Do you practice Santeria?

(about the 3 chillest dudes you've ever seen right?)

One band I've been listening to a lot more lately is Sublime.  Although they are older, I feel like they still can hold their own with the newer bands of our generation.  Their mix of punk rock, reggae, and ska music creates a style that is unique to themselves that no one else has quite been able to duplicate.  The band came together in the late 80's rising to fame in the early 90's consisting of lead vocalist and guitarist- Brad Nowell, bassist- Eric Wilson, and drummer- Bud Gaugh, in Long Beach, California.  

Most people, if asked if they knew a Sublime song, would probably say "Santeria."  One of my personal favorites and probably the most popular, was released on their 1996 album "Sublime."  The last album the group recorded before Nowell tragically died of a heroin overdose.  Santeria incorporates reggae influence with the upbeat hits on the guitar with an amazing solo in the middle of the song.  Nowell also has a certain ruggedness yet really talented quality about his voice making the song even better.  Because Nowell passed before the creation of the music video, a hologram was used...pretty advanced for the time in my opinion. 

On their 1992 album 40 Oz. to Freedom , they released two songs entitled "Bad Fish," (bad fish link) and "Don't Push," (Don't push link) (the first song on the CD and in my opinion really starts it off well).  The songs, probably two of their calmer songs relying heavily on ska and reggae.  Nowell's voice sounding in some sections like the great reggae artists of the time including the Marley boys. 

Although not all of their songs were as nice and calm as the previous two, one of these being "Date Rape," off of 40 Oz. to Freedom.  The title leaves no surprises as to what the song is about; date rape... I agree the topic is a bit off but the melodic aspects of the song make up for the somewhat disturbing title.  After the first verse and chorus, there is an amazing guitar solo preformed by Nowell followed shortly by a call and answer section preformed by horns (used quite frequently by Sublime) and Wilson on bass.

Sublime definitely didn't lack talent as they wrote and preformed three great albums before Nowell's tragic death.  If he hadn't died, who knows what would've happened.  Maybe they'd still have the success they had before they hired a new singer? Unfortunately we'll never know, but we still can enjoy what Sublime gave us for 6 great years.

-Brooks Gonzales