{"id":10602,"date":"2026-04-29T19:52:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T19:52:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/the-top-10-sublime-moments\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T19:52:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T19:52:34","slug":"the-top-10-sublime-moments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/the-top-10-sublime-moments\/","title":{"rendered":"The Top 10 Sublime Moments"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/04\/Sublime-2026-%40micalaaustin-scaled.jpg\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1708\" alt=\"\"><figcaption>Sublime 2026 (Photo Credit: Micala Austin)<br \/>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>With their eclectic mix of punk, reggae, ska, and hip-hop, the Long Beach, California trio Sublime became one of the most beloved bands of the \u201890s. Singer\/guitarist Bradley Nowell, bassist Eric Wilson, and drummer Bud Gaugh\u2019s original run together only lasted eight years before Nowell\u2019s tragic overdose death, but the three albums they recorded together have since sold over 17 million copies.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In June, Sublime will release <em>Until the Sun Explodes<\/em>, the band\u2019s first new studio album in 30 years, with Bradley\u2019s son Jakob Nowell now in the band. And in November, the band will set off from Miami to the Bahamas for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sublimecruise.com\/?utm_source=spin&amp;utm_medium=display&amp;utm_campaign=sub26&amp;utm_content=book-now\" target=\"_blank\">Sublime\u2019s Reef Madness cruise<\/a>. As the ultimate Sublime fan experience, the cruise\u2019s four nights of music will include two Sublime sets as well as performances from friends like Yelawolf, G. Love, and the Long Beach Dub Allstars. If you love Sublime, here\u2019s a look back at 10 of the most important moments in the band\u2019s history as you prepare to set sail with the Reef Madness cruise.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>More from Spin:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spinmagazine.com\/2026\/04\/why-libricides-kismet-feels-like-the-kind-of-find-people-gatekeep\/\">Why Libricide\u2019s Kismet Feels Like the Kind of Find People Gatekeep<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spinmagazine.com\/2026\/04\/playing-for-change-foundation-honors-wyclef-jean-and-nigel-barker-raising-2-5-million-at-2026-impact-awards-in-miami\/\">Playing For Change Foundation Honors Wyclef Jean, Nigel Barker<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spinmagazine.com\/2026\/04\/top-rsd-2026-releases\/\">Top RSD 2026\u00a0Releases<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-10-the-george-gershwin-estate-signs-off-on-doin-time-with-conditions\"><strong>10. The George Gershwin estate signs off on \u201cDoin\u2019 Time,\u201d with conditions<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>When Sublime sampled Herbie Mann\u2019s arrangement \u201cSummertime\u201d from <em>Porgy and Bess,<\/em> Bradley Nowell tweaked George Gershwin\u2019s lyrics, singing \u201cDoin\u2019 time and the living\u2019s easy\u201d instead of the original \u201cSummertime and the living\u2019s easy.\u201d Gershwin\u2019s estate approved the use of the sample under the condition that the original line be sung on Sublime track. With Nowell having died shortly after the recording of the song, Sublime\u2019s longtime manager Michael \u201cMiguel\u201d Happoldt sang the word \u201csummertime\u201d on the album version of \u201cDoin\u2019 Time\u201d that the fourth single from Sublime\u2019s 1996 self-titled album. A deluxe 10th anniversary edition of <em>Sublime <\/em>was released in 2006, including the earlier mix of \u201cDoin\u2019 Time\u201d with Nowell singing the chorus as he\u2019d intended.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-9-a-childhood-vacation-makes-bradley-nowell-a-reggae-fanatic\"><strong>9. A childhood vacation makes Bradley Nowell a reggae fanatic<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Bradley Nowell grew up in a musical household, with a father who played guitar and a mother who played piano. But, as Sublime\u2019s episode of VH1\u2019s <em>Behind the Music<\/em> revealed, it was a fortuitous 1979 vacation, with an 11-year-old Nowell accompanying his father on a sailing trip to the Virgin Islands, that first exposed him to reggae music, which became an enormous influence on Sublime.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-8-eric-wilson-takes-a-rare-lead-vocal-on-live-at-e-s\"><strong>8. Eric Wilson takes a rare lead vocal on \u201cLive at E\u2019s\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Bassist Eric Wilson has been the only consistent member of every iteration of Sublime since the band\u2019s formation in 1988. But the only time you can hear his voice loud and clear in the band\u2019s catalog is on \u201cLive at E\u2019s,\u201d the track that closed the band\u2019s 1991 demo tape <em>Jah Won\u2019t Pay the Bills<\/em> before appearing on their proper debut album, 1992\u2019s <em>40oz. To Freedom<\/em>. Longtime Sublime collaborator Marshall \u201cRas MG\u201d Goodman, famously referenced on \u201cDoin\u2019 Time,\u201d played drums on the song and traded rhymes with Nowell before they tried to include Wilson in the freestyle session. Wilson just briefly spits a few bars about his discomfort with rapping before passing the mic back to his bandmates: \u201cMy name is Eric, I have nothing to say\/ \u2018Cause I am not a fucking DJ.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-7-opie-ortiz-defines-sublime-s-visual-aesthetic\"><strong>7. Opie Ortiz defines Sublime\u2019s visual aesthetic<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Long Beach tattooist and mural artist Opie Ortiz was an early friend of Sublime whose work graced the covers of the band\u2019s two most popular releases. The burning sun on the cover of <em>40 oz. to Freedom<\/em> epitomizes Ortiz\u2019s style, which incorporates influences from graffiti, the pop art movement, and Aztec mythology. And Ortiz tattooed the band\u2019s name on Nowell\u2019s back in 1995, a photograph of which adorned the band\u2019s 1996 self-titled album. Ortiz also made an appearance on drums on the band\u2019s 1994 album <em>Robbin\u2019 the Hood<\/em>, and was later bandmates with Wilson and Gaugh in the Long Beach Dub All Stars. Passengers on the Reef Madness cruise will even have the opportunity to get a tattoo by Ortiz.