16th Anniversary of Sublime's Final Album Release with Bradley Nowell [VIDEOS]
Monday, July 30 marks the 16th anniversary of Sublime's release of their third and final studio album with the late singer Bradley Nowell, with the self-titled album "Sublime."
"Sublime" - with the initial album title "Killin' It" changed after the lead singer and founding member Nowell's untimely death - was released on July 30, 1996. Including such ska-punk, dub-reggae hits including "What I Got," "Wrong Way," "Santeria," and "Doin' Time," the album is still considered by critics and fans today to be a true ska classic, making Sublime one of the biggest American rock acts in 1996 and 1997.
Just a few months prior to "Sublime's," release, while on tour in Northern California, drummer Bud Gaugh found Nowell lying across a bed unconscious in San Francisco. Upon further inspection Gaugh noticed a green film around Nowell's mouth, leading him to assume that Nowell had overdosed on heroin. He was later pronounced dead at the scene, and the overdose was considered accidental.
The surviving members of Sublime decided to end the band following Nowell's death, but starting in 2009, Eric Wilson and Josh Freese formed a temporary reunion with new singer and guitarist Rome Ramirez under the revised name Sublime with Rome. They are currently on tour with the rock-reggae band Pepper.
In honor of "Sublime's" release, the official Sublime website has posted a link on their Facebook to the album's entire track listing, with songs and lyrics included. Check it out here, and check out some classic "Sublime" videos below, where Nowell makes some cameo appearances via stock footage (also starring Nowell's infamous pet dalmatian Lou Dog):
"What I Got"
"Santeria"
Wrong Way (starring Bijou Phillips):