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Sublime albums3/11/2023 ![]() Instead, for me, it ruined the legacy of Sublime’s eponymous album by making it feel common. Long before we were storing our music online, it was the radio’s job to keep things fresh and maintain our interest in the music it claimed to appreciate. Because then you’ll hear it too often and you’ll tire of it. They say that if you love a song, don’t put it on your iPod (or phone, as it were). I find it hard to believe you can either. What a shame that is, because there’s value in their music. I have no good memories of their music now. Still, the nostalgic enjoyment of listening to them was pleasing and immediately brought me back to specific places and times. I haven’t heard most of these songs in years and probably won’t seek them out for just as long. I went from Better Than Ezra’s “Desperately Wanting” to Spacehog’s “In The Meantime,” to The Toadies “Possum Kingdom” and on and on I went. I equate these songs, and any song from Sublime now, as mediocre pablum unfit for my delicate ears.Īs I was preparing to write this piece, I ended up going down a YouTube wormhole of music videos from 1996. Just hearing the opening chords of “Santeria” makes my spine shiver. What was once the rare album I could put on and play from beginning to end became an album I wouldn’t listen to on a dare. All I know is that terrestrial radio sucked dry whatever goodness was left from that music. I’m guessing that the glut of Sublime songs on your local rock and alt rock stations was somewhat similar over the 2000s. 1 and I can assure you that KROQ played that song on the regular but I still don’t think they played it quite as much as “What I Got.” At least, that’s what it seemed like back then. Honestly, I think they undersold most of them, including “What I Got.” “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was No. In 2015, KROQ did a Firecracker 500, counting down the “500 biggest KROQ songs of all time.” On that list, “What I Got” came in at No. All the while, whatever remaining appreciation I had for that record fizzled away in a haze of over-saturation. I never met anyone who felt that their Sublime listening needs were not sufficiently met and I never met anyone who demanded that someone put Sublime on at a party or bar. Prove to me that the people of Los Angeles wanted, nay, needed to hear “What I Got” nine times a day. It got to the point where I wanted desperately to talk to someone at KROQ so they could show me the numbers. We are well into the pop/teen band era of the early 2000s. The biggest-selling albums are from Eminem, Nelly, Britney Spears, and Avril Lavigne. Sublime has long been off the charts and the entire state of music has shifted away from the likes of alt rock and ska. Spin Magazine would put it on their list of The 90 Greatest Albums of the 90s and Rolling Stone included it in their Essential Recordings of the 90s.įast-forward to 2002. ![]() It eventually sold over five million copies in the United States alone, a stunning number considering the band was unable to tour to promote it given the untimely death of their lead singer. The slow burn appeal of the album would put it on the alt rock charts for 122 weeks. “Santeria” wasn’t released until Januwhile “Wrong Way” followed soon after and “Doin’ Time” wouldn’t roll out November 25, almost a year and a half after the album had been released. Because of the immediate success of the album, the rollout of singles actually went well into the following year. ![]() It’s hard to remember but these were the days, long before the internet became a mainstay in our lives, when an album’s success lived or died with radio. It had been the Summer of Sublime as the band’s third (and final) studio album was released on July 30, 1996, two months following the tragic overdose death of lead singer Bradley Nowell. We can debate the merits of my musical taste as an 18-year-old another time (I’m very white, FYI), but it’s that last one that really stands out in my memory. But I can tell you what the soundtrack of my life was at that time without even thinking about it.ĭepending on my mood, it was a steady mixture of Rage Against The Machine’s Evil Empire, The Beatles (whom I had only recently dug into), Fiona Apple’s Tidal, Tonic’s Lemon Parade, Barenaked Ladies ‘ Rock Spectacle, eels ‘ Beautiful Freak, Better Than Ezra’s Friction, Baby, Bad Religion’s Stranger Than Fiction, Ben Folds Five’s Ben Folds Five, Reel Big Fish’s Turn the Radio Off, and Sublime’s Sublime. ![]() Looking back on my freshman fall semester of college in 1996, I couldn’t tell you about my classes and my memories of what went down on the weekends is hazy at best. ![]()
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