a farewell tour that runs through the year.
Now, in quite a twist, Sublime is officially back together, with Gaugh and Wilson back in the fold. The new lead singer? None other than Jakob Nowell, son of the late Bradley Nowell. The trio’s new single, “Feel Like That” (with the elder Nowell’s voice in the mix), is actually pretty good, and the younger Nowell sounds a LOT like his father.
In short, Sublime’s legacy is a complicated one. The band never reached the commercial heights of 90s contemporaries like No Doubt, but it is still very much on rotation in terrestrial radio and any summer pool party with good musical taste. Hell, Sublime’s lead singer wasn’t even alive to witness the band’s commercial peak.
That said, nearly 30 years have passed, and Sublime remains as influential today as the band from which it was named. Few bands of that era can say the same.
Biggest track: Despite its lasting impact, Sublime only released six singles during its initial run. Of those, “What I Got” is the only one to reach the top spot on the Billboard Alternative singles chart. The video – shot after Nowell’s death – is an homage to the late frontman and features a number of photos and videos of Nowell. The lyrics are a mixed bag of sadness, drugs and life’s wrong turns, counterbalanced by optimism, love and acceptance of life’s pitfalls.
Best track: The ’90s was littered with catchy singles that live on in karaoke bars from coast to coast to this day, perhaps none as infectious as “Santeria.” In typical Sublime fashion, the song itself is not particularly uplifting – it’s either about a jealous ex-boyfriend who aims to take out the guy who stole his girlfriend, while others have speculated it’s about the hold that drugs had on Nowell at the time of its writing. Could be a little of both, given Nowell’s gift for songwriting. Regardless, the opening riff of “Santeria” is a classic, and Nowell’s voice is in absolute peak form. Life, like many a Sublime song, is about the good and the bad, the ups and the downs. Bradley Nowell really wanted to know; perhaps he did all along.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