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-6-sublime-s-first-gig\"><strong>6. Sublime\u2019s first gig<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Gaugh and Wilson had been childhood friends, and played in a punk band together called The Juice Bros. as teenagers. But it wasn\u2019t until they met Nowell in the late \u201880s that they became Sublime and incorporated reggae and ska into their sound under his influence. Sublime\u2019s debut was on America\u2019s birthday, with the trio playing their first show on July 4th, 1988 in their hometown Long Beach.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-5-40oz-to-freedom-becomes-a-sleeper-hit\"><strong>5. <\/strong><strong><em>40oz. to Freedom<\/em><\/strong><strong> becomes a sleeper hit<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>When Sublime\u2019s indie label Skunk Records released <em>40oz. to Freedom<\/em> in June 1992, the album didn\u2019t even chart. But the album became a word-of-mouth sensation over the next few years, selling more and more even after the band released a follow-up album, Robbin\u2019 the Hood, in 1994. After the 40oz. track \u201cDate Rape\u201d became one of the most requested songs on the stalwart California alternative station KROQ, Sublime shot a video for \u201cDate Rape\u201d in March 1995 and got its first taste of radio airplay. Over the following years, \u201cBadfish\u201d and the cover of \u201cSmoke Two Joints\u201d by The Toyes also became radio staples, and today <em>40oz. to Freedom<\/em> is double platinum.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-4-sublime-s-musical-heroes-make-cameos-in-the-wrong-way-video\"><strong>4. Sublime\u2019s musical heroes make cameos in the \u201cWrong Way\u201d video<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Sublime saluted many of their influences on <em>40 oz. To Freedom<\/em>, particularly other eclectic, energetic southern California bands like San Pedro\u2019s The Minutemen and L.A.\u2019s Fishbone. Songs on Sublime\u2019s debut album sampled two songs from The Minutemen\u2019s 1984 classic <em>Double Nickels on the Dime<\/em>, and interpolated the Fishbone single \u201cParty at Ground Zero.\u201d Years later, Minutemen bassist Mike Watt and Fishbone frontman Angelo Moore returned the love, making cameos in the 1997 video for Sublime\u2019s hit \u201cWrong Way.\u201d And in 2025, both Watt and Fishbone covered Sublime tracks for the compilation <em>Look At All The Love We Found: A Tribute To Sublime<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-3-sublime-returns-as-a-family-affair\"><strong>3. Sublime returns as a family affair<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Bradley Nowell and Troy Dendekker had one child together, Jakob, in June 1995. And while Jakob Nowell lost his father very early in life, he grew up to love Sublime\u2019s music and eventually sing and play guitar. And in 2023, Jakob performed with Gaugh and Wilson for the first time at a benefit show for H.R. of Bad Brains, officially becoming a member of the band for a performance at Coachella in 2024. Sublime\u2019s first single with Jakob on lead vocals, \u201cEnsenada,\u201d became the band\u2019s first number one single on alternative radio since \u201cWhat I Got.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-2-bradley-nowell-and-gwen-stefani-duet\"><strong>2. Bradley Nowell and Gwen Stefani duet<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Sublime and their Anaheim contemporaries No Doubt exploded into the mainstream around the same time during the mid-\u201890s rise of ska punk. Both bands had crossed paths well before that, though, with collaborations on earlier indie releases. No Doubt frontwoman Gwen Stefani guested on Sublime\u2019s 1994 song \u201cSaw Red,\u201d and a year later Nowell and Stefani sang together again on No Doubt\u2019s \u201cTotal Hate \u201995\u201d from No Doubt\u2019s self-released <em>The Beacon Street Collection<\/em>. \u201cHis voice is like candy to your ears,\u201d Stefani told the <em>Los Angeles Times<\/em> after Nowell\u2019s death in 1996.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-1-the-bittersweet-triumph-of-sublime-s-self-titled-album-nbsp\"><strong>1. The bittersweet triumph of Sublime\u2019s self-titled album\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Sublime were on the rise with the success of \u201cDate Rape\u201d when Nowell died in May 1996, but nobody could have expected how popular the band would become in the months ahead. Sublime\u2019s self-titled album, released two months later in July, was an instant hit, with \u201cWhat I Got,\u201d \u201cSanteria,\u201d and \u201cWrong Way\u201d all becoming top 3 hits on alternative radio. <em>SPIN<\/em> named <em>Sublime<\/em> the 8th best album of 1996, and it was eventually certified platinum five times over, securing Bradley Nowell\u2019s musical legacy even if he sadly never lived to see it himself. And one of the band\u2019s two Reef Madness sets will be a performance of the entire <em>Sublime<\/em> album from front to back to celebrate its 30th anniversary.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, <a href=\"https:\/\/spinmagazine.com\/2021\/07\/the-greatest-rock-stars-of-all-time\/?utm_source=yahoo&amp;utm_medium=bottomlink&amp;utm_campaign=yahoolink\">click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sublime 2026 (Photo Credit: Micala Austin) With their eclectic mix of punk, reggae, ska, and hip-hop, the Long Beach, California trio Sublime became one of the most beloved bands of&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[214,213],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ad-takeover","category-partner"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10602\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}