25 Years Ago: Sublime’s Bradley Nowell Dies

Twenty-five years ago, the music community lost a young artist who made a short but truly significant impact on the world of rock, as Bradley Nowell of Sublime died on May 25th, 1996.

Nowell was the incredibly talented singer-songwriter of the ska punk band Sublime from Long Beach, California.   The group was very much on the rise as songs like "What I Got" and "Santeria" were getting airplay on rock and college radio stations.

Though I would graduate from Monmouth University right here at the Jersey Shore...at the time...I was attending Fordham University in the Bronx.   A couple of my buddies from Bayonne played the CD for me (remember Compact Discs?), and after hearing "April 29, 1992 (Miami)" I knew this band was AWESOME.

The groove was fantastic, the vocals were unique, the song was amazing.   After that, I heard "Wrong Way", "Caress Me Down", "Get Ready" and the aforementioned singles from above...and I was hooked.   Everything about Sublime felt very much like the '90's: it was fresh and fun and cool.   The self-titled album was an amazing musical mash-up of a few genres...before Internet mash-ups were all the rage.

Sadly, Bradley died while the band was right on the verge of superstardom...and Sublime's status as a legendary '90's band was cut short of their full potential.   But, today, we salute Bradley Nowell.   And we rock with Sublime with some fantastic videos below.   Slainte!

- East Side Dave